A Passion for Learning

"You mean 25 hundred?"

"No, I mean 25. We have three teachers, a secretary ..." and so goes the typical conversation about the school where we teach in the town of Bridgeport, Calif. (population 817), just east of Yosemite National Park.

Usually such an incredibly small school would struggle to meet the basic needs of its students, but with some innovative thinking, an unusual layout, integrated technology, a demanding curriculum, strong leadership and determined students, we've made our limited size into our greatest strength.

Each year, a few students from Bridgeport and the surrounding areas make the choice to attend our school instead of one of the neighboring comprehensive high schools 30 miles to the north or south. They decide to give up sports, lockers, varied electives and the traditional social opportunities that bigger schools offer and to take on the challenge of surviving four rigorous years crammed into a three-room school house with 28 other people.

Why do so many students make this choice each year? Because our school excels. Ninety percent of our graduates attend college, 75 percent earn four-year degrees, and 66 percent are the first in their families to do so. Our school always scores well above the state average on standardized tests despite our rural location and wide range of skill levels. Why? Because our school radiates a climate of achievement, hard work and camaraderie built on a combination of high expectations (students don't receive credit for anything below a B-) and a comfortable family dynamic.

Students from diverse backgrounds enter our school with the same dream: a dream of college and opportunity. Together, we fulfill that dream. And that means our graduates will likely find themselves on college campuses having that very same conversation: "25 students ..."

© 2008