Urban Intensive
The Buxton Urban Intensive (also known as the All School Trip) is a unique, student-driven journey to a city of specific interest to the school.
During the weeks prior to the trip, all students and faculty are involved in preparations and appointment-setting in the host city. Students help book hotel rooms, busses and restaurants; plan activities, make connections and research local transportation. We wholly depend on and trust our students to execute the wide range of administrative and managerial tasks necessary to pull off a trip of this magnitude.
While on the trip, students intersperse visits to places of interest with community service, including performances of the ‘All School Play.’ Students are broken into different groups that each focus on a specific topic, such as making a documentary film of post-Katrina housing in New Orleans or studying the genesis of inner-city murals in Philadelphia.
The week following our trip, students present their findings to each other to ensure the experience is as well-rounded as possible. We all reflect on what we’ve seen and learned, and take those lessons with us in the months and years to come.
Past All School Trips have seen Buxton in locations as diverse as Cuba, Detroit, Nicaragua, Washington, DC, Philadelphia, Chicago and El Paso.
Areas of study have included urban planning, artisanship and cultural identity, boxing culture, the U.S. / Mexican border, homelessness and crime.
Testimonials
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"Buxton has given me the freedom to be the person I want to be, make the art I want to make, and learn the things I want to learn. At Buxton we learn not only in the classroom, but in the community. We learn how to be good to each other and how to support each other. Buxton has so much to offer students, both inside the classroom and outside of it."Great Barrington, MA
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“At Buxton you get to focus on what you want to be learning; whether it is social skills or in-depth studying- you learn to take responsibility of your education.”Troy, NY
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“Living your education means to not only learn things, but to use what you learn in your everyday life.”Mexico
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“To me, living your education means to be independent, to take charge, to not be afraid of asking for help, to learn from your peers, to love to learn, to take what you have learned from a loving environment and take it into the world.”New Hampshire
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“Your education is more than just your time in class, it’s your life as a whole. Learning is not limited to a teacher teaching you something in a classroom.”Missouri
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“To me, at Buxton, it’s not boundaries that you make, but the ones you break through.”New York, NY
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“At Buxton, I can choose what I want to do with my education. I can design my own path and invest my time studying topics that I’m really interested in.”New York, NY
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“At Buxton you can experience your intellectual development in a community that accepts your perspective of the world.”Mexico
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“I felt instantly at home when I stepped on the campus. At Buxton, we are in school 24/7. We learn things in the classroom, but we really learn valuable things outside of the classroom. We learn how to work with others and respect each other’s spaces. Our education surrounds us and we learn new things everyday.”Albany, NY
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“I chose Buxton over public school because I think I function better in a smaller environment. You’re able to get to know students and faculty on a deeper level, which is rare.”Williamstown, MA
