I’ve always been an enormous supporter of progressive education. Learning is an active experience guided by the passion and interests of each individual. Students learn to think critically by doing and being active players in their own process of learning. When the creative team at Firebrand Marketing reached out and told me Poughkeepsie Day School (PDS) was in need of a good independent school photographer I accepted the project with enthusiasm.

According to their website, PDS provides “progressive education that liberates the mind, ignites passion and purpose, and provides the world with the agile, resourceful, self-directed, community-oriented citizens it most needs.”

The PDS campus is a gorgeous 35 acre property in the Hudson River Valley of upstate New York. There are learning gardens, forests with hiking trails, and a couple of amazing victorian buildings that have been fully renovated for classrooms and learning spaces. The school was founded way back in 1934 with 35 students and three faculty members. Today, the campus is home to three schools (lower, middle, and high school) and provides top notch progressive education to over 200 students in grades pre-k through 12.

For this project my team and I spent 3 full days on campus photographing with the PDS community. I was deeply inspired by the passion that everyone had for learning, reason, and knowledge. The teachers were guides, not task masters. And the community seemed to foster a deep sense of belonging, acceptance, and tolerance. On more than one occasion I found myself thinking, “man, I would have loved to go to school here when I was a kid.” Here are a few images from their story.