They are gentle hearted and eager learners. They find something good in everyone and all situations. We like originality and know that no treasure seeker ever chased after anything average. Being one of a kind is a gift.

We love morning hikes where we can organize our minds and bodies without competition and while breathing in fresh air and observing all that changes within a day in our lakeside space. It is when we are outdoors or working together in learning a topic or building a project that our students convey things they have learned and know that they cannot express on paper. It is a learning and communication style that works: walking, talking, using our hands and getting dirty. Surrounded by nature, they emerge from a cocoon. They come out with wings.

At JLSA our students have heard a calling. While learning and growing they feel a sense of security and freedom to be themselves. From that place communication and connections flow and children blossom. Nature is the most effective regulator of our bodies but it best integrates our senses. Arts and nature are the elements that foster a sense of limitlessness for learning and turn the average into extraordinary.

If there is any education that is needed for the development of future environmental stewards and our greater community, it is a personalized education. We have moved away from fluorescent lights and we don't spend our days seated at a desk. We were fascinated by the 13 year cicadas we encountered that brought them all out of more than decade of hibernation to join in some shared song. Education should enable one to think freely but with discernment, yet simultaneously trusting in their ability to recognize the songs within them and be in sync with the rhythm and purpose of their own life.

-Beth Kuklinski, Founder & Director