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“It’s our job as educators to make this relevant as far as [ensuring that] graduation requirements line up with [students'] dreams and aspirations.”  

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Over the past 17 years….

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Students who completed the Walden Project in Vermont were much more likely to be accepted to college or post secondary education than general education students from the same high school. Students who are accepted to college or post secondary education from Vergennes Union High School 2000-2017

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General Education = 53%

Walden Project Students = 80-100%

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Additionally:​

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• 100% of alumni surveyed said they would recommend Walden to their friends.

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• 98% of alumni surveyed say that their experience in Walden helped them learn theories, skills, and information that I would not have learned in the regular classroom.

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• 96% of alumni describe Walden as a caring and supportive community.

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• 98% of alumni surveyed say that Walden helped them develop a strong voice in writing.

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• 96% of alumni surveyed say that Walden helped them develop an environmental awareness that they would not have learned otherwise.

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• 98% of alumni surveyed say that Walden taught them essential life skills (such as public speaking, literacy, and working in groups)

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• 100% of alumni surveyed said that Walden informed them, or engaged them, in current events.

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• 100% of alumni surveyed said that they would send their kids -- real or hypothetical -- to a program like the Walden Project.

“I don't learn in a normal way and was being smothered in the regular system . . . Walden allowed me the space to figure out how to learn in a way that worked for me.”

(Matt Schlein, Founder and Teacher of The Walden Project in Vermont)

"I learned how to learn in Walden"

“Of the many communities I have been a part of, the Walden Project was by far my most supportive, most loving, and extremely educational in all aspects of life.”