Campus & Setting

Explorations Academy is located in downtown Bellingham, Washington - a city of approximately 80,000. Bellingham is about 25 km south of the US-Canada border and roughly 150 km north of Seattle. Vancouver BC is our closest metropolis and lies about 100 km to the northwest.

Our facility is located along the banks of Whatcom Creek, on which our students have done a number of environmental restoration projects.  We occupy about 3,000 square feet of classrooms, library, offices, and project areas.

Our facilities are small but not in a way that limits learning.We have three main classrooms, a library/meeting area, a commons area, and administrative offices.

Since our small campus cannot provide everything, we make extensive use of community resources. Group membership in the YMCA, for example, gives us access to a gymnasium, weight room, swimming pool, racquetball courts, and other fitness equipment within a 10 minute walk. Similarly, we draw upon the libraries and laboratories of nearby Western Washington University to enrich the academic resources available to students.

Our educational philosophy tied to our curriculum integrates frequent urban outings, field outings and backpacking/camping trips as well as service learning opportunities in the field.  Urban outings include trips to Seattle, Vancouver, Olympia, Portland, Victoria and other cities -- just about anywhere our two buses can take us.  We also visit the North Cascade Mountains, San Juan Islands, and many other natural areas. Our Washington State History course participants, for example, spent two weeks journeying around and studying our state.

While the Pacific Northwest is our home bioregion, the whole world is within our curricular scope. We undertake annual international field study expeditions which have brought our students as far afield as Africa, Asia, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Europe. In this way, the world becomes our classroom.