Powderhouse Studios is a small, alternative high school in Somerville. While still in the planning phase, we are aiming for a Fall 2018 opening.

With a focus on computation and storytelling, we want to build a creative workplace with youth. In cohorts of just 40 young people, teams of 3 staff will work to provide the scaffolding those young people need to learn and grow, working independently on projects of their own design. Over their time at the school, young people will transition from participating mainly in staff-guided, interdisciplinary seminars designed to support divergent project-based work to directing their own learning through individual and group projects, independent studies, and eventually internships and co-ops in fields they want to explore.

We want to put more young people in charge of what and how they learn, and see staff more as coaches and mentors than instructors, making sure they work with students to accomplish the things that are necessary for graduation and post-PHS success in parallel with their independent work.