Al Kennedy Alternative High School is a public alternative high school in Cottage Grove, Oregon

Cottage Grove, Oregon

Cottage Grove is a city in Lane County, Oregon, United States. It received its name from its first postmaster, G. C. Pierce, in September 1861. Pierce's home at the time was in an oak grove. The population was 9,686 at the 2010 census.-History:...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.
Kennedy has the following design characteristics:

• The curriculum is organized around the core theme of sustainability
  Sustainability
  Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...
  
   and stewardship
  Stewardship
  Stewardship is an ethic that embodies responsible planning and management of resources. The concept of stewardship has been applied in diverse realms, including with respect to environment, economics, health, property, information, and religion, and is linked to the concept of sustainability...
  
  .

• The learning design emphasizes experiential and service learning that allow students to work on real sustainable development projects in their communities. Students perform real work and contribute original research to natural resource management strategies.

• The school is linked to a set of working economic assets that seek to model sustainability principles in their operations. These assets create opportunities for experiential learning; generate income for the school; and create economic development opportunities for the community.

Student learning at Kennedy

Kennedy organizes its learning around these pre-requisites of identity; aspiration; engagement; and experiential learning

Experiential learning

Experiential learning is the process of making meaning from direct experience. Simply put, Experiential Learning is learning from experience. The experience can be staged or left open. Aristotle once said, "For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them." David A...

:

• Students are actively encouraged to cultivate their personal identity as a “global citizen” who is contributing to a sustainable future.
• There is an emphasis on positive solutions to challenges of sustainability, rather than seemingly insolvable dilemmas and looming disasters. Sustainability themes are integrated in each core curriculum area.
• Students are connected with adult practice communities that are actively engaged in sustainable development activities.
• Large amounts of curriculum are organized around experiential and service learning. Activities like conservation management; organic farming
  Organic farming
  Organic farming is the form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests on a farm...
  
   and forestry; environmental monitoring and mapping; etc. support key curriculum elements.

Kennedy Focus: Five Educational Domains

Kennedy High School is "dedicated to creating future leaders in the area of sustainability as well as well-rounded academics.".

To this end, Kennedy has several distinct programs (though these programs support one another in service to the organizational mission).

Sustainable Agriculture

Kennedy High School incorporates organic farming

Organic farming

Organic farming is the form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests on a farm...

 practices into a project-based learning curriculum designed to involve students in every aspect of the organic farming/agricultural process; from testing soil samples, planting and growing crops, measuring outcomes, and finally marketing.

In 2008 Kennedy partnered with Healing Harvest, a nonprofit organization based in Cottage Grove, to design and build organic gardens at elementary schools across South Lane District, including a master garden on campus.

Sustainable Architecture

Kennedy High School engages in sustainable architecture

Sustainable architecture

Sustainable architecture is a general term that describes environmentally conscious design techniques in the field of architecture. Sustainable architecture is framed by the larger discussion of sustainability and the pressing economic and political issues of our world...

 activities, which teach students the historical aspects of alternative building practice, while participating in actual local building projects such as a sustainable housing prototype for low-income communities.

Sustainable Forestry

Kennedy High School is working with local landowners to manage their forested and open lands for future generations. Students immerse themselves in all aspects of land stewardship: from walking the land with owners to figuring the trigonometry of easement boundaries; rebuilding animal habitat for local fauna while inventorying forest species; working with local conservation agencies to draft management plans and helping land owners to implement them.

Sustainable Energy

Kennedy High School partners closely with Lane Community College

Lane Community College

Lane Community College is a two-year college located in Eugene, Oregon. Its slogan is "Transforming Lives Through Learning."-Education:Lane Community College offers a variety of Associate's Degrees, such as:...

’s Energy Management Program. Beginning Winter trimester 2009, Kennedy will be offering a College Now course titles “Sustainability 101″, which will offer Kennedy students an opportunity to work closely with both college and high school instructors in studying conservation and energy systems.

Sustainable Community

Kennedy High School's community-based projects help people, students, and community members gain the skills and resources they need to find solutions to sustainability..

Kennedy Conservation Crew

The award-winning Kennedy Conservation Corps engages students in the workings of regional and national conservation organizations. Kennedy is currently engaging in a number of fee-for-service projects with the U.S. Forest Service, Coast Fork Willamette Watershed Council, and private landowners.

The Kennedy Apiary

Kennedy High School installed three beehives on campus in March 2010 to kick off a beekeeping

Beekeeping

Beekeeping is the maintenance of honey bee colonies, commonly in hives, by humans. A beekeeper keeps bees in order to collect honey and other products of the hive , to pollinate crops, or to produce bees for sale to other beekeepers...

 program. The Kennedy Apiary

Apiary

An apiary is a place where beehives of honey bees are kept. Traditionally beekeepers paid land rent in honey for the use of small parcels. Some farmers will provide free apiary sites, because they need pollination, and farmers who need many hives often pay for them to be moved to the crops when...

 promotes vegetable growth in the neighboring community garden, and the beehives allow students to get an exciting hands-on experience to study the fascinating life and ecology

Ecology

Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...

 of, and human dependence on, the honeybee.

Academics

In 2008, 44% of the school's seniors received their high school diploma

High school diploma

A high school diploma is a diploma awarded for the completion of high school. In the United States and Canada, it is considered the minimum education required for government jobs and higher education. An equivalent is the GED.-Past diploma styles:...

. Of 48 students, 21 graduated, 21 dropped out, and 6 are still in high school.