Residential Life
Students and faculty build a semester based on trust and an appreciation of difference, creating an academic and work-based community in which every voice matters.
Living with a roommate. Planning Saturday evening activities with a faculty member. Navigating social dilemmas. Holding ourselves and one another accountable. Maintaining our own mental health and physical wellness.
Much of the learning at The Mountain School happens outside the classroom, within the rhythms of the day.
Dorm Life
Dorms
Students live in one of five dormitories (Conard, Derby, Miles, Tobold, Underwood), ranging in size from seven to fourteen students, mostly in rooms that house two or three people, though some singles and quads are available. Each dorm’s common room quickly becomes a place for music, conversation, or studying during quiet hours. Shared bathrooms are located within each dorm, and each has a shared laundry room in or near the building.
Each dorm also has two affiliated dorm faculty, including at least one who lives in the dorm, who support and manage the house. Residential life provides a setting for students to build lasting relationships with each other and their teachers.
Living in Community
Students work together with their dorm faculty to establish community norms, maintain the physical space, plan social activities, and navigate the experience of sharing space and building relationships.
Most days conclude with check in, a short dorm meeting with all students and a faculty member that provides a chance to reflect on the day, play games, and build relationships. Most nights, students are in their dorms from 9:00 pm - 6:00 am.
Food & Dining
Shared meals are at the heart of the Mountain School experience.
Three times a day, we will all sit down together to enjoy the food and each other’s company. (And then do dishes.)
For each meal, you’ll harvest, prepare, cook, and eat the food, and then clean up after. This end-to-end experience fosters competence, confidence, and community and invites us to think about the nature of food systems, production, and labor.
Chefs develop menus that feature simple, hearty dishes prepared from scratch, aimed to acquaint eaters with a place-based diet. Through the Shared Work program, students are encouraged to spend time in the kitchen, helping prepare the meals and getting to know the chefs.
Our Culinary Studies course provides enrolled students an opportunity to learn the technical and creative sides of cooking, contributing ideas and effort toward our community’s meals. We recognize that many cultural traditions center food as a point of connection and celebration, which we explore in the course.
Our chefs do an amazing job of providing dishes that meet a wide variety of dietary and allergen guidelines. At every meal there are options without dairy, meat, gluten and eggs. We have supported students to find a healthy diet here at TMS, including those with nut allergens, Celiac’s disease, and diabetes.
Come prepared to try something new and share your own favorite recipes!
School Meetings
All-school gatherings and discussions are essential to getting to know each other and helping the school run smoothly. The weekly schedule includes several opportunities for the whole school to gather and discuss relevant topics. Five days of the week begin with a short Morning Meeting where anyone can share announcements. On Wednesdays, we have a longer School Meeting with an agenda set by students and faculty alike. Each Friday night, students gather for a period of reflection and journaling. Following this, students gather for conversations and collaborative activities that might include a guest speaker, facilitated small-group discussions, games, or community building activities. Students are welcome and encouraged to bring up a topic and speak their minds.
Weekends
How to spend time with each other is an ever-present question at the Mountain School and weekends provide some of the greatest opportunities to come together as a community and to explore the place that is Vershire, Vermont and the Upper Valley.
On Friday evenings, we have a “Pause” to take stock of the week so far and recenter ourselves, followed by faculty-led activities.
Saturdays include a morning activity block and a Shared Work block following lunch where we share the work of maintaining the campus. Saturday afternoons typically comprise optional faculty-led excursions both on and off campus, such as hiking in the White Mountains, visiting museum exhibitions in Hanover or Montpelier, volunteering in the community, or attending a local fair. Otherwise, students can hang out, relax, go for a hike, play music, etc. Saturday nights typically feature student-planned activities and have included talent shows, bonfires, improvisational theater, dances, movie nights, and more!
On Sundays we have a sleep-in, and some students volunteer to cook brunch with chefs. Sundays are less structured and provide opportunities for spontaneous adventures with support from the faculty on duty and for plenty of time for rest.
Weekends can be a time for learning, relaxation, joy, socialization, exploration, or any combination.
Am I allowed to go home on weekends or host visitors?
Yes. The Mountain School does not have any closed weekends. You are welcome to go away on weekends or to host a friend or family member, though most students tend to stay on campus during the weekends. Any weekend away permissions or on-campus guests must be cleared with the Assistant Director in advance.
