We are launching Oceans Academy in Fall 2026!
I am thrilled to announce that the work I have put into designing The Planet School is coming to life via Oceans Academy, a high school program I am creating within Northeast Maritime Institute. We will be launching with a cohort of 12 high school juniors and partnerships with Bristol County Agricultural High School and Fairhaven High School, though the program is open to any local student.
The vision for The Planet School lives on, but this was always going to be a multi-year undertaking. I believe that I can create even better student opportunities by pairing the experiential learning DNA of The Planet School with the college credit and maritime training capabilities of Northeast Maritime Institute.
I will continue to share updates on Oceans Academy via my Substack, Taking the Helm, so please consider subscribing. We are also continuing to build the businesses that will one day lay the foundation for The Planet School’s launch, so come sailing with us at The Voyaging Institute, the business we are building aboard Wonder!
If you know me, you know how excited I am to finally be launching a credit-bearing program. Thank you for your support and please stay in touch as we keep doing this work.
Gratefully,
Thane
The most challenging and fulfilling experience of your life
One Year, Five Adventures
EUROPE
Walk the ancient Camino de Santiago.
OCEAN
Sail a tall ship from Cape Cod to Key West.
FOREST
Construct an off-grid home from scratch.
DOWNTOWN
Launch a business and invest the profits.
MOUNTAINS
Roadtrip and backpack across America.
We are transforming learning into an expedition of discovery, purpose, and impact.
High school is not working for many of us.
Disorienting “Busy Work”
High school students feel disconnected from a sense of meaning in their lives and their work. The CDC found that 40% of teens had “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness.” There is a sense that high school is something you get through instead of a place where you work on important topics that matter. The connection between assignments and their impact is tenuous or non-existent.
Feeling Isolated
Half of teens do not feel a sense of belonging within their high school communities and only 1 in 4 students felt that the adults at their school cared “a lot” about their well-being and success. We are stranding teens when they are forming their sense of identity and insisting they fall in line instead of helping them craft a vision for themselves and the world they want to live in.
College Admissions Obsessed
High school feels like a conveyer belt inside a one-size-fits-all education factory: get the right test scores, join the right clubs, get accepted into to the right college. The immense pressure causes burnout and the fear of failure can be overwhelming. Instead of completing intentional, character-defining rites of passage, students walk across a graduation stage and, suddenly, are expected to know how to be adults.
Now imagine what learning could be.
Authentic Purpose
Imagine high school becoming four of the most fulfilling years of your life. Students wake up every morning with a sense of purpose. You leave with more than just a diploma—you can point to physical change in the world that you helped create. You have a portfolio of tangible work that you can put onto your resume or into a compelling college application.
Inspirational Community
Imagine learning alongside educators doing the most fulfilling work of their careers and bringing that inspiration to their student interactions everyday. Teamwork and leadership are intentionally cultivated as part of the curriculum during school, not just after school. Teens feel supported when they make mistakes, because safe opportunities to fail are essential in the process of doing great work.
Opportunity-Awakening
Imagine high school feeling like a runway designed for liftoff: graduates have the perspective and capacity to go in any direction. You have not just studied different industries inside a classroom, you have participated in them. Whether college, career, military, gap year, apprenticeship, or something else, you feel equipped to dig in and get started with the next chapter of your life.
