Adolescents are just as special as everyone else in the world, and it is essential for them to realize that. They are brimming with untapped potential and sometimes it takes just one person to bring that out - which is why we work with many professionals and specialists around the community. Our goal is for each student to feel that their voice matters and that having their say can make a difference.
Kristin Romberg,
ADOLESCENT DIRECTOR & LEAD GUIDE
At-a-glance
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Ages 12-14
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Monday-Friday 8:30 am-3:30 pm
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Extended care available 7:30 am-5:30 pm
Integrated Studies
Abintra’s Adolescent Program provides a broad range of experiences to meet a young person's needs for intellectual stimulation, creative expression, independence, responsibility, social development, preparation for adult life, and personal growth. The program focuses on human interdependency with the natural world as well as on the experience of social organization and personal contribution to one's community, both of which are highlights of adolescent development. In cooperation with the land and its related activities, and through participation in the life and commerce of the local community, young adolescents experience firsthand the practical integration of knowledge and community contribution, building a greater connection to society and the world.
Social Organization
Our adolescents experience the fundamental components of social organization – the ways in which humans organize themselves to share resources, labor, and other mutually beneficial systems - through work on the land, creating and sustaining economic opportunities in the greater community, community trips where everyone lives together, and adults in the community.
Music & The Arts
Music, and the Arts are integrated into the Adolescent program. Students explore painting, clay, photography, and other mediums in our Arts studio. They are exposed to multiple instruments, composition, and music appreciation in their music studies.
Digital Literacy
The Adolescent Program promotes responsible and ethical use of technology, with the majority of the school day spent in learning activities and practices that require peer-to-peer and student-teacher interaction. For our adolescents to make the most of the opportunities and face the challenges that digital technologies and online environments provide – both now and in the future – it is essential that learners become digitally literate. This literacy is developed through purposeful integration of technology with the other studies and work.
Community
Students work with local organizations to support community efforts and partake in internships. In addition to Abintra’s 11-acre campus, the adolescents branch out into the greater Nashville community for some of that work. Emerson Land Lab (located 20 minutes from campus) provides a rich landscape for community building, outdoor skills, animal care, and more.
