The Oxbow School

The Oxbow School is a rigorous, interdisciplinary semester program for high school students, located in Napa, California. Our mission is to strengthen students’ abilities in creative and critical inquiry by combining rigorous studio art practice with innovative academics. The main focus of the program is studio arts, but an appreciation for nature and respect for the environment are inherent in the values of the school—every student at Oxbow works in the garden, through the science curriculum and the physical education program.

The Oxbow garden program gives each student the experience of getting their hands in the dirt; through the science curriculum, students have the opportunity to convert a bare plot of soil into a fruitful garden. The course begins with each student “adopting” a plot of Oxbow soil, which they steward for the rest of the semester. Using their plot as a microcosm for global agricultural systems, students explore the soil ecosystem—through a series of tests and observations, students examine the way environmental conditions, nutrient cycles, and microscopic soil life-forms affect plant life in their plot. Students then create a comprehensive soil profile, which they use to determine their soil’s fate, eventually deciding how to amend the soil and what to plant in it. By engaging in a “plant it forward” mentality, students literally sow the seeds that will become food for future Oxbow students. By looking closely at plants and soil, they explore much broader concepts and questions of sustainability, contextualizing their impact on the rest of the planet.

In the gardening co-curricular class (Oxbow’s take on physical education), students have the opportunity to work in the garden for an extended block of time, twice a week. This class varies from the science curriculum in that it is focused more on garden maintenance—here students learn how to do the real work of preparing the soil, starting seedlings, planting, weeding, harvesting, and composting. Students take the harvest directly to the school dining hall, where the Oxbow chefs practice the principals of simple, good food and prepare delicious meals with mindfulness and care. Semester after semester, we have seen that sharing wholesome, delicious food together awakens the senses and feeds the creative spirit as well as the body. 

Through the combination of the science curriculum, the gardening co-curricular and the school’s dining program, the Oxbow student receives a dynamic, full-circle, seed-to-table experience. 

For more information on The Oxbow School, visit www.oxbowschool.org or the weekly school blog www.oxbowschool.blogspot.com