PORT TOWNSEND — After seven years of operation, a private alternative high school will hold its first gala fundraiser Friday night.
“We’ve built some great partnerships both out of town and in the local community,” said Betsy Carlson, Jefferson Community School’s communications and development coordinator.
“They’ve contributed some unique items to the auction that people will find very interesting.”
The event takes place from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Northwest Maritime Center, 431 Water St.
In addition to the school, the event will benefit three other local nonprofits, the Port Townsend Film Institute, the ReCyclery and the maritime center.
The event is positioned as an “Expedition Gala,” since all of the beneficiaries sponsor experiential programs.
Such programs are an important part of the school’s curriculum, since it sponsors experiential voyages to such places as Costa Rica, Vietnam and Mexico as part of the school’s curriculum.
“These trips have an amazing effect on the kids,” Carlson said.
“They come back, and you can see how it changes them.”
There is a more tangible benefit since the experiential process encourages kids to seek broader horizons and attend college, Carlson said.
More than 90 percent of all Jefferson Community School graduates go on to college, she said.
The auction includes items like the use of a vacation home in the Virgin Islands for a week; behind-the-scenes tour of the Museum of Natural History in New York; a seven-nigh winter stay at a Colorado dude ranch; and cross country ski resort; and a four-day backpacking adventure in the Olympic National Park.
Also being auctioned is “Tarboo,” an original work by Lucy Condon Hanson.
The image, painted on a reused piece of old-growth fir from Neah Bay, was designed for the 2012 Plantathon card, which is sold to support salmon habitat restoration and five local schools.
The local incentives include a sailing on the schooner Adventuress, a week of summer sailing lessons from the maritime center and beekeeping lessons from former Mayor Kees Kolff.
Carlson said she expects to raise about $20,000 for the school Friday, but is hoping for twice that much.
It costs around $200,000 a year to run the school, with each of the 24 students paying a $9,700 tuition (some receive financial aid).
“We are like any private school — we get 80 percent of costs from tuition and have to raise funds for the rest,” Carlson said.
While the school has an open admission policy, it is not for everyone, and some students who don’t fit in with the program have been asked to leave.
Those who succeed in the school go beyond what is expected of them, Carlson said.
“Our students have done wonderful things,” she said.
“You can watch the older kids help out the younger ones. They have a capacity to lead.”
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
