Dear Incredible Student and Teacher Alumni of the Field Academy,
​
Six years ago, the Field Academy was a conversation around a kitchen table in a very drafty apartment with a broken heater. It was sketches on napkins and lists on the back of brown paper bags. It was called “the Radix Project” (thankfully, that name was short-lived!). It was hours spent debating the purpose of education in today’s world, and driving up and down the coast of Maine, and trying to figure out how to explain in 20 words or less just what it was that we were trying to do.  (Yup, that all really happened!)

It wasn’t real until you all showed up.

Today, the Field Academy is a very real community that starts with the 48 of you, who are some of the most inspiring, vibrant, and visionary people we know.

The world is a really different place than it was six years ago. We are really different people than we were six years ago. And this organization is different because of the thumbprint of each one of you. We want the Field Academy to engage, deeply, this moment in the world that we live in, and the people that make it up.

After an incredibly successful FIFTH student program, we’ve recognized that we have huge questions that we want to answer, questions like:

  • What is the purpose of education at this moment in our country’s history? What do we want it to be? What do we need it to be?
  • How is what we've been doing on a small scale with 50+ young people relevant to the courageous movements for transformative change that we see in our world today? How can it be more so?
  • How do we deepen our accountability and relationship to communities on the frontlines of climate change and injustice?
  • How do we ensure that all levels of our organization are learning and growing with regards to our understandings of identity, privilege, and power?
  • What are others doing to cultivate education for profound social transformation and how can we learn from and share with them?

In honor of these questions, and the challenge of looking for answers, we’ve decided that we’re going to spend the next year as a sabbatical. A sabbatical is a period of rest, reflection, and reinvigoration. We’re not going to run a program this year, but we are going to listen, a lot. To you all, to our community partners, to our staff, and supporters. To ourselves.  (That starts here and now.  We need your input to help guide us.  Click here!)

Here are some of the things that we’re excited about doing during this sabbatical:
  • Writing (or co-writing) about what we’ve been up to
  • Connecting with other transformative education programs around the world
  • Hosting a retreat (or two!) with alumni, community partners, board, and staff
  • Deepening conversations with community partners

So we’re inviting you to be a part of it with us. We want to know what you think, and the ways that you want to be involved. Will you:

  1. Fill out this survey and tell us how you want to be involved.
  2. Send us an email and let us know what questions you have about all of this.
  3. Tell us about anything or anyone that is currently inspiring you - in the world of education and beyond - that you think we should connect with during this year.

We are really, really excited for this year and the chance to hear what you think. With a lot of love and pride in this community,

Jen and Heather

P.S. We decided to send this email to you all first before we announce this to the rest of the Field Academy community, because we wanted you to be in the loop first. We'll be sending out a bigger update later this week!

P.P.S. We miss you!  Send us weird things whenever.  For example, this gem that Heather could NOT stop watching today….  (She says, “This is how we feel about all of you.”)