Al Kennedy Alternative High School is a public

alternative high school Alternative High School (AHS) is a public senior high (secondary) school in Calgary, Alberta, Canada; which teaches grades 10 through 12. AHS is currently located at the Clinton Ford Centre, which was home to the former Clinton Ford Elementary Sc ...

Cottage Grove, Oregon Cottage Grove is a city in Lane County, Oregon, United States. Its population was 10,643 at the 2020 census. It is the third largest city in Lane County. It is on Interstate 5, Oregon Route 99, and the main Willamette Valley line of the CORP railr ...

, United States. The curriculum is organized around the core theme of

sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

and

stewardship Stewardship is an ethical value that embodies the responsible planning and management of resources. The concepts of stewardship can be applied to the environment and nature, economics, health, property, information, theology, cultural resources e ...

Student learning

Kennedy organizes its learning around aspiration, engagement, and

experiential learning Experiential learning (ExL) is the process of learning through experience, and is more narrowly defined as "learning through reflection on doing". Hands-on learning can be a form of experiential learning, but does not necessarily involve students ...

: * Students cultivate their personal identities as "global citizens" who are contributing to a sustainable future. * There is an emphasis on solutions to challenges of sustainability. Sustainability themes are integrated in each core curriculum area. * Students are connected with adult practice communities that are engaged in sustainable development activities. * Large amounts of curriculum are organized around experiential and service learning. Activities like conservation management,

organic farming Organic farming, also known as ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic production and labelling of organic products and re ...

and forestry,

environmental monitoring Environmental monitoring describes the processes and activities that need to take place to characterize and monitor the quality of the environment. Environmental monitoring is used in the preparation of environmental impact assessments, as well a ...

, and mapping support key curriculum elements.

Kennedy focus: five educational domains

The school is "dedicated to creating future leaders in the area of sustainability as well as well-rounded academics."

Sustainable agriculture

Kennedy High School incorporates

practices into a curriculum designed to involve students in the organic farming/agricultural process, from testing soil samples, planting and growing crops, measuring outcomes, and 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

The school engages in

sustainable architecture Sustainable architecture is architecture that seeks to minimize the negative environmental impact of buildings through improved efficiency and moderation in the use of materials, energy, development space and the ecosystem at large. Sustainable ...

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

Sustainable forestry

The school works with local landowners to manage their forested and open lands for future generations. Students immerse themselves in all aspects of land stewardship, including walking the land with owners, figuring the trigonometry of easement boundaries, rebuilding animal habitat for local fauna while inventorying forest species, working with local

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...

agencies to draft management plans, and helping land owners to implement those plans.

Sustainable energy

Kennedy High School partners closely with

Lane Community College Lane Community College is a public community college in Eugene, Oregon, with additional facilities in downtown Eugene, Florence, Cottage Grove, and the Lane Aviation Academy at Eugene Airport. Lane serves more than 26,000 credit and non-credit ...

's Energy Management Program. In the winter trimester of 2009, Kennedy began a College Now course, "Sustainability 101″, which offers students an opportunity to work with college and high school instructors in studying conservation and energy systems.

Sustainable community

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

Kennedy Conservation Crew

The Kennedy Conservation Corps engages students in the workings of regional and national conservation organizations. Kennedy has engaged in a number of fee-for-service projects with the

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

, Coast Fork Willamette Watershed Council, and private landowners.

Apiary

The school has installed three beehives on campus in March 2010 to start a

beekeeping Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in man-made beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most-commonly-kept species but other honey-producing bees such as ''Melipona'' stingless bees are also kept. ...

program. The Kennedy

Apiary An apiary (also known as a bee yard) is a location where beehives of honey bees are kept. Apiaries come in many sizes and can be rural or urban depending on the honey production operation. Furthermore, an apiary may refer to a hobbyist's hives or ...

promotes vegetable growth in the neighboring community garden, and the beehives allow students to get hands-on experience studying the

ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

of the

honeybee A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect within the genus ''Apis'' of the bee clade, all native to Afro-Eurasia. After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the current cosmo ...

Academics

In 2008, 44% of the school's seniors received a

high school diploma A high school diploma or high school degree is a North American academic school leaving qualification awarded upon high school graduation. The high school diploma is typically obtained after a course of study lasting four years, from grade 9 to gra ...

. Of 48 students, 21 graduated, 21 dropped out, and six were still in high school in 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Al Kennedy Alternative High School Alternative schools in Oregon High schools in Lane County, Oregon Cottage Grove, Oregon Public high schools in Oregon