It was so clear: our hope for a sustainable future for all of life in these rapidly-changing times lies in our public education system.
After countless hours of conversations, research, and planning by families, educators, and students, each bringing their unique experience and perspective, a vision was emerging – a vision of a public high school that would engage young people in taking on life with passion and purpose in this era of extreme challenges to the environmental and social systems that sustain us all, living their very best life in the present while becoming future-ready.
But what to call it? A name – we needed a name, and the clock was ticking. . . What would express the essence of this fresh new approach to time-honored educational practices?
New Roots!
The name emerged like a vigorous new seedling thrusting through the fertile soil of our collective effort, reaching towards the light.
New Roots evokes the hope and promise of fresh life and new beginnings, drawing from the nourishment of our rich educational heritage and our social and ecological communities. And then there is the play on words: the promise of finding “new routes” forward in a time where many are seeing dead ends in our 20th century assumptions. New Roots is designed to be a powerful antidote to existential angst, a source of inspiration and informed optimism, rooted deeply in the wisdom of the past and reaching vigorously for the future.
New Roots was authorized as a public charter high school by the State of New York in 2008. We are now in our 16th year of creating a powerful learning community aligned with the mission, vision, and values created by the collective work of our founding community members, educators, families, and young people.
“Follow the old roots to find the new roots.” This was the advice Jake Edwards of the Onondaga Nation offered to our faculty many years ago. It gave me goosebumps. The power of our “new” school model has its roots in indigenous educational practices and a world view that creates sustainable and balanced relationships between people and other living beings as valued members of the natural systems that they are all part of. We have been blessed by the partnership and support of Haudenosaunee neighbors in bringing our New Roots vision to life.
We are also grateful to have the opportunity to seek full expression of this wisdom in our day-to-day lives at New Roots Charter School, where we lean into drawing on the insights of the past to envision and create a more just and sustainable future for all.
It is so deeply satisfying to see the fruits of our labor tending this fertile ground, as expressed in the lives of our students, alumni and staff. In this blog series, we will celebrate this watershed year by telling the story of New Roots, an educational community transforming our world through creating new opportunities for ways of living and learning together, each and every day, one young person at a time. In so doing, we are learning – and teaching – that anything is possible if we dream big, and work together.
This post is the first of a series that will tell the story of New Roots from the perspective of those who have been part of its vision and growth since the seeds of its inception. Our next installment will be a retrospective of the highlights of our first 15 years, and a look at what’s coming into bloom in 2025.
With gratitude,
Tina
Tina Nilsen-Hodges
Founder, Principal and Superintendent
As seen in the photo above, our founding New Roots faculty launched our collaboration with educational pioneer Jaimie Cloud of the Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education in Summer 2009 to design our ground-breaking four-year interdisciplinary curriculum. The New Roots curriculum meets and exceeds all NYS standards through project- and community-based learning aligned with Education for a Sustainable Future (EfS) Benchmarks.