Although we live in a time of change and unpredictability, it is also a moment of tremendous possibility and opportunity. The present moment is both fragile and emergent, and life on earth is at a remarkable crossroads. The 21st century calls on each of us to step fully into our unique strengths and capacities. In this promising yet challenging time, education has an obligation to teach with new models and paradigms that will inspire the full breadth of human possibility. At Manzanita, we are committed to just such an approach, one that will guide youth confidently across the threshold to a meaningful and engaged life. 

Compulsory schooling in America has changed little since its inception; It continues to be content driven, with learning dependent upon memorization of facts from discrete academic disciplines that have little overlap. Subject matter is often so dry that young people consider it irrelevant. Schools measure their success through standardized tests of literacy and numeracy, valuing memorization and recall over thinking and ingenuity. Passion and desire for learning is simply not cultivated in this context.

A great body of current research demonstrates the important therapeutic role that human contact with nature plays in our physical and mental health. At Manzanita, we take that a step further, declaring that deep nature connection is both preventative and evocative; it protects against diseases of body and mind, while also evoking a set of personal attributes necessary for living a full and meaningful life. These attributes include empathy, reverence, commitment to service, vitality, earth stewardship, joyfulness, and a quiet, mindful awareness. Through a very specific set of practices called ‘core routines,’ one grows this ‘deep nature connection’ and the associated attributes. Such qualities are a natural human inheritance, a gift of our long developmental tenure living in direct contact with wild nature.