Student Leadership
At TSA we believe that all students have the ability to make a difference in the world around them. That is why part of our mission is to "awaken students to their immense potential and the difference they can make in the world." How do we do that? One way is to empower our students to take leadership roles and find their voice in our community. Read some of the examples below to find out about to the ways students at TSA are empowered on a daily basis and the action they take to impact their community both at school, in Vermont, and throughout our nation and world.
- Student-Led Electives: If students are particularly versed in a topic of interest, they are encouraged to teach their own elective, alongside a staff mentor. In 2007, two juniors, Brandon Phoenix and Caspar Anderegg co-taught an elective that focused on design for computer games. In the spring of 2008, senior Sarah Wolfe is leading an A Capella Elective and seniors Shannon Boule and Robin Spencer are co-teaching sex education with staff member, Christa Wurm.
- Social Action - 2008 New Orleans Trip: In response to a fall 2007 presentation by a New Orleans resident who assisted in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, three of our ninth graders decided to organize a trip down to New Orleans during their spring break in order to work at a soup kitchen. These, now 20, first year students have organized the logistics of housing and travel and have organized several fundraisers including selling fair-trade coffee and setting up a winter rummage sale.
- Improving the School: Several times throughout our building process, students have seen a need within the TSA campus and have taken the initiative to improve our premises. In 2004-05 Lily Carter and Ada DeFriez ('08) thought that the humanities/social studies needed a large map for students to located the places in the world they were learning about. So, they set about and covered an entire wall with a map of the world. Then in 2007 Rachel Sotak, Emily Chadwick, Lyza Chadwick, and Erin Kinnarney ('08) thought we needed our mascot - the Pheonix - painted somewhere in the gym. So they set about, selected a drawing from the student body, and painted the mascot on the far end of our gym.
- Environmental Action: In the fall of 2007 Blaine Conner ('08) saw that TSA needed to significantly improve the recycling program. In response to this need, he located recycling bins, hung up signs to educate people on how to recycle according to local regulations, and organized students around the mission. Now he helps organize the sorting process every week.