FBRA Blog

As recently as twenty years ago, it was quite unusual for students to take a gap year between high school and college. There are reports this year that over 30% of high school seniors are considering taking a year off of formal education before entering college. What was once seen as strange is now pretty […]

Jen Horschman, Girls Program Director We parked our FBRA van next to a larger van wrapped in art of colorful fruits and vegetables with bold words sprawled across: Bounty and Soul. The students became curious and excited to discover what this organization does in the community and what hands-on task they were going to do […]

The Maria Noakes Outdoor Center We are thrilled to report that The Maria Noakes Outdoor Center is very, very close to completion. You are invited to attend the building dedication on Saturday, January 15, 2022 at 4:00pm. The address is 1420 Riverside Drive. R.S.V.P. to [email protected] if you are planning to attend. The Salamander Fund […]

Each fall, the school asks our community to contribute to the school by making a donation to the Salamander Fund, FBRA’s annual fund. Donations to the Salamander Fund go directly into this year’s operating budget, paying for things like staff salaries, health care benefits, outdoor programming, music instruction, and even the electricity to power the […]

Three weeks into the start of school, we asked 6th graders to share their impressions of FBRA with us.

Will Yeiser, FBRA Executive Director and Co-Founder   The FBRA Experamid is the brainchild of former Girls Outdoor Program Director and founding math teacher Emily Shanblatt, and it is essentially an infographic that communicates our collective purpose here at the French Broad River Academy. We have formally adopted the Experamid framework schoolwide, and if you […]

We get asked several times each week when the Maria Noakes Outdoor Center will be completed. Unfortunately, COVID 19 created problems with all sorts of manufacturing timelines and construction delays around the world. The good news is that we are almost there. Water has been brought to the building, plumbing roughed in, and the footers […]

The Salamander Adventure Camp took place from Monday, June 28, 2021 to Friday, July 2, 2021. The purpose of the Salamander Adventure Camp is to expose underserved fourth grade students in our local community to different experiences in the outdoors. The Salamander Adventure Camp provides structure, fun, and adventure to the lives of children. This […]

In late summer, we invited our alumni to come back to FBRA to join staff for a cookout and some catching up. It was great to reminisce and also find out what a few of our graduates have been up to in high school and college. We are looking to hold more alumni events including […]

Felix Dowsley, Boys Program Director   I’m willing to bet that when middle school boys hear the word courage, they picture someone like Davy Crockett or Samuel L. Jackson wrestling a grizzly bear while parachuting from a burning airplane. That, at least, is the male model of courage most often held up for them to […]