Learning Outside the Classroom
Student Life & Extracurriculars
Teenhood: Just Four Short Years From Childhood to Adulthood
The change from 8th grade to 12th grade is rivaled only by the change from 1 month to 4 years. During this time of radical development, a sense of belonging and powerful connections with peers become paramount. Adolescence is the time when this quest to belong to a group other than the family begins in earnest.
Sometimes reflected as a teenager's susceptibility to "peer pressure," in the right environment, this desire-to-belong works as it should: helping students feel connected to a community that enhances their wellbeing and supports them in becoming the best versions of themselves.
And let's not forget that while teens move along the pathway to adulthood they still need and cherish opportunities to play and have fun. We build opportuninties for all of this into the school day and year, ensuring the our students enjoy coming to school!
Sometimes reflected as a teenager's susceptibility to "peer pressure," in the right environment, this desire-to-belong works as it should: helping students feel connected to a community that enhances their wellbeing and supports them in becoming the best versions of themselves.
And let's not forget that while teens move along the pathway to adulthood they still need and cherish opportunities to play and have fun. We build opportuninties for all of this into the school day and year, ensuring the our students enjoy coming to school!
Choose Your Adventure
Be yourself; everyone else is taken - Oscar Wilde
Our students are glorious mash-ups who defy being pigeon-holed. Many of them are just as at home on the stage as they are on the athletic field, as comfortable tending to our organic garden as they are competing at a robotics competition.
Giving students a full and well-rounded view of themselves through exploration is the best way to develop confidence and competency. Our extracurricular programs do just that, encouraging the brand-new beginner as well as providing depth and mastery to a more experienced student.
Participating in activities outside the classroom builds confidence and helps students develop valuable self knowledge.IWhether participating in student government, student-led clubs, competitive teams like Robotics or Speech and Debate, or community engagement projects, our students are developing skills that are applicable in all they do.
Participating in activities outside the classroom builds confidence and helps students develop valuable self knowledge.IWhether participating in student government, student-led clubs, competitive teams like Robotics or Speech and Debate, or community engagement projects, our students are developing skills that are applicable in all they do.
Student Life
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Retreats
Retreats offer students an opportunity to to laugh, work cooperatively, and to play together. These bonding experiences help create a cohesive and connected class, accelerating the students' ability to thrive in the classroom. -
Advisory
Advisory is a like home-away-from-home during the school day. A mixed-grade-level group of about 10 students and one faculty advisor, this program helps students as they develop a sense of self and seek to find balance in their lives. -
Coyote Cup
Students can earn points for their class by competiting in a variety of challenges—everything from dodgeball to pumpking carving, dance offs to lip synch battles. The winning class gets a celebration and bragging rights. -
Dances
Homecoming, Winter Formal, Spring Dance, and Prom. Dances can be fancy or casual and are a great time for students to simply socialize and have fun. -
Movie Nights
Once or twice a year, the Student Leadership Council organizes a movie night. Students vote on the movie and then gather with sleeping bags in the amphitheater under the stars. It's like a drive-in, minus the cars.
Sonoma Academy Is...
...the only private, independent, college preparatory high school in Sonoma County. On our beautiful campus nestled at the base of Taylor Mountain in Southeastern Santa Rosa, our students are able to explore their interests and passions in a rigorous and inspiring environment that develops a lifelong love of learning and prepares them for college and beyond.
Sonoma Academy admits students of any race, color, religion, ethnicity or national origin, citizenship, gender or gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, or disability, to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. The school does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, ethnicity or national origin, citizenship, gender or gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, or disability in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and tuition assistance programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.
