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by Collin Carpino, NewGate Class of 2024
What do Africa, the Cayman Islands, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Prince Edward Island, Spain, Virginia, and Wisconsin have in common? Well, for me, this is the community that makes up my high school. I am a recent Montessori graduate from the Global Campus of NewGate School, the Lab School of the Montessori Foundation. In this environment, I spent my weekdays with teachers and classmates spanning the globe, each bringing his or her unique viewpoints to hands-on, collaborative projects, research, and community discussions. When I tell people I went to high school online, I am often met with an unenthusiastic response, although I feel quite enthusiastic about this untraditional path.
NewGate Global is a real-time, online campus branch of NewGate School in Sarasota, Florida. Although NewGate has been around for 40 years, the Global campus emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many schools were forced to close their doors and go virtual. Many families that desired a Montessori experience for their adolescent children found the program to be a vibrant eLearning community.
Each Global school day starts with an opening meeting in which all students (ages 12-18) are present, along with at least two teachers. It is a time to acknowledge everyone, say good morning, and sometimes even celebrate birthdays. We also talk about our daily phenology* recordings in which we go outside to a special place and observe how the environment changes within each season. On Mondays, we always share highlights from the weekend. On Tuesdays, a country is spotlighted, and then on Wednesdays, that country’s culture and traditions are discussed. Thursdays are our student-facilitated Council meetings in which questions and concerns are proposed to the community; future events are mentioned; our World Walking project is updated; our Global Journal is discussed; and we always close with personal gratitude. Council is a time to strengthen our community. Sometimes, we meet with the in-person Sarasota campus to discuss a book or film. On Fridays, we share special interests.
Traditional Montessori Secondary classes are typically divided into three cycles. We have two: Grades 7-9 and Grades 10-12. Students meet throughout the week with their assigned cycle for literature and composition, the humanities, the sciences, mathematics, and Spanish classes. Occasionally, a student from Cycle 1 may need to be in a mathematics class in Cycle 2 because he/she needs a more advanced class. Our students study mathematics from pre-algebra through calculus. We are also held accountable each week for time spent in creativity, action, and service (CAS) via an ongoing portfolio project that continues from year to year, and students are involved each year in a weeklong internship, which is then brought back to the community and shared. Opportunities and events on the brick-and-mortar Sarasota (FL) campus are always extended to the Global campus, such as Drama Immersion Week, during which students are responsible for all aspects of the production of a well-known play and participation in the annual Through Women’s Eyes Film Festival in Sarasota.
Every aspect of NewGate Global is interactive, engaging, fun, and collaborative. Students are encouraged to eat lunch together one day a week and to attend CAS Art after school on Thursdays for an teacher-hosted interactive art experience. As a Montessori student, I never once dreaded going to class. Some of my favorite activities included building model bridges, a to-scale model of the Parthenon, a solar-powered oven, an insulated house, and homemade bread. I have loved reading and studying Ishmael by Daniel Quinn; Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse; and The Pearl by John Steinbeck. We look very closely at historical events. Some of my favorites: Lewis Hine’s artwork of the Progressive Era; the Dust Bowl of the 1930s; the Cold War; and Global Politics. In environmental science, I especially enjoyed the many projects created throughout the year in which we looked at the natural world and our footprint on it.
The most unexpected aspect of NewGate Global is the strong sense of community that is easily observed throughout the school day and in special events, such as the Global Showcase (held in winter and spring). In the past, students have shared their interests outside of the classroom, which have included: dance; athletics; theater; playing instruments; singing; photography; artwork; flying a plane; ocean conservation; sewing historically accurate clothing; needlework; green projects; poetry; and writing. One recent graduate even shared his experience as an American Ninja Warrior finalist, and another shared his sculptures on display for Carnival Cruise Line. The focus of these events is not to have a winner but to have a variety show that highlights talents and interests of our community.
At the end of the 2023 school year, the NewGate Global community met in person for the first time in Sarasota. It was our first global gathering, and it was both amazing as well as surprising to see each other in real life. The only downside to the event was that it was just too short. At the end of this last school year, we had our second global gathering on Prince Edward Island (PEI) at the Canadian Centre for Climate Change and Adaptation. We participated in a research project with the University of PEI and celebrated collaborative efforts to become a Peace Certified School through the Mattie Stepanek Foundation.
To learn more about the NewGate Global experience, visit Newgate.edu or contact teamglobal@newgate.edu.
*Phenology is the study of phenomena or happenings and is applied to the recording and study of the dates of recurrent natural events.
Collin Carpino is currently enjoying his first year of college. Prior to this, he attended New Gate’s Global Campus online program for high school and for part of his eighth grade year and enjoyed in-person Montessori school from the second grade. He lives with his family in Georgia and Florida. Collin enjoys guitar, dystopian fiction, working out at the gym, swimming, volunteer work, and his dog and two cats.
