LEAVENWORTH – An informal but special educational exchange is developing between Cascade High School (CHS) and Nordvestlandet folkehøgskole, a Norwegian folk high school.
In recent years, an increasing number of CHS graduates have chosen to embark on a gap year – a period when students take a break from the traditional educational route, most often after completing high school before enrolling in college - at Nordvestlandet, opting for an exceptional and transformative experience.
The more than eighty folk high schools in Norway, which welcome international students, do not grant academic degrees, nor do they issue exams or grades. Instead, the focus of these boarding schools, which vary in size, location, and program structure, is on the development of practical skills.
Students concentrate in areas such as: outdoor life and sports crafts, including skiing and snowboarding, hiking and mountaineering, sailing and kayaking, climbing, horseback riding, and hunting and fishing; or arts and crafts, including painting and drawing, photography, ceramics, textile work, music (vocal and instrumental), and acting and theater; or media and communication, including filmmaking, journalism, graphic design, and social media.
Like a typical college year, the folk school term lasts nine months, from August to May. Student life plays a big part in the calendar with organized events, whole-school trips, formals, and a myriad of other social activities.
Nordvestlandet folkehøgskole, set beneath a ring of mountains on a bucolic white clapboard, slate roofed campus above a dazzling confluence of two fjords in, as its name suggests, the northwest of the country near to the west coast, has taken as its motto “built for movement.”
Consistent with that maxim, to date, CHS alumni attending Nordvestlandet have selected either the school’s “Basecamp” or “Powder Surf - Japan” lines (or majors). The former is billed as a way to experience the Norwegian northwest “through trips, activities, and overnight stays outdoors;” the latter, which includes a multiple week February trip to ski in Japan, “for those who want to challenge themselves and have an action-packed school year with a focus on surfing, skiing, and varied outdoor activities.”
Stella Johnson, a junior at Montana State University, CHS’s first grad to enroll at Nordvestlandet folkehøgskole, during the 2021-22 school year, recalled that “a college friend of my dad’s had a daughter that went to Nordvestlandet, and they told me about it. It seemed interesting, and a wonderful way to have a year of skiing, friendships, and new culture! My family comes from Norway. So, after hearing about the folkehøgskole from our friends, it was a way to get to a place that I’ve always been interested in.”
Tonio Aurilio, a freshman at Western Washington University and 2023 graduate of CHS, attended Nordvestlandet for the 2023-24 term because he was “looking for something different” and knew how much Johnson loved her time at the folk school. “It was a completely life-changing experience. You arrive to a place out of your comfort zone, but soon make friends, learn a new culture, explore the world, and push yourself. On a lot of the [Basecamp line] trips, you are outdoors the whole time – sometimes for several days. That’s not something most of us have experienced; but you feel good about yourself afterwards.” Aurilio’s CHS classmate Olen Johnson attended Valdres folkehøgskole the same year in Norway’s mountainous central region.
CHS class of 2024 alumna Isabel Menna is half-way through her year at Nordvestlandet, before heading to Dartmouth next year, and soon leaves with her fellow “Powder Surf” classmates and instructor for deep powder skiing in Japan. Current CHS seniors Amiano Coronado and Ezra Swart both plan to attend Nordvestlandet next year.
The emphasis on community is a cornerstone of the folk school experience. “The folkehøgskole setup is something lovely,” Johnson shared. “You eat four times a day with people, go outside with them, play games, talk about life, travel with them. It's a place where friendships grow fast and strong. Many of the people I went to school with I stay in contact with, and have seen multiple times since leaving, which is no small feat due to the continent and ocean that separates us.”
The growing connection between CHS and Nordvestlandet represents a promising trend, with students like Johnson, Aurilio, Menna, and those to follow gaining invaluable life experiences, forging lasting friendships, and developing a deeper understanding of the world.
For more information on Norwegian folk schools generally, see: folkehogskole.no. For Nordvestlandet folkehøgskole: nordvestlandet.no; Valdres folkehøgskole: vintereventyr.no.
Caroline Menna is an intern for Ward Media and a senior at Cascade High School, where she serves as Editor-in-Chief of the school’s Publications Group.
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