Your Community is Your Classroom at MC2

For Alex, a student at Making Community Connections Charter School in Keene — better known as "M-C-Squared," or "MC2" — nearly half of their 2023-2024 school year took place at their internship site, The Community Kitchen (TCK). Guided by their belief that everyone deserves access to nutritious food, Alex dove into their role. On any given day, they would hand-sort through donated bread, fruits and vegetables to ensure TCK's clients could access the highest-quality food. Every week, they filled hundreds of pre-bagged groceries to make it easier for clients to pick up food. Alex also had a bigger vision for their MC2 internship project. Using the school's CoCreate maker's space, they designed and created professional, laminated posters with visual step-by-step instructions on how to identify safe and high-quality food items. The posters were so helpful for TCK volunteers that TCK staff had the posters hung up so they could be used as a tool daily. "I love the Community Kitchen, they helped me find my voice," Alex reflected. For their part, Alex's internship mentor gushed about how much TCK loved working with Alex, and how they brought lasting change to their organization. Alex's experience embodies the MC2 vision, where every learner succeeds through the development of habits and essential knowledge needed to use their unique voices effectively and with integrity, while they co-create our global, public world. We seek to uncover, recover and discover the unique gifts and talents of each student. The MC2 Internship Program is the keystone of their student-centered and community-based learning model. Drawing upon their own personal interests, or their awareness of community needs which are important to them, students create and complete rigorous internships in order to learn life and career skills in learning, innovation, media and technology. Supported by the Internship Coordinator, they apply to their prospective internship site by writing a cover letter and completing a formal interview. Students then spend two days each school week at their internship site, working with their professional mentors to be the change they want to see in the world. MC2 students invest 40 percent of their educational time in this hands-on and credit-bearing career and post-secondary education exploration with committed professional mentors at organizations including: the Keene Public Library, Monadnock Ford, Comic Boom, Pleasantscapes, the City of Keene, Toadstool Bookshop, Feeding Tiny Tummies, Elements MMA, Park Place Veterinary Hospital, Leon's Auto Center, American House, Dark Horse Salon, Horatio Colony Preserve, Filtrine, Keene YMCA, Keene Day Care Center, Whelen, Monadnock Humane Society, and The Community Kitchen. Building a Culture of Innovative Education and Student Leadership The Internship Program is seamlessly integrated into MC2's nontraditional high school model. Instead of traditional "grades," our students build and shape their flexible and rigorous learning plans with their MC2 advisors and parents/guardians. Students work with their "Learning Team" to set the pace and continually monitor their progress towards their goals. They expand their horizons, while earning credits and considering future careers. Through engaging in their projects, students develop personal portfolios and share their growing knowledge and skills with their Learning Teams, and with the MC2 community. MC2 is committed to the success of all students. We offer dedicated special education support, with "push-in" services providing the accommodations they need as they learn in community with their peers. Staff are also trained in trauma informed care, youth mental health, First Aid, and social emotional learning practices, and we connect students to additional health and wellness services with partners such as Keene YMCA, City of Keene Youth Services, Monadnock Family Services and ANEW Behavioral Health. Above all, our culture is foundational for all we do together. Our school governance is designed to help students develop and practice using their voices to co-create their learning community. Teachers work with students to seek their feedback, coach them on how to make their ideas audible, credible, and actionable, and help them thoughtfully consider multiple viewpoints. In the words of MC2 student John, "Our community makes our school." The goal is for all MC2 students to begin the next stage of their personal journeys after earning their diploma with concrete job offers and/or post secondary opportunities. We work to ensure they feel ready and excited for adulthood, and unafraid of the unknown. Learn with MC2 MC2 is an open enrollment, chartered public school which is tuition-free for New Hampshire students. Interested students schedule a full day visit to MC2 with their parent(s)/guardian(s). They then complete a school application, agree to the MC2 Admissions Commitments, and begin their educational journey with us. We are excited to share that MC2 will be enrolling upper middle school students for the first time beginning in the 2026-2027 school year! These students will be able to begin earning high school credit and begin preparing for an internship placement in the community. We are committed to providing a supportive transition from middle to high school, so that students are able to gain even more from their MC2 education. If your student wants to make our community their classroom, please consider joining us. You can learn more by visiting www.mc2school.org/admissions, or calling 603-283-0844. Together, we can "make it work!"