One, the general education of our students, and all of us, about the really critical conditions that we humans are creating on planet earth in this era of the Anthropocene.

Two, what we are going to do about this, and what actions we will take. We can start on our own campus, recording, reducing, and conserving energy use in comprehensive and concerted ways. We can also make environmentalism more a part of our service projects, and our ELP programs and trips.

Finding ways of challenging more systematically our students who have particular passions and interests

Developing challenging summer programs, indirectly linked to the regular curriculum, to allow for specialist interests

Encouraging the CSD to assist in increasing opportunities for our gifted students

Enhancing differentiated instruction in the classroom at all grade levels

The Director of Community Service and the Director of Experiential Learning will work with the KERU and REAP ( Rural Education Action Program) to advance these long-term, mutual, and cooperative projects in Sishui County. Our aim is to create long-term mutually beneficial projects working with the community in Sishui County. Building a Keystone residential center in the area might be a part of that, as might a short residency for every student in one of the Keystone middle years’ grades.

In our Keystone Mission, we say this:
“Our ambition is to share successes generously and to learn from failures bravely, to open our doors to many, and to engage fully with the world of education, and the world at large, beyond our gates.”

From the outset, Keystone planners and leaders have considered a teaching and learning institute that would focus on teachers sharing pedagogies; learning from and with each other. Keystone Academy, in cooperation with the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, CT, USA, organized a teaching symposium in the summer of 2019. This symposium was a step in this direction. Other ideas include a summer institute as part of our summer archway menu, which could include our own teachers and teachers from other schools, public and private.