Special Weeks

Health and Culture Week: Health and Culture Week is an intensive period of time dedicated to general issues of health and wellness of individuals and the community. Organized thematically and encompassing a wide range of activities from presentations to hands-on activities, the Compass community works together to support healthy lifestyles for all students. Some topics that may be addressed are nutrition, safety, first aid, mental health, consumer health, human growth and development, human sexuality, issues of substance use, diversity, environmental sustainability, and healthy living on a personal, community, and global level. The focus of our work is raising awareness and helping students develop the ability to make informed, responsible, and healthy choices.

Community Service Winter Term: As part of our belief in connecting students to the community, and in an effort to apply academic learning in the "real world," Compass students participate in a "Winter term" in February dedicated to Community Service Learning. This break in the regular schedule allows students to work in across grade level teams to use their academic skills to address real community needs. We solicit "problem statements" from community partners that define a particular need for which they seek a solution. A team of students, working with a teacher, determine a plan to study this problem and produce a report, solution, or service to address the community need. From Winterm, students learn about working in uncertainty, exercising self-direction, aiming for quality and effectiveness, and making their very best effort to move things forward even if you are not always sure where it is leading. This has proven a great opportunity to allow students to be involved in real learning for the real world while seeking to make a real difference for our community.

Project Week: Project Week is the culminating event for the Compass school year. This is a chance for students to synthesize their learning throughout the year in self-directed, student or faculty initiated projects under faculty supervision. Students are asked to develop projects that relate to course learning goals while allowing each student to pursue areas of particular interest. Project Week concludes with a community celebration of learning.