For many young people, the Open Connections experience begins in the Open Program and starts with the belief that people are natural learners. In this program youth drive their own learning. They are given a great deal of FREEDOM in how, and with whom, they spend their day. These days can also be a young person’s first experience with INDEPENDENCE and the facilitators support each young person as they navigate this new experience. Because we recognize the richness and value that VERTICAL AGE GROUPS provide, this program spans multiple years and youth are typically enrolled for several years, giving them the opportunities to be inspired by older youth and be a leader to younger youth.

The Open Program provides each youth EXPOSURE to a variety of materials, tools, and activities, because sometimes “we don’t know what we don’t know” and it can be helpful to be introduced to something new. On any given day youth are invited to join a facilitator and explore a one-on-one CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT activity together such as working with Montessori beads to develop the concept of place value; or working with scales, beakers and liquids to explore the concepts of weight, measurement and volume. These activities serve as building blocks for youth in a hands-on, developmentally appropriate way. Additionally, with the open-ended structure of each day, the youth will naturally have opportunities to build their SOCIAL SKILLS and learn how to navigate conflict and create win-win outcomes.

Although no two days look alike in the Open Program, there are certain threads that, when woven together, comprise what most closely resembles a “typical day”. In keeping the flame of curiosity alive, young people may enter the Open Program and choose to work with real tools in the woodshop; design a marble rollway; sew a pillow; explore math manipulatives; write a story or poem; take apart an old telephone; experiment with batteries, bulbs and motors; dig a tunnel in the sand-pit; hike through the woods; float walnut boats down the creek; or explore the world in a hundred other ways.

The Open Program experience affords youth both the time and the space to be tinkerers, explorers, friends, creators, collaborators, and problem solvers, while simultaneously offering outlets to further develop their intellectual curiosity and social interactions in a warm, safe, pro-social environment.