By Heath Alexander, 6th Grade Social Studies Teacher Sixth-graders from the FBRA Boys Program went to City Hall on Monday, May 13, 2024 to deliver letters to the Asheville City Council and Mayor on the topic of rebuilding the Malvern Hills pool, a community swimming pool in West Asheville that has been closed due to […]
6th Graders Visit City Hall And Learn About The Malvern Hills Pool Issue Read More »
FBRA graduation ceremonies are unique in that each graduating 8th grader addresses the audience, in contrast to having a valedictorian deliver the class address. The ceremonies offer a special time for our community to celebrate the achievements of our graduating 8th graders, to reflect upon the impact of three years in our program, and for
The Reason Our Staff Paddle By Will Yeiser, Executive Director and Co-Founder One of the many concepts that influenced the creation of the French Broad River Academy (FBRA) came from legendary climber, businessman, environmentalist, and founder of Patagonia, Inc. Yvon Chouinard. In his book “Let My People Go Surfing,” he outlines his business approach of
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FBRA’s Class of 2020 Alumni Gather to Reflect on their time at FBRA On, May 21, 2024, we invited the Class of 2020 to come out and reminisce about the good old middle-school days of French Broad River Academy. After hearing these soon-to-graduate-from-high-school young men and women reflect on their time at FBRA, we can
Class of 2020 Alumni Gathering Read More »
By Will Yeiser, Executive Director & Co-Founder From the day I started teaching middle school in 2002, I knew I had to create an international travel and immersion experience in a Spanish-speaking country that went beyond the confines of the traditional classroom. Most people wait until high school or college for some type of study
“This Ain’t no Teen Tour… The Evolution of the FBRA International Field EXPERIENCE Read More »
I’ve had a fascination with traveling for as long as I can remember. Going to Costa Rica with FBRA is most likely what started it though. I met new people each year and lived with different families, which gave me a chance to see their different ways of living. FBRA pushed me out of my comfort zone for the three years that I attended. Many of my teachers repeated the phrase, “You can do hard things,” and although it was repetitive then, I still repeat it sometimes. Because of the time I spent with host families in Costa Rica, I wasn’t nervous about living with a Finnish host family.
From The Field – Anna Kate in Finland Read More »
Lessons Learned After Operating a School During a Pandemic Will Yeiser, FBRA Co-Founder & Executive Director WE MADE IT!!! As the last group of 8th grade students left campus with their families on the evening of June 4th, 2021 after our final graduation event, I finally was able to repeat these words and internalize
Thoughts from Will, June 2021 Read More »
Welcome Dorrie Sieburg to FBRA as the new Admissions and Communications Director for the Girls School. Dorrie’s work and life experience over the last twenty years have pointed her toward FBRA all along the way. After graduating from Penn State University with a BS in Education, Dorrie worked for the Student Conservation Association and Padilla
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“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
Alumni Update – Connor Schulz Read More »
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
Overnight Canoe Trips at FBRA Read More »