The most important element of Voyageurs Expeditionary High School is the student. It is not the teachers, the administration, or the Board of Directors. Our central focus is the education and well-being of those young persons that will be entrusted to our care. To aid in determining if Voyageurs is the best choice for you or your student, we have set out below the major characteristics of our school.

A key feature of Voyageurs Expeditionary High School will be small class sizes. The targeted maximum class size at Voyageurs will be 16-20 students. Common sense tells us, and distinguished research has shown repeatedly, that small class size greatly enhances a student's likelihood of success in school. We're fundamentally committed to small classes.

Small class size should not be confused with the often misleading notion of student-teacher ratio. Many schools and school districts across the state are able to point to rather impressive student-teacher ratios and, yet, the students in those schools and school districts can still find themselves in classes that number 25, 30 and even 35 or more students. In the years to come, these numbers may well continue to climb. In an era of budget cuts and layoffs, we are convinced it is all the more important to maintain small classes.

Our purpose in establishing Voyageurs Expeditionary High School is to provide a positive and exceptionally effective educational alternative in the Bemidji area. Based on the developers' close association with Schoolcraft Learning Community, we intend Voyageurs to build and improve on Schoolcraft's successful initial period of operation. The design element most important to Schoolcraft's distinguished early achievements is its SCHOOL CULTURE.

As we define it, school culture is the emotional, interpersonal, academic, and physical environment that makes up the school as whole. At Voyageurs this will include the natural setting, the details of daily life, the social interactions of all community members, as well as the high academic standards and instructional methods of the school. To build the best school, we must first build a safe community that nurtures, protects, challenges, and values every member of that community and the natural environment in which we live.

We are convinced that such a community does not come about by chance. First, you must recognize its importance to a child's education and then work on community improvement every day. Significant financial as well as human resources are to be devoted to school culture, in the firm belief that the resulting positive environment is the most effective and enabling foundation for well-rounded learning. Upon this foundation we intend to build a liberal arts high school that consistently produces graduates prepared to contribute to any community in which they live and to excel in any field in which they plan to work or study.

Community Service. Central to Voyageurs Expeditionary High School and ingrained in its idea of school culture is the concept of service. This is also a fundamental precept of ELOB. By integrating and encouraging significant community service projects at all grade levels, we hope to develop in our students an appreciation of the personal satisfactions and opportunities for growth found in helping others as well as providing a depth of learning experience not often found at the high school level. As a VEHS student, you are nurtured and protected by a larger community, hence you become responsible to give back to that community.