Atop one of the largest state parks in Connecticut sits Common Ground High School, a charter school with a mission to teach students about urban farming and environmental justice.
It’s one example of how alternative schools have become a pathway for students who prefer a hands-on learning environment.
Common Ground’s campus is sprawling. There are 225 students who attend class on 20 acres of land surrounded by West Rock Ridge State Park. Students take classes outside, learn how to tend to the land and grow food for local communities where access to fresh produce is scarce.
Teachers at Common Ground say their students seem to be more engaged in the classroom compared to most students at traditional public high schools. They say this is due in part to the autonomy students are given over their education.
Each high school senior must deliver a project based on a social or environmental justice issue facing New Haven. The seniors are allowed to choose the topic they research.
Isabella O’Connor, a senior at Common Ground, said the staff is very involved in her education and she’s learning about topics that would not ordinarily be taught at a traditional public high school. She said her teachers are passionate about the subject they’re teaching and she believes they actually want to be there.
In class, students aren’t just being lectured, they're experiencing their lessons, O’Connor said.
“We’re very hands on. We’ve had science classes where we go outside and do experiments within nature. We’ll go into the wetlands and do experiments where we interact with the fish or the frogs out there,” O’Connor said.
Candi Fulcher, a teacher at Common Ground, believes part of her job is to help her students develop their own voice. Fulcher said students are empowered to advocate for something they want out of their education rather than their parents. For example, a lot of assignments, activities and performance tests were created or evaluated by students.
Samantha Townsend, an English teacher at Common Ground, said the school encourages students to be active participants in their learning process.
“There’s more cooperative learning here where they work in groups and have the opportunity to make a choice about what works best for them in their learning,” Townsend said. “If a student would prefer to write an article versus writing an essay, then we allow them to tap into their unique passion, skill or interest.”
Not only students have a say, teachers also have the chance to build their own curriculum and lessons around the themes that interest them. “That’s how we connect with the students,” Fulcher said.
When students begin at Common Ground, they identify what their senior project will be and spend the next four years developing their unique idea. They’ll choose a social justice issue they want to research and choose a local nonprofit to work with to accomplish their ideas.
In the past, students have spent their year producing a documentary film, strengthening support systems for English language learners, and helping launch New Haven’s mobile farm market, which helps neighborhoods in need of fresh produce.
Students at the high school also take advantage of all New Haven has to offer. They often take college classes at Southern Connecticut State University, Gateway Community College and Yale.
While it’s different from traditional learning, students still have access to AP classes and classes that prepare them for college. They’re required to have a post-secondary plan as a part of their senior project. They need to at least apply to one college or university as a part of this plan.
Common Ground also offers a curriculum that focuses on environmental challenges and why they tend to be concentrated in low-income neighborhoods that are oftencommunities of color.
Cherry Pacquette-Emmanuel, school director of Common Ground, said through their capstone, students are identifying what really matters to them and carrying the knowledge they learned at the school after they graduate.
“They’re looking at the world in a very different way. They’re thinking about climate change, they’re thinking about the types of food we eat and the impact it has on our bodies and on their communities,” Pacquette-Emmanuel said.
She said she wants students to take their experience at Common Ground and understand their future careers can be anything they want it to be. To not just have a career to have a career, but make sure their life’s work is making a difference.
“The concept for Common Ground came about because there’s some educators that wanted to do things differently and have created this really unique space,” Pacquette-Emmanuel said. “I want the students to know they can do that in whatever fields they pursue, to push all pathways and not follow anybody else’s path.”
