TA News

Thetford Academy recently received two generous grants from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation (NHCF) to support school initiatives. NHCF, New Hampshire’s statewide community foundation, manages nearly 2,000 funds and awards more than $40 million in grants and scholarships every year to communities serving New Hampshire residents.

This year, Thetford Academy received a grant from NHCF’s Wellborn Ecology Fund, which provides support for place-based ecology education programs throughout New Hampshire and Vermont’s Upper Valley region. This support, combined with support from individual and other donors, will be used to develop a new outdoor learning space adjacent to TA’s Science department and school green house.

The new outdoor classroom will add to TA’s existing outdoor learning spaces and enhance the ability of the school to engage all students and departments in place-based ecology education. Integrating outdoor learning opportunities into all TA departments is part of the mission of TA’s Thetford Outdoor Program, launched in 2015–and one that the support of the Wellborn Ecology Fund will help make possible.

In addition to supporting outdoor education, the NHCF also supported TA’s music department with a gift from a donor-advised fund. With this support, TA’s instrumental music program was able to purchase a brand new bass clarinet for student use. The new instrument has already been an enormous hit with TA students, and Instrumental Music teacher Greg Mellinger notes the bass clarinet adds a new element to the sound of the band.