The Adirondacks as a Classroom
Inside the Adirondack semester at St. Lawrence University.
During St. Lawrence University’s Adirondack Semester, a yurt village becomes a campus for 12 students. All photos courtesy St. Lawrence University.
For most people, the Adirondacks are a place to visit. A weekend escape. A paddle. A hike. A reset.
Each fall, for a small group of students, the region becomes something else entirely: a classroom.
On this episode of ADK Talks, we step inside one of the most unique educational experiences in the country—the Adirondack Semester at St. Lawrence University.
It’s a program where students live off-grid in a yurt village near Massawepie Lake, give up phones and social media, and spend 11 weeks learning not just about the Adirondacks—but from them.
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Campus commute via canoe.
Listen to the full episode.
Hosted by dynamic brother/sister duo, Jane and Steve Ackerman, this conversation features Jacob McCoola, Director of Outdoor Leadership and the Adirondack Semester, along with Nicole Panek, Assistant Director and former student.
Together, they offer a rare look at a program that blends environmental study, community living, and personal transformation.
What you’ll hear.
Why the Adirondack Park is uniquely suited for immersive, place-based education
What it’s like to live off-grid in a yurt village—with no phones or social media
How students build community, navigate conflict, and create culture from scratch
The moment students arrive—after a seven-day canoe trip—and see the village for the first time
How time in the Adirondacks continues to shape students’ years after they leave
Living and learning off the grid.
The Adirondack Semester is not a simulation. It’s not a field trip.
Students begin with a week-long canoe expedition before arriving at Arcadia, a remote yurt village tucked into the forest. From there, life becomes deliberately simple—and intentionally demanding.
They cook for each other. Haul water. Maintain the site. Take classes outdoors or in a “learning yurt.” And perhaps most notably, they disconnect from the digital world entirely.
Much of the Adirondack region ranks as Class 2 on the Bortle Scale, meaning it’s considered a “typical truly dark site,” immune to light pollution. The ADK semester takes full advantage of this.
No phones. No social media. No constant notifications.
What replaces it is something increasingly rare: attention.
As Nicole shares in the episode, students quickly move past the initial shock and into something deeper—learning how to be present with themselves, with others, and with the landscape around them.
A different kind of classroom.
The Adirondacks offer something few places can: scale and complexity.
As Jacob explains, students aren’t just studying ecology or conservation—they’re experiencing the intersection of wilderness and working communities in real time. One day might involve studying old-growth forests. Another, visiting local farms or small businesses that define life in the Park.
This isn’t abstract learning. It’s lived.
Students take courses in natural history, land-use management, writing, and philosophy—while also building canoe paddles, journaling by hand, and completing internships with Adirondack-based professionals.
The result is a curriculum that feels less like a syllabus—and more like a way of life.
Community, without shortcuts.
One of the most powerful elements of the program isn’t academic—it’s social.
Students relaxing on the dock at Arcadia.
Twelve students live together in close quarters, sharing responsibilities and navigating daily life without the usual escape hatches. There’s no retreat into a phone. No scrolling to disengage.
Instead, there are conversations. Conflict. Growth.
As Jacob puts it, students develop the ability to “speak from the heart”—a skill that feels increasingly rare, and increasingly valuable.
Nicole describes it as learning how to simply be—with yourself and with others.
Transformation that unfolds over time.
The impact of the Adirondack Semester isn’t always immediate.
It’s not a single “aha” moment. It’s gradual.
Students return to campus—and often only later realize what changed. How they think. How they communicate. How they relate to the natural world.
Many continue habits they developed in the woods: spending time outdoors, being intentional with technology, or simply slowing down.
In a world that moves quickly, this kind of recalibration matters.
The Adirondacks, experienced differently.
This episode is also a reminder of something core to ADK Taste’s mission: the Adirondacks are not just a destination.
They are a place where people live, work, and—sometimes—learn in ways that challenge conventional thinking.
From local farms to river systems to remote yurt villages, the Park continues to inspire new ways of connecting to place.
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ADK Taste perspective.
Programs like the Adirondack Semester subtly challenge assumptions—not just about education, but about how we live.
What would it look like to slow down? To pay attention? To engage more deeply with the places we move through?
For twelve students each fall, that question isn’t theoretical.
It’s lived—one day, one paddle, one conversation at a time.
Adirondack Semester yurt dorm.
Mentioned in this podcast.
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More on learning in the Adirondacks.
ADK Taste’s podcast, ADK Talks, emphasizes learning and expanding one’s knowledge of the Adirondack Park. Check out these other episodes to learn more about learning about the Adirondacks.
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