Announcing the J. S. Bryant Therapeutic Boarding School
We are pleased and honored to consult with the founders of the J. S. Bryant School in Cummington, MA
. We have been assisting with building the team and look forward to a bright future! The school is being established on a 300 acre historic farm next to the William Cullen Bryant Homestead, a National Historic Landmark. Currently, there are no therapeutic boarding schools in the country that focus on the LGBTQ+ teens; The school will have a staff that is fully trained to specifically support gender affirming living and learning. It will combine the arts, farming entrepreneurship, and climate innovation to support learning excellence.
The founders, Dr. Allison Druin and Dr. Ben Bederson, are lifelong educators and innovators with a commitment to experiential learning and listening to the voices of young people. They are lovers of craft, creativity, and the healing properties of outdoor education and life. They are also the parents of a high school student who has walked this journey and now attends a therapeutic boarding school. As they sought a supportive environment for their child, they learned what was and wasn’t available. Coupled with their history of living in the Berkshires, they have been inspired by their family journey to create a much-needed learning community in the Northeast.
Kuhn Riddle Architects from Amherst, MA are engaged to develop the plans for the built environment of the campus. and the Berkshire Design Group from Northampton, MA has been engaged to support and transform the natural environment from a historical farm to a sustainable residential school with farming.
