For anyone who lives, works, or plays in the NEK Cabot’s reputation as a close-knit community is well known. Like many rural communities in our region, Cabot is a community of people that care about and for each other. It is a community where adults model civic engagement – at town meeting, in its structures of government, through volunteerism, and within the business community: the hardware store is also a popular gathering place where in addition to picking up your Saturday project materials you can also catch some great local music, grab some locally sourced food and a local brew to go with it.

The Newark Street School’s mission and vision is one that resonates with anyone familiar with the interdependence that occurs in rural communities. The school’s engagement of students, staff and community members is framed as a ‘global model’ in which all stakeholders work side-by-side as learning partners. This inclusive model invites all to become increasingly prepared to explore the world and to take responsible action for oneself, as well as for environmental integrity, social equity, and economic prosperity — all while serving the community. Like many schools in rural Vermont, the school often becomes the heartbeat of the community.

Canaan Memorial School is like many rural schools: a mix of relationships between students, staff, parents, family, community services, nonprofits, and social organizations, and volunteers, and the municipal offices, and the town library, and the town celebration committee, and local businesses, and, and, and, and, and…. It is through these many interconnected relationships that a school becomes a hub of the community. It is through these relationships that a school is a community school. It is true that community schools seek to foster the educational opportunities beyond the walls of the school and expand experiential learning for students; it is also true that the programs and opportunities that arise in the community school do so from the unique needs and assets within a community.