Academy at Charlemont

The Academy is a public-spirited private school that combines the best of the classical academic tradition with a visible commitment to building and sustaining community. Most Academy students go on to college, and most of them live within fifty miles of Charlemont in rural Western Massachusetts.

The Academy believes that the academic, liberal arts tradition is a challenging, intellectually stimulating ground on which young people can both learn to use their minds well, and furnish those minds with the kind of broad, basic knowledge needed to succeed in college and as citizens of the world. We believe in emphasizing connections among the academic disciplines because real world challenges require citizens to think beyond the discrete boundaries of academic disciplines, to look at things from many different angles.

We believe that a school community based on values – self-reliance, industry, integrity, and compassion – encourages development of intellectual and social standards that reflect those values. We believe that affirming the uniqueness of each individual and at the same time insisting that individuals subscribe to a set of commonly held standards – civility, respect, concern for others – produces a healthy tension that helps students learn, grow, and become productive citizens.