Testimonials

Something Has Got to Change

2011-06-23T22:06:12Z

North Star parents speak about their experience in choosing North Star.

Parent Jodi Cutler speaks about "How North Star Saved her Family."

2009-08-20T18:20:39Z

Journey from miserable 10th-grader to world traveler and Amherst College student.

2009-08-17T14:31:00Z

Dan was bright but angry about the rules and constrictions of school.

2009-08-15T19:00:00Z

Summer, 2003. School’s out…and I know that I am not going back to Holyoke High School again.

Matt knew life is too short to waste time. At North Star, he found his time was his own.

2009-08-15T19:00:00Z

Stream of consciousness: waking up knowing that today would be another day of just going to high school; knowing that I'm going to be confined to these mandatory classes that have very little meaning to me;

Katie's depression made school untenable. She found life without school much healthier.

2009-08-15T15:41:00Z

I started North Star about this time last year, when I was 15 and in 10th grade. My guidance counselor had politely suggested that I take an extended break from my schooling...

Tobias Baskin Receives the Self-Directed Learning Award

2009-08-15T15:30:00Z

Tobias Baskin, a professor at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, left high school to pursue his passions. He ended up at Yale University and on to a life in academia. In 2010 North Star awarded him with our annual Celebration of Self-Directed Learning Award. This is his acceptance speech where he tells his amusing and inspirational journey away from traditional schooling and back again. You can't see it, but he got a standing ovation.

Shane was bright, angry, and good at finding trouble. See a video of his speech at our 2009 fundraiser.

2009-08-15T14:24:13Z

Taylor had special needs and his school was not able to satisfactorily serve him. This is an account from his mom, Abby, of Taylor's transition from school, through North Star, to life.

2009-08-15T14:20:38Z

My son just came home from his first ‘real’ job with his face was black with soot except where he’d wiped away sweat. He’s 17 and slight of build. His hands shake as a side effect of medication. He’s dyslexic and terse, creative and gifted, and this past November, in the beginning of what would have been his junior year in high school, he decided to leave school. Not drop out. Just leave school.

Abby was bright, capable, and miserable in school.

2009-08-15T14:00:00Z

I spent 6 ½ years in the Ludlow public school system, and leaving it was one of the most momentous events of my life. It gave me another chance, an opportunity to start again, to just change my direction in life.