This relaxed atmosphere is evident, too, in the teacher-student interaction. Students not only are on a first-name basis with their teachers but also are entrusted to run the all-school community meetings in the auditorium.

Instructors also enjoy freedoms often not allowed in homogenous public school systems. English teacher Kathy Ducommun, who has been with the school since it first opened its doors in 2002, says that she does not have to follow a prescribed formula in her courses. At Conserve, she may assign more environmental literature than is typically seen in regular public school classes.

During Winterim, an interdisciplinary session offered during winter break, professors are allowed to develop their own courses. Ducommun says she can do “whatever trips my trigger. I just say ‘how about this?’ and we do it. And having that freedom to propose pretty much anything out there and have it accepted as long as it’s reasonable, that’s really awesome.”

She has crafted a number of classes including an animal rehabilitation class, a Native American and spirituality class and one course titled, “Rhetoric of the Simpsons: Vulgar Humor or Asians for Social Change.”

Conserve also offers international trips to students during the three-week Winterim. Anderson says the kids have taken trips to China, Mexico, Costa Rica and the Galapagos in Ecuador. But the multicultural experience for students occurs just as much on campus as off, with about one-fourth of the pupils enrolled from different countries.

Despite all of these opportunities and interesting classes, students overwhelmingly say the most challenging part of the school is the workload of the classes and the tough academics.

“This school is really challenging, more than a public school,” says Gretchen, a junior at Conserve who spends about two to three hours a night on homework. “Because what in a public school might be an A level, here might only be like a C level, so here you really have to work hard.”

Anderson says, however, that students saying they do up to five hours of homework a night have that perception, but it isn’t the reality. According to residential intern Brian Paul, a college graduate in charge of a group of students, some people who work at Conserve do question if the students spend too much time on homework and not enough time hanging out and being kids.

“There have been several meetings about that and trying to cut down on the homework load,” Paul says, adding that 8 to 10 p.m. is homework time. “For those two hours, a select few kids can get it all done.”

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