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High Arctic Change 2012

Hi Dan.

I love that your school is so unique. Can you tell us a bit more about what it's like to teach there?

Janet

Thu, 06/28/2012 - 06:07

Dan Frost

Hi Janet,Teaching at Carrabassett Valley Academy (CVA) has been an incredible experience since I arrived here in 2006. Our school is nestled in the valley between Sugarloaf Mtn. and the Bigelow Range, along side the Carrabassett River affording us an incredible outdoor classroom and playground. While we're closer to Canada than a Starbucks, our relative remoteness in the woods of Maine encourages both students and faculty to make the most of our surroundings. We are a co-curriculur school in that our students all have a winter sports focus that they pursue along with rigorous college preparatory academics. This means that students often divide their winter days between the race course, mogul hill, or backcountry touring and survival skills and the classroom. This means we're in the classroom until 5:30 at night or spending Mondays working solely on academics and resting athletically for an action packed week but that is ok by us. I've often fielded the inevitable question that doesn't the co-curricular nature of the school mean that academics takes a back seat to their sports? Actually, I've found just the opposite. Students here blow me away year in and year out in how their drive to succeed on the ski or snowboard hill translates so readily to the classroom. When they travel, students take their school work with them in specially designed 'packets' that parallel what they would be doing in the classroom. I've proctored quizzes in huts in the Smoky Mtns. and been emailed lab reports from Finland. As a teacher, it can be tough when a student says that they will be gone for the next three weeks to compete in Junior World Championships but it keeps you on your toes and forces long term preparation and a focus on distance learning. Plus, I've found that my students are so comfortable in the outdoor environment that it breeds some really incredible field scientists! In addition, working with students who have a love for the snow makes them truly in tune with weather and climate change and concerned for how things are playing out in alpine and arctic environments. Alumni such as pro snowboarder Jeremy Jones have started such groups as POW, Protect Our Winters, which is an organization that focuses on winter sports athletes helping to enable action towards education on climate change and the support of green community based projects. All in all, I've got to say that my experience here as an educator has been a great one that I've appreciated more and more with each year. Working with students and getting them excited about science and the natural environment is my passion and I look forward to doing it more and more for years to come.
Thanks for the inquiry,
Dan