Ashby, Mass. – One of Chris Rudder’s favorite lines back in public school in upstate New York was "didn’t we learn this yesterday?"
"Every single day we would do the exact same thing," he said.
Now a senior at Shackleton School in north central Massachusetts, Rudder is as far away from that experience as possible. Today, he spends school days at "base camp" and applies what he learns on "expeditions."
Shackleton, named after early 20th century polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, is a private boarding school intended to shape leaders in community building, public service, and business. The school, founded by a former lawyer and Outward Bound instructor, focuses on learning by doing.
Rudder, in his three years at Shackleton, has been on "expeditions" along the U.S.-Mexico border, in Washington, D.C., and off the coast of Georgia and Florida. The work at sea was among his favorites. His classmates nominated him to be navigator.
"We had to use triangulation to pinpoint our location and then use that to map out our course on the charts," said Rudder, 17, of Carmel, N.Y. "With math, I need to see it to really understand some of the more advanced concepts."
Shackleton’s 37 students come mostly from New England. The school relies on connections with Boys & Girls clubs, and word of mouth to find students who want to excel, but don’t feel comfortable in traditional schools. About half the students are minorities.
"A lot of kids are out there searching for something different," said school founder Luke O’Neill.
O’Neill said his inspiration to "start a high school from scratch" came from his experience in Outward Bound, an international organization that teaches leadership through wilderness experiences to everyone from corporate executives to troubled youths.
As a juvenile public defender in Connecticut, O’Neill took an Outward Bound course, became an instructor, then joined the national development staff in the early 1990s. In one 20-month period, he raised $8.5 million. He took his talents to Harvard Business School, and upon graduating started to develop Shackleton in 1996. The first classes opened in 1998.
"We’ve got to find a way to develop leaders," said the 43-year-old O’Neill, following in the path of Outward Bound founder Kurt Hahn, who started Scotland’s Gordonstoun School in the 1930s. "We have everything from corporate scandals to wars based on inaccurate information."
The hilltop campus 60 miles northwest of Boston sits in a wooded area at the end of an unpaved drive, and its buildings fit the rustic setting.
Incoming students at Shackleton see immediate differences from traditional schools. One of the first classes they take is a course on wilderness, including survival tips and ecology. Students do an hour of physical exercise each day. There are no organized team sports, but there is a tennis court and mountain biking.
There are no grades. Social rules forbid dating and discourage cliques.
They study a traditional curriculum that includes such subjects as English, math and history, but they apply that knowledge to learning expeditions lasting up to six weeks at a time and projects that are designed to build leadership and team skills.
Crews of students and educators sail off the coast of Georgia and Florida to study trigonometry and marine life; visit the Mexican border to study Spanish and immigration issues; go to New York’s Ellis Island to study history and research their own genealogy; and travel to Washington and throughout the South studying civil rights and government.
"I’ve changed my perception of what a leader is, through time," Rudder said. "A leader is someone who is there to help others, and someone who is always asking for help themselves. We get the combined knowledge of everyone."
Each quarter, students are required to give presentations to show what they’ve learned. They maintain a portfolio of their work to include in college applications, and all 23 graduates have gone on to college, including Brown, Amherst, Antioch and Bennington.
Michael London, president of College Coach, a Newton-based firm hired by parents to help get their kids into top schools, said admissions officers always look for standout students.
"The experiences they get are so unique and character building," said London, whose one Shackleton client got into a good school, although he wouldn’t name it.
The absence of grades presents a challenge, he added.
"That is always going to be an interesting decision for an admissions officer, especially as you get up to the better schools," London said. "I think test scores still matter. (Schools) care about how U.S. News & World Report and other ratings sources perceive them."
Eventually O’Neill would like to establish more schools, but he acknowledges that won’t be easy.
Shackleton’s fiscal 2003 financial report showed it cost $1.8 million to run the school, while revenues totaled $1.7 million. A Shackleton education costs $30,500 a year. The average amount of scholarship aid the school gives is $24,000. Through wider recruitment, school officials hope to get that down to around $16,000. The campus could accomodate around 100 students.
O’Neill said Arthur M. Blank, co-founder of Home Depot, gave him good advice about expansion.
"He said ’Luke, get the first store right. We don’t do a second store until we know we do the first one right,"’ O’Neill said.
