Mission

Utilizing the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed as the foundation for an immersive, rigorous, and interdisciplinary curriculum, the Chesapeake Watershed Semester is a single-semester, place-based academic program for high school juniors and seniors.  The program aims to cultivate reflective and confident students and leaders who can promote regional and global environmental sustainability through their understanding of scientific, social, cultural, and political systems.

 

Students walking through water

Immersive, Place-Based Experiences

We believe that real-world and first-person experiences are vital to developing understanding and knowledge. 

Students getting into canoes

Rigorous, Problem-based Learning

Students develop a toolbox of skills to evaluate primary sources,  analyze data, and establish an ethical foundation from which to draw conclusions. 

Community Engagement

Community Engagement

Learn about the issues facing the watershed through meetings with public officials, university researchers, fishermen, farmers, and local historians.

Two students holding fish

Teaching Leadership

We believe that leadership is a skill that can be learned by every person.

Environmental Sustainability

Individual and collective actions towards greater sustainability are emphasized throughout the program.