Learning By Leading

Overview

The Kurt Hahn Expeditionary Learning School is a small, 9-12^th-grade, public school located in the East Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, with a focus on academics, student leadership and digital media.

Learning by Leading

At the Kurt Hahn School, students learn by leading – and leading means doing. The School pushes students out of the classroom and into the action of solving real community problems. This kind of real-world learning, called Expeditionary Learning, invests students in their own neighborhoods, teaches them the values of community leadership and service, and prepares them for leadership in media, government, law, medicine, education, business, and other fields. We offer a variety of programs and structures that promote learning and leadership, including:

Learning Expeditions
Kurt Hahn students engage in Learning Expeditions – not just studying text books.  Learning Expeditions are standards-based, hands-on projects that prepare students for success in college and beyond. These interdisciplinary units include expert-guided field research and the production of high-quality products that students present to the public.

Student-Led Conferences
At most schools, parents attend a student-teacher conference. But at the Kurt Hahn School, parents will attend Student-Led Conferences (SLCs), where students lead their own conferences by presenting the knowledge they have gleaned and reflecting honestly on what they must improve in order to succeed. 

Community Meetings
Crews hold regular Community Meetings, where crew members articulate problems, mediate conflict, and learn to make good choices through the support of the group. These meetings teach students skills that they can take outside of the classroom and use successfully in their own lives.

Crew Council
Crew Council is the Kurt Hahn School’s version of Student Government. Here, student leaders can sharpen their political, legislative and civic skills to create positive change for the entire Kurt Hahn School. If you have a child leader who shines and needs new challenges, Crew Council might be the answer.

Civic Leadership
All sophomores and juniors will complete 50 total hours of community service, a requirement that has helped earn us a School of Distinction honor from New York Cares. This program places students in organizations across the community – where they can develop professional relationships, land internships and experience the joy that comes from serving others.

Crew is Family
Every Kurt Hahn student belongs to a Crew – a small group that remains together until graduation. Led by a Crew Advisor, Crews meet daily to discuss college preparation, leadership development and personal challenges. Crew provides a safe, consistent environment for students to practice their leadership skills – and to push each other to do more than they ever thought possible.

Adventure Week
All incoming students will attend a five-day, overnight wilderness trip with their Crew, where they will develop the individual and group leadership skills to communicate successfully through conflict, take individual initiative to overcome challenges, and to support one another through this difficult but life-changing journey. Adventure Week is run by our partner New York City Outward Bound, which has a two-decade track record of providing safe, quality educational experiences.

“There is more in us than we know. If we can be made to see it, perhaps, for the rest of our lives we will be unwilling to settle for less.”

—Kurt Hahn, Founder of Outward Bound