Beyond the Classroom, an Upper School tradition, is a four-year sequence of experiences designed to take the classroom into the field, expose students to life skills and possible paths, engage in the greater community, and develop leadership skills. In short, it’s an experience that helps Rowland Hall students embrace being community builders.

This year’s event was held September 19 (grades 10–12) and September 19–22 (grade 9), and included the following experiences.

Ninth Grade

Ninth graders traveled to Camp Roger to engage in the natural landscape and laboratory of the Uinta Mountains. Over four days, students enjoyed academic rotations that allowed them to investigate, explore, and observe the wonders of this natural environment, and built community and support for one another.

Tenth Grade

Tenth graders studied world religions through field study and film. In the morning, students visited Holy Trinity Cathedral (Greek Orthodox Christianity), Krishna Temple (ISKCON Hinduism), and Urgyen Samten Ling Gonpa (Tibetan Buddhism), and spoke to religious leaders about their communities, spaces, beliefs, and practices. In the afternoon, students watched and discussed films that follow pilgrims to sacred sites in Mecca and Nigeria.

Eleventh Grade

Eleventh graders worked with fourth graders, who are studying the Great Salt Lake, traveling to visit three sites on the lake: Great Salt Lake State Park, to focus on watershed aspects of the lake and their impact on lake biology and migratory birds; Black Rock, to focus on the physical aspects of the lake, mining interests, and dilemmas facing the shrinking lake; and Saltair, to focus on the area's rich history, politics surrounding Great Salt Lake, and examples of the individual and collective solutions to dilemmas facing the lake. Students then returned to the McCarthey Campus to work on a field guide that can be used by our, and the wider, community.

Twelfth Grade

Seniors worked on their college applications, particularly essays, with Rowland Hall’s college counselors and English teachers.

Experiential Learning