Alumni Reflections

Laura Gross, from her application to Hampshire College

"My formal education began at NCCL...We called the eight teachers by their first names: they were our friends along with the parents, community members and friends who contributed varied and unusual expertise to our education. At NCCL we learned by doing and I loved school. Yes, we studied traditional subjects--English, math, science, history, foreign language; but we were taught in a non-traditional manner. In cooking we might study a traditional culture. In drama, we might rehearse our annual production--ranging from Gilbert and Sullivan to Ionesco's The Bald Soprano.

As a result of the educational philosophy at NCCL, there was no stigma about who you were or expectations of what you had to be; each of us liked or at least accepted the other."