Expeditionary Learning
All students at Manzanita go on expeditions, overnight adventures, that take place beyond the campus grounds. They are designed to build group unity, while giving the students hands-on experience with their core Humanities or Science curriculum.
Lower School, Grades 3 through 8
In the fall semester of each year, students in grades 5th through 8th take a trip to a wild location in Southern California. Our 3rd graders spend a late night on the campus, and 4th graders sleep over, with a fire circle, night hikes, and stories. The length and rigorousness of the trip is determined by the grade level of the students. The primary purpose of the Lower School Expeditionary Program is to provide students with a powerful shared experience to build a sense of unity and identity as a class. Immersion in wild nature supports this goal. Trips are connected to the grade level’s core science curriculum and they support our Nature Connection Program.
Expedition Locations
3rd and 4th Grade: Late night (3rd) and overnight (4th) on the Manzanita Campus
5th: Sycamore Canyon Campground: 1 Overnight
6th Grade: Quail Springs Permaculture Farm: 2 Days
7th Grade: Joshua Tree National Park: 3 Days
8th Grade: Cottonwood Lakes, John Muir Wilderness, Sierra Nevada Mountains: 6 Days
Upper School
Manzanita High School expeditions are mandatory rigorous learning experiences in which students travel for the purpose of learning about themselves, a place, a subject, a different culture, or to provide service. With guidance and support from their instructors, students are responsible for planning and implementing many key aspects of the expedition. Each main semester expedition integrates and supports the curricular focus of that semester’s core humanities or science class, offering students an opportunity to root their learning in visceral community experience and a spirit of adventure.
sample Expeditions
Manzanita High School Fall Expedition
October 17th-25th, 2019
Bioneers Conference and Atmospheric Chemistry
in the Eastern Sierra Nevadas
Activities:
The Bioneers Conference will provide students with exposure to a range of expert speakers and activists working in the fields of Manzanita School’s major curriculum foci (Earth Systems Science and The Great Turning). At Bioneers, students will attend workshops and lectures related to these foci, and the themes that arise there will be integrated into their studies throughout the year. Manzanita students will participate in the Bioneers Youth Program, which includes an orientation workshop with dinner and other opportunities to connect with youth from diverse locations and backgrounds.
After attending Bioneers, students will travel to various natural sites throughout the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains, exploring Atmospheric Chemistry content from their core science class. We will camp in front-country campgrounds near the cars, not backpacking into wilderness sites. Students will also be presenting short individual presentations on relevant curriculum topics throughout our trip, which they will prepare ahead of time as part of their Unit of Study class. Our mountain time will also offer opportunities to reflect on and share with each other the information they gathered at different workshops at Bioneers.
Additionally during the trip, students will engage in the core routines of nature connection, complete tasks related to their expeditionary roles, have some free time to explore and enjoy their surroundings, engage in storytelling and journaling activities, as well as other potential games and activities that may arise in the moment.
Manzanita High School Winter Expedition
Friday, February 21st - Friday, February 28th
Indigenous Support in
Big Mountain, Arizona
Trip Overview:
One of the guiding questions of our core humanities studies this semester explores the effects that different governmental and economic systems have on people and the environment. As a case study, we will be learning about the political and economic dynamics in the American Southwest that led to forced relocation of 12,000 Navajo people in Northern Arizona in order to make room for coal mining. This expedition will be a visit to the community of Big Mountain, where some of these people have remained on their ancestral lands and been continually affected by this relocation order for the last 50 years. Students will spend 5 days working with families there, helping carry out tasks necessary to the maintenance of traditional lifeways in the face of continued harassment and a diminished natural environment due to mineral extraction in the area. This trip will be a return to the area for some students, after the MNZ high school was invited by a local community leader to bring our students to visit the community in the winter of 2018.
Activities:
During the stay, students will work on daily and seasonal tasks that are necessary to maintain the integrity of the lifeways of the local people. Daily tasks include herding sheep on foot through the surrounding landscape, gathering and splitting firewood, and pumping and transporting water. Seasonal tasks include road maintenance using hand tools, structure repair, clearing corrals, and preparing agricultural fields for springtime cultivation.