Where did ISK go?
Where did ISK go?
The International School of the Kootenays Society, a not for profit society and registered charity, was created in February 2005 to support the birth of a dream for Nelson – a peace centred, Waldorf Inspired International High School. The goal was to open in September of 2006 out of 711 Tenth St. – the old Sub Pub, that had been purchased by the board of ISK.
Over the next 2 years, with much support and good work, the school shifted its focus from being a school in a building in Nelson to a distributed learning community available to youth all over B.C. In June of 2007 ISK signed it’s first contract with The B.C. Ministry of Education as a Class One Distributed Learning High School.
The desire to connect deeply with young people manifested in the creation of local workshop courses, a blend of online and face to face seminars with learners and mentors. The first Peace Studies seminar was launched this way and culminated in a trip to L.A. for the September 2008 International PeaceJam. From this evolved PeaceCamp, launched the summer of 2008 at the Tipi Camp on the east shore of Kootenay Lake.
Throughout this time the board of ISK remained steadfastly supportive; the school building was sold and the proceeds provided the means to continue to continue developing the vision to bring peace centred education to the Kootenays. This vision included tuition free admission so that all who wished to participate, could.
In February of 2009 ISK merged with SelfDesign Learning Community- a vibrant k to 9 learning community, becoming their high school program. With this merger ISK shifted it’s name to SelfDesign ISK, and now to SelfDesign High.