“I didn’t realize that I was going to have to crawl through holes in the mud that were so small that we had to push our packs through ahead of us.” — Connor Schulz describing his sixth grade experience in Worley’s Cave A short conversation is all that is needed to realize that 2014 FBRA …
Andrew Holcombe, FBRA Boys Director For my final “Thoughts from the Director” I would like to take a moment to talk about a part of the FBRA program that is near and dear to my heart: our overnight self-support canoe trips. We have just completed three of these at the boys school along different …
Will Yeiser, Executive Director The recent warm weather has been a welcome reminder that spring is just around the corner. After a long, dark, and cold winter exacerbated by the isolation and the daily stress of trying to manage family and work under the “COVID clouds,” a short burst of sunshine and sixty-degree weather …
Jen Horshman, FBRA Girls Program Director We believe powerful learning and growth happens when our middle school students engage in regular outdoor programming. Our students gain important foundational skills and values that are transferable to the academic classroom and other life endeavors. These student outcomes happen only because of the talent and commitment our …
John Douglas, Director of Development It’s hard to imagine that the 2020-2021 is shaping up to be a phenomenal year for the Development Department at FBRA. Thanks to the generosity of our amazing families and supporters, the Salamander Fund has crested $90,000 this year, surpassing our goal by $15,000. We had no idea what …
While skiing is a lot of fun, our primary goal in the FBRA ski program is for students to grow in ability and confidence as skiers by providing specific skill instruction and practice time. In order to provide appropriate instruction at every level, each year our staff members attend a one to two day ski …
Jack Pitfield, Director of Marketing & Technology The list of responsibilities and skills of any one teacher at the French Broad River Academy is long: some of our teachers hold advanced outdoor skills, many of our teachers are Spanish speakers, and all have a wilderness medicine certification. It is not uncommon to see the school’s …
Curriculum Discussion: Natalie Sayre & David Byers Read More »
John Douglas, Director of Development Had I known four years ago that my job at FBRA would include monitoring people’s health, reading medical studies in JAMA, and communicating with healthcare professionals, parents, and staff on a daily basis surrounding testing, quarantines, and vaccinations for a deadly virus, I probably would have passed. However, as stressful …
Jen Horshman, FBRA Girls Program Director Looking at the political landscape in the United States, most anyone would agree that there is a lot of discord and a large dose of ineffective communication. If only politicians had learned how to resolve issues and problems in Community Meetings at FBRA. Community Meetings are part of our …
Andrew Holcombe, FBRA Boys Program Director I’ve been thinking about what the last six months have meant for our organization and our students quite a bit recently; here is my effort to briefly share some of my thoughts and observations. Adaptability, specifically in terms of students. This word has been used a lot lately, …