Old Turnpike School - Califon, NJ

Old Turnpike School (OTS) is a choice school in rural Hunterdon County. While our school population is small, our community is large. Our school makes every opportunity to expand the learning and connections outside the walls of our building.

Through events such as our student-led Remembrance Day run to honor veterans, OTS students make connections with veterans and learn first-hand about the men and women who have served our country. The stories shared and the ability to meet these veterans helps provide students with a deeper understanding of history. In accordance with the NJ Holocaust and genocide education mandate, our students do more than just read books about genocide, but have the opportunity each year to connect with a Holocaust survivor and hear their story. In our English Language Arts program, the teacher worked with the woman who founded Help Syria's Kids to bridge connections between Syrian refugee children in Lebanon and OTS students. To facilitate this connection, OTS students started a letter exchange program designed to share hope and inspire transformation through the development of friendship. Our 6th grade Science teacher partnered with Code the Future for our students to learn to code. Students work in teams to program robots that have to overcome real-world challenges and learn design thinking begins with empathy. These are just a few of the opportunities students at OTS are provided because we believe every student holds the capacity to make a difference in their world.