War Eagle Mill

April 25, 2019

Barnstormers,

While we are building our campus, we are building our curriculum. It is particularly gratifying to see our Signature Programs – Wheels, Meals, and Reels – rise from the ground. The vision for these programs germinated in the spring of 2015 as I searched for regional resources and contexts that could support many modes of student learning.

Learning to ride a bicycle is a rite of passage on the road to independence, and it was easy to see a world of educational possibility in the region’s rapidly growing network of bike paths and trails. The bicycle presents itself not only as a form of sustainable transportation that connects our campus to the community, but also as an educational medium where physics, mathematics, engineering, and urban planning come together through the fabrication of wheeled machines and the study of transportation. The Wright Brothers, after all, began their journey into flight by first mastering the mechanics of the bicycle.

The production and preparation of food in Northwest Arkansas is an equally rich context for education. In particular, the creation of Brightwater culinary institute on the old site of a poultry processing plant, walking distance from campus, offers unique opportunities for a food studies program. Complete with a campus greenhouse, farm, orchard, teaching kitchen, and a productive brood of hens, our Meals Program enables students to study regional and global food systems while integrating biology, chemistry, cultural studies, nutrition, and other disciplines that come together on the plate.

The inspiration for our Reels Program arrived in the fall of 2015 during my first visit to War Eagle Mill, one of the oldest gristmills west of the Mississippi, built in 1832 and still in operation despite the ravages of fire, water, and war. Bikes, Blues, and BBQ was underway that week, so I found myself surrounded by a thundering herd of Harleys as I drove out to find the source of the grits I had enjoyed for breakfast that morning. The mill draws its power from a well-fed creek that I crossed on a covered bridge. 

After stopping to watch a young angler take a fish in the tailwaters of the paddle wheel, I walked inside and discovered a humming world of gears and pulleys surrounded by sacks of flour, grits, and corn meal. The sounds and motions of the millwork reminded me of a projector in a vintage movie house. I reached for my iPhone to capture the moment and thought to myself, “Meals, Wheels, and now Reels.” Today, our film education program has become a mill for the construction of memory and meaning across all facets of our school. While honing their narrative skills and powers of observation, students bring critical distance to the production and consumption of media, old and new.

Our Signature Programs also build character and emotional intelligence. Working in bike shops and maker spaces develops an ethos of repair and resourcefulness in an age of disposable objects. Learning to cook delicious, nutritious meals builds confidence and independence, while family-style lunches improve table manners and create time for the art of conversation. Our Reels Program is also a natural home for discussions of digital citizenship and the responsible use of social media. More generally, student presentations, interviews, and other types of interactions with community partners develop poise, social awareness, and other interpersonal skills.    

Interdisciplinary learning, maker-based learning, community-based learning, character-based learning – while they find unique expression in our Signature Programs, our new course offerings demonstrate our broader commitment to these interactive modes of education across the humanities and the sciences. We are excited to work with our students and families this spring as they chart “challenging and balanced” courses of study that will enable them to look closely and fly far.  

Clayton K. Marsh
Founding Head of School