Walden III Middle/High School

Walden III Middle/High School is an alternative school located in downtown Racine, Wisconsin. It operates on a few core strategies: small size, flexibility and developing student responsibility.

History

Walden III was founded in 1972 as an alternative high school for the students of the Racine Unified School District. The school began as part of the doctoral projects of two University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee education students, Jackson VanBuren Parker and David Lloyd Johnston. Their doctoral dissertations were on the evaluation of the effectiveness and curriculum choices in alternative secondary schools, and the pair received permission from the Racine Unified School District in 1971 to found an alternative school to serve as a living educational experiment of their educational philosophy.

Jackson Parker served as the school's first principal, retiring from that position after the 1983-84 school year, when he was replaced by Chuck Kent, who served as principal until the early 1990s. Bob Holzem was principal until the 2014/15 school year. Robert Kriel is the current principal.

Walden III was named by the students after Henry David Thoreau's Walden because of Thoreau's commitments to experimentalism and individuality, and subsequent to behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner's utopian novel, Walden Two. In its first year, the school admitted only 11th and 12th grade students; the following year it became a senior high school serving grades 9 through 12. Walden III was originally located in the McMynn Building, across from Memorial Hall. After a few years, it moved to its current location at 1012 Center Street, in the former Benjamin Franklin High School building. The older wing of the building was occupied by the magnet elementary school Red Apple until the 1986-87 school year, not too long after Walden III first admitted middle school students (grades 6 through 8).

Since its founding, Walden III has exhibited a high level of academic success. Its standardized test scores are routinely among the highest in the state at all grade levels, and it has produced National Merit Scholarship award winners and finalists. It was one of the first high schools in Wisconsin to require geography for graduation, and the first to require a major research project for graduation. It has been recognized as an essential school by the Coalition of Essential Schools.

Walden III has recently become Racine's first Green School, as a result of the efforts of many students and high school English teacher Tom Rutkowski. The Green School organization at the school has students recycling cans, bottles and paper, as well as planning for future efforts for more environmentally-conscious progress, funded by charitable donations and philanthropic grants. Recently, Rutkowski paid for a sculpture that is now occupying the main hallway, a walrus named Wally Sparks (hence the Walden Walruses)

Rite of Passage Experience

The Rite of Passage Experience (ROPE) is a graduation requirement completed by all graduating Walden III students in their senior year. In the first two quarters, students are required to make a portfolio showcasing their talents and personality. This portfolio includes an autobiography, a reflective essay on a piece of literature, a résumé, letters of recommendation, and proof in various forms that the student not only meets the requirements set out by the school district (mathematics, reading, English, and knowledge of American government) but meets the additional, more rigorous requirements set by Walden III. During the second two quarters, students are required to write (under the guidance of a faculty member and ROPE advisor) a thesis on a topic of their choice. All of these are presented orally to the student's ROPE committee, composed of the two faculty members and a junior year student.

Administrators

• Principal: Rob Kreil
• Middle/High School Coordinator: Chris Semrad^[1]

References

External links

• Walden III Middle/High School