Knowing A Place
Read on to learn more about life at the Mountain School, hear stories from our alumni, and get updates on campus happenings.
Reflections on Solo, Fall 2026
Straight off the heels of Farm Day, F26 embarked on the three-night, four-day adventure known as “Solo.”
In the past, students have reported the full range of experiences, from “I stayed under my tarp, ate for boredom, and counted seconds,” to “I felt the weight of the world’s expectations lift in a brief moment of peace.”
Much of human technology (combined with the college admissions process) in the last two decades has been in service of eradicating boredom from their lives. While speaking to students before and after Solo, this theme came up the most frequently. One student said that she finally had the time to “actually watch birds and listen to the brook.” The biggest shared reward of Solo this season was in pausing their lives for a second to just catch a breath.
Get off the Damn Track
Ever since we brought our first child home from The Mountain School, I’ve wondered how the school creates a community out of 45 strangers in such a short time.
What’s the trick?
But I had it backward. The students choose to connect because the time is so brief, he said.
What does academic rigor really mean? Thoughts on challenge and necessity
We are school with academic rigor. I’ve never particularly liked this descriptor – perhaps in part because the only other context in which I think of the word rigor is “rigor mortis.” And, maybe unfairly, I associate those two instances of rigor. Academic rigor makes me think of stiffness, of calcification, of the canon (and nothing but)… and that’s not The Mountain School.
Yet, I want to lay claim to the idea that “academic rigor” reaches for: the sense that academics are present, challenging, engaging, necessary, and more.
Reflections on the S26 Semester
In the final few days of each semester, we take time to reflect on the months that have passed and ask students to think deeply about their time at the Mountain School. Excerpted here are twelve highlights from the semester reflections of Spring 2026, in students’ own words.