Hen-hen

This is Hen-hen, and if you enjoy witty repartee and gymnastic tete-a-tete, I suggest you throw down with him sometime. He’s got a live mind, man, he’s “on-line,” all the time, he gets the joke, he knows the reference, he sees the absurdity. I consider him the Beavis to my Butthead, but I like to think we’re a tad more evolved than those guys; we don’t resort to vulgar content to entertain ourselves. Well, Hen-hen doesn’t anyway… Hen-hen’s been ‘round here a while, and he says it feels “pretty cool” to be one of the older students now. For the last two years he’s been going hard on bass guitar, with which he’s made alarmingly rapid progress; he appreciates the time and space HVSS affords him to keep it up. He’s already been in bands that have recorded, broken up, gotten back together, survived plane crashes, performed concerts, and run the Music Cooperative. He plans to keep playing for a long time. Otherwise, he’s been playing a lot of D&D with his doooooods – his favorite character is Elon Smusk, a monk who beats up bad guys, and he’s learned how to Dungeon Master, too, which he says is a lot more complicated because you have to hold myriad strands and vistas and potentialities in your mind all at once. Both his music and the D&D provide him with lots of opportunities for connection here; he’s grateful to be able to explore his creative self and bond with his pals simultaneously, all day every day.

Hen-hen wants you to know that, contrary to the assumption the under-informed sometimes make, “this isn’t a place where no one does anything, and everyone wastes their time. People are always doing things here, and learning things without even thinking about it.” He also wants prospective students to know that, “it’s easy to jump in here, because people are so open and welcoming.” You know we like you, Hen-hen, and you know we admire you. But I’m not sure you know that we know how big your heart is, and how brave you are, or that we see the depth of creative possibilities in your spirit, and they are deep indeed. Oceans, bro. It won’t always be easy to go there and find the treasure, but we believe you will go, again and again, and bring it back.

Parents’ experience of the school is a crucial factor in determining their childrens’ experience of the school. Children of parents who work hard to understand our philosophy, communicate with staff, attend events, and connect with the community usually get the most out of our program.

At Zena Democratic School, rule infractions and interpersonal conflicts are resolved using sophisticated restorative justice tools.

Age-mixing is one of the most potent developmental experiences at Zena Democratic School.

Each student aged 14+ is automatically enrolled in our High School Advisor Program;

Screens are allowed at school, with restrictions.

At Zena Democratic School, a Cooperative (coop) is a group of like-minded students and staff who organize around a common interest, like music, art, or sports.

At Zena Democratic School, the jobs of administration and maintenance are divided into roles called Clerkships;

Every student and staff at Zena Democratic School is assigned a cleaning job by the Physical Plant Clerk.

Students may receive a diploma if they elect to undergo our internal diploma process.

Zena Democratic School is located on a parcel of 67 wooded acres in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains in the Hudson Valley region of New York State.

Zena Democratic School is a direct democracy; each student and member of the staff has an equal vote in managing all aspects of the school’s operation.