Students enrolled at Northwest Passage High School develop self-confidence and academic skills through participation in a small learning community, where instructors are lifelong learners who model integrity, responsibility and respect. Varied projects, field studies and inquiry-based methods give students the opportunity to develop a greater sense of the world by engaging in challenging academics, structured work experience, and service learning. Students take responsibility for their own educational plans, and graduate with the tools to make informed decisions about their future.

We believe that all children can learn. That when teaching adolescents the two most important factors in their healthy development is autonomy and positive relationships. Here at Northwest Passage High School, students participate in an active learning environment. Students are creators not consumers of education.

Starting out of a mini-mall next to a gas station 14 years ago, the school has evolved to becoming one of the most innovative schools across America.

Over the past year, in addition to their traditional academic courses, students at NWPHS have received an award from the National Science Teachers Association to participate in a year-long wolf study working with researcher from the Wildlife Science Center and the St. Louis Zoo as well as traveling to the International Wolf Center and Yellowstone National Park, created PSAs on service learning, help recent immigrants learn to read at the MN Literacy Council, taught elementary students about the effects of bullying, and the list goes on.

This innovation is in jeopardy. With massive holdbacks facing schools in Minnesota, traditional schools are turning to levies to raise money to maintain existing programs. Charter schools like NWPHS are not allowed by law to tax residents. Your donation will allow us to make purchases in new technology, field equipment and reading books to continue to serve students who want to push themselves beyond the traditional school norms and be truly prepared for the 21st Century.