Thoreau College Semester Program

Thoreau College is more than just an educational experience, it is a community of care and acceptance that can both empower bold ambitions and give attention to heavy struggles. During my fellowship at Thoreau College I have been supported in an internship with a local community engagement group, have found many likeminded (earth and community focused) people of all ages in the Viroqua community, have had access to a wide range of Driftless Folk School classes, and have also been supported in my independent study. My semester at Thoreau has truly been enriching! Great caring and kind people, great organic food, deep conversations, and lots of hope for the earth's future!

Thoreau College is a moving and mind opening program, everything from outdoor Expeditions to Classroom Discussion and Community building, it's intimate and immersive. My teachers and housemates have been so caring and supportive towards me and helped me move towards my plans for the future. I have gardened here, camped, canoed the Boundary Waters and the WI River, and have made friends that I will miss dearly. I've laughed, I've cried, I've slept in the woods! there will always be a piece of me here. This is your chance to grasp onto something beautiful and fleeting, take it, breathe it and live it!

Thoreau College is a very, very hard place to convey in words. We've done things from camping on the fast-flowing lower Wisconsin river, drawing pictures of corn, read articles on world religions, tracked deer in winter and fall, discussed Walden, butchered and eaten chickens with our own hands, illegally canoed into Canada, and walked in corn fields while discussing GMOs. But beyond the wisdom about the world that this place instills in you, the most wisdom it will give you, is that towards yourself and others.

I'm a student attending TC Fall Semester 2025 and I feel significantly enriched by the experience. I have made great friends, learned new skills, and formed new connections that I don't think I ever would have if I had gone to a larger school instead. The communal living is great for developing social and conflict resolution skills. The animal slaughter and butchery workshops help immensely to put into perspective exactly where the food we eat comes from in an era where we are so disconnected from the whole process of harvesting and processing food. I recommend this program to any young adults who are looking to expand their social and career horizons.

When I came to Thoreau College, I really didn't know what to expect. It was in a part of the country I had never visited, learning skills I had limited exposure to, and I wasn't sure what kind of people would be there. I expected it to be an interesting and unique experience, but I couldn't have anticipated how truly transformational it would've been. In my time here, I learned so much about how to be in community and how to build a life that feels purposeful. The small scale provides a sense of mentorship and recognition of personhood that enables everyone in it to grow and strive to be better people. While I really don't think a website or a paragraph can do justice to the experience of being here, I will say that it is a place that challenges all of its students in unique and beneficial ways. If you are searching for "more" out of your education, Thoreau College is the place you should come.

This will shape how you see the world and yourself through community building, agriculture, and governess. I could not imagine any other place than Thoreau College to teach the unteachable and foster such a deep sense of connection in the peers. I grew in such a way that I would have never been able to without staying Viroqua for 10 months. The experiences are also incredible. Being able to spend my gap year canoeing the Wisconsin river and camping in the boundary waters was something unforgettable and let’s you get so close to the amazing people here.

I found my time at Thoreau College very valuable because it taught me a lot of life skills I did not learn at a 4-year college, and it taught me a different way of being than I had experienced growing up in the very scientific and materialist culture of Silicon Valley. Prior to Thoreau College I thought that AI taking over the world and replacing humanity might be an okay thing, since we seem to be doing a fairly poor job at creating healthy societies and sustaining the earth. I left Thoreau College with the feeling that humanity has something unique and valuable to offer the world, and that human society has something unique and powerful to offer to the universe that we could unlock through cultural change and collective action.

As for the specifics of the program, it was full of philosophy, labor, and community activities, as well as art and good food (Viroqua has some seriously good food, trust me). Overall, I would recommend this program to anyone looking to learn more about agriculture, alternative philosophies to scientific materialism, or holistic education. Going beyond the classroom, Thoreau College teaches you how to live with other people, manage conflicts, and become an active part in shaping the curriculum and your own learning. Combining all of that with the numerous transformative and quieting trips into nature, I found Thoreau College to be a profoundly valuable experience.

I absolutely loved my time at Thoreau! This program is thoughtfully run and centers the student experience. You learn so much about land systems, community building, literature, philosophy, agriculture, food prep, you name it. 2 years after completing the program, I am still regularly (and gladly) in touch with the wonderful people I met during my time at here. I was initially hesitant about taking a gap year / trying something so far outside my realm of experience but I am incredibly grateful that I found my way to Thoreau. I cannot recommend it enough.