Testimonials

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.

Graduating from Avalon helped be take accountability for my success. The project based education I recieved was invaluable in my real world experience as an adult. Even when I didn't do the work because I thought it was beyond me, every teacher empowered me and believed in my success.

Avalon advisors earned my trust by engaging my passions and interests. They harnessed my strengths and talents to help me explore a world of knowledge and opportunities confidently, and skillfully.

I love the small size and the limited amount of stressful transitions year-to-year (keeping the same advisor throughout middle school, high school; being in the same building for 6-12). I love that both of our children have the opportunity to explore their interests and to love learning again. Most of all, I love that both of my children are seen and valued for who they are and are treated as whole complex people.

Avalon School's project-based learning platform gave me the freedom to pursue my passion for architecture. It also taught me how to set my own academic and professional goals; and be self-driven.

Avalon has been committed to student empowerment by giving students a choice of how they learn. Some students learn best in a classroom, and some learn best working on an independent project. Avalon gives students that choice. Avalon advisors also empowers students by going by their first name. This puts students and advisors on a more equal level, so students can see advisors as part of their community instead of someone who simply has authority over them.

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.

Flexibility and understanding around mental health needs and my child has been able to be themselves fully without worries around bullying because of how they dress or their sexual orientation.

I was given a tremendous amount of freedom and flexibility, both in organizing my time during the day, and in pursuing the core standards in the way I found most interesting. As a student, I was treated as though I was capable of being independent and making my own decisions

There is an incredibly supportive environment from both the fellow students and teachers

During my time at Avalon I was always encouraged to learn in a way that was most interesting to me. The focus on independent learning and the guiding of advisors on what could be an interesting approach to learning subjects made Avalon the best school that I have attended. Avalon was a great mixture of structured and independent learning that allowed me to take interesting courses on historical fiction, but also let me take topics into my own hands such as spending a year learning college math and working on making guides to help teach math to my peers in my advisory.

We absolutely love Avalon and it has been a wonderful experience for my kiddo. They love the teachers and interesting topics they get to learn about, we both love the wonderful support they receive for their special education needs, they appreciate the inclusive culture of the whole school and have a great group of friends, and they have enjoyed engaging in extra curricular activities such as after school credit make up, ultimate frisbee, and robotics.

To this day I think Avalon contributed more positively to my life than any other single institution, educational or otherwise. I arrived there in a pretty rough place, had more or less given up on education and I don't think I really believed I'd even graduate high school. Four years later I graduated - I had rediscovered my love of learning. Avalon rekindled my intellectual curiosity, bolstered my confidence, and helped me remember that I cared about the world and wanted to at least try to make it a slightly less crumby place. Avalon was borderline life-saving for me; words can't express how much I love and appreciate the place.

We love the opportunity for independent learning and the sense of community our son feels among is classmates and peers. My son has really benefited from the extracurricular activities (like Robotics, D and D, and he is about to join another club.)

It has given our child the chance to be “seen” and to make mistakes in a smaller environment.