One core component of the Compass program is our dedication to experiential learning. We believe that students need to learn by doing, moving, interacting, and being creative. We avoid a lecture and textbook-based approach in favor of Socratic Seminars, interactive lessons using our Smartboards, art activities, experiments, field trips, and role play, among many other examples Students can teach a class, design a product, take on a leadership activity, or get involved in a community-based organization or project in order to apply their learning.

At Compass, we dedicate three weeks per year at the end of each quarter to engage in more intensive hands-on, community-based experiences. The overarching goals of our trips during these Intersession weeks are to push students to try new things, to get them out of their comfort zones, to provide team building experiences that will nurture closer relationships and support between students and with their teachers, to work on life skills and independence, to do community service, and to learn in the outdoors and in in our local community.

Every day students hit the road to see the world they have opportunities to get creative, to get dirty, and to have thrilling adventures. Here are the highlights of previous Intersession Programs:

• A historically focused trip on local war memorials and artifacts
• A teambuilding ropes course looking out on the beautiful pacific ocean
• A whale watching trip in Monterey focused on local marine biology
• An environmental-science trip to explore the ecosystems of Costa Rica