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 Why Our Community is Strong
Nothing unites people like sharing good food. The fabulous meals our kitchen crew creates every day add immeasurably to the pleasure we take in being at school. Students and faculty eat together in our beautiful dining room two blocks from the main building. In addition to lunch for the whole school, our staff provides breakfast and dinner for international dorm students and elegant fare for special occasions and guests. All students and faculty gather in the Commons each week to share celebrations, debates, performances, and guest presentations. Community Meeting is the heart of the school, where every student is empowered to speak to others about what matters to him or her; where we celebrate each other as artists; where everyone has fun; and where students inspire each other to care about and get involved in what's going on in the world.  Environment ProgramWe live in a beautifully renovated historic building. Three times each week, all students and faculty clean the building, grounds, sport court, and nearby streets in Environment teams made up of 6th through 12th graders. Assuming responsibility for their immediate surroundings gives students a sense of ownership in the school. It teaches stewardship for our historic landmark home and for the larger world, and creates rewarding connections across the grades. By motivating and evaluating their Environment teams, seniors become authentic leaders whose effectiveness has a direct impact on the community. Students and faculty have several opportunities each year to enjoy biking, hiking, climbing, skiing, sea kayaking, rafting, and building igloos together. As part of the school's mission to teach respect and care for the environment, these outings give students recreational skills and wilderness ethics they'll carry throughout their lives. Optional and open to everyone, they also provide a chance for cross-grade friendships to develop, and for American and international students to form close bonds.  Community ServiceEvery grade contributes to the outside community through school-sponsored class projects. Equally important, students often initiate their own service projects. It was a student's idea a few years ago that the junior class should raise thousands of dollars to buy construction materials and spend three days refurbishing migrant farm worker housing in the Skagit Valley. Now it's a tradition. International students recently added to the tradition by raising funds through the Asian Food Festival, a banquet in which they cooked foods from their traditions for the whole community. Having fun, traveling with classmates, and bonding through buying and cooking food in small "tent groups" are important parts of life at The Northwest School. Sixth through 9th graders take class trips throughout the Puget Sound area twice each year. The Senior Challenge takes the seniors to a ropes course in the fall, where they map out goals for the coming year and decide what kind of leaders they want to be. They end the year every spring with the Senior Retreat. At The Northwest School we love to celebrate. Several times a year we suspend the regular schedule and give that spirit free rein.
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