Community

In the Graduate Residency in Education, Environment and Community at IslandWood (EEC) program, community is not merely an academic subject. Students live and learn together in a tight-knit partnership, working side by side with faculty to create the IslandWood community.

Graduate students live in comfortably furnished lodgings on the north end of the campus. Each graduate student has a private bedroom and a bathroom shared between two people. Common areas provide central gathering places for the graduate community and include a kitchen, dining room, living room, study with computers, and laundry room. Like all IslandWood facilities, the graduate buildings are wired with fiber optic cables, and each cabin is outfitted with phone service and high speed Internet access.

In addition to sharing a close community at IslandWood, we recognize the importance of building relationships with and immersing ourselves in the diverse communities in the Puget Sound area that come to the School Overnight Program. Through the School Partnership Program, EEC students and IslandWood faculty visit classrooms in advance of the school’s visit to IslandWood to prepare students and teachers for their experience. Following a school’s visit, EEC students and staff follow up with the school children to identify and design a community project that connects their IslandWood experience to their own neighborhood. This project nurtures a sense of community and environmental stewardship, allowing the learning at IslandWood to extend far beyond the four-day experience.