
Students, Families, & Staff
Project based. Students are valued and considered individuals with different needs. The advisory concept. The true acceptance of students races , genders, disabilities.
Avalon encourages students who are committed to learning to meet and exceed their goals. For example, I graduated with almost 50 credits at the end of my senior year. I frequently exceeded my goals on the time I spent working on my learning through projects.
My advisors encouraged me to actively engage in the political process rather than sit on the sidelines just because I was too young to vote. As a result, I spent part of my sophomore year working on a political campaign with another student and utilized that volunteer experience towards meeting civic & government standards. One of the candidates we helped to elect won by only a small handful of votes. Avalon empowered us to get involved with our community and helped us to be the change we wanted to see in the world.
I love the relationships I get to build with students and families over time - it is so rewarding to see such growth!
I mostly appreciate that my student is so loved and supported by many wonderful teachers/staff there. It feels like home for her. And that she is given the opportunity to follow her interests and get credit for it.
I genuinely believe I wouldn't have survived high school without Avalon. I think there's also a very high chance I maybe wouldn't have graduated if I went anywhere else instead of Avalon. The support from the Avalon staff was unmatched, I never would have done so well in any of the subjects if not for the support from my teachers. From the individual attention from the advisor, to the class discussions you could feel that the Avalon teachers wanted you to succeed and that they were going to help you do that. Avalon has also had some of the most informed counselors and mental health professionals I have ever come across in a school setting and I think that was a huge part of my personal success.
Our son has never felt this supported in a school setting before. He feels really seen, heard, and valued at Avalon. When conflicts arise, he feels like there are lots of helpful adults around to support him and yet who also give him space to practice and get better at new social, academic and wellness skills. He has a wide variety of friends and opportunities through Avalon and is absolutely thriving! We can't thank the Avalon community enough for creating this kind of trusting and growth-minded community.
It has given our child the chance to be “seen” and to make mistakes in a smaller environment.
Helpful with accommodating and being supportive of needs that I would not have been able to succeed without. Avalon was willing to accommodate me in ways that allowed me to succeed and have an equal education when I otherwise would not.
I feel like being able to learn my own way empowered me to develop into the truest version of myself.
The small size allows for a lot of personal connection with and support from staff and for our son to have developed a solid group of friends, which he didn't have in his old school. I like the way academics are explored and how students are encouraged to think for themselves and take responsibility for their own learning to a good extent. The school feels like a real community, involving families in the school culture.
Avalon and its staff were excellent at preparing me for the independent learning and work output environment that students should expect in higher education and most professional settings. They pushed me to reach my potential by guiding to me areas where I could excel and be recognized for that achievement.
The system of advisories builds a fantastic community and helped me develop as a young person. The guidance of my advisor lead me to robotics which helped me find my degree path and career.
I think Avalon has always done an excellent job of empowering students to do the things they really care about and be themselves. During my time at Avalon I was able to truly explore what it meant to be myself and even do projects and get school credit for that work.
I really don't believe that I would have received this kind of guidance and attention if I were in a traditional classroom setting, because it's not set up for individualized teaching. I feel that this kind of guidance helped me learn resilience and professional skills, as well as life skills to be able to achieve my professional and higher education goals. Whatever path I wanted to take in life, they would help guide me there, and if they noticed I was struggling or on the wrong path they were there to guide me back.
