Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Kelly Meyerhoff and staff photographer Mark Hoffman visited Thoreau College students twice this winter in Viroqua, Wisconsin, United States.
Students are taught to notice nature at Thoreau College, a small experimental school in western Wisconsin that operates very much offline. Assigned readings are in the form of books or paper handouts. Phones are banned during classes, meals, meetings and field trips.
The first field trip of the spring semester, five days of camping, came in mid-February. The temperature hovered above freezing during the days and dipped into the teens at night.
Anson Bond, a student from New Orleans, maintains a fire Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, during winter camping, part of a program offered by Thoreau College near Lafarge, Wisconsin. The college, founded in 2015, offers gap semester programs offering hands-on experiences in folk arts, homesteading skills, outdoor expeditions and other programs. The school is in nearby Viroqua, Wisconsin.
The students' week was filled with a full spectrum of emotions: Impatience, because cooking meals over fire took longer than in a kitchen. Satisfaction, because food hits differently when hungry and cold. Curiosity, when they found ... more ...
Students are taught to notice nature at Thoreau College, a small experimental school in western Wisconsin that operates very much offline. Assigned readings are in the form of books or paper handouts. Phones are banned during classes, meals, meetings and field trips.
The first field trip of the spring semester, five days of camping, came in mid-February. The temperature hovered above freezing during the days and dipped into the teens at night.
Anson Bond, a student from New Orleans, maintains a fire Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, during winter camping, part of a program offered by Thoreau College near Lafarge, Wisconsin. The college, founded in 2015, offers gap semester programs offering hands-on experiences in folk arts, homesteading skills, outdoor expeditions and other programs. The school is in nearby Viroqua, Wisconsin.
The students' week was filled with a full spectrum of emotions: Impatience, because cooking meals over fire took longer than in a kitchen. Satisfaction, because food hits differently when hungry and cold. Curiosity, when they found ... more ...
