Innovation Hub

At Northwood, we believe in the benefits of place-based learning, and as an extension of that commitment, the central function of the Innovation Hub’s mission is to promote collaboration, engagement and partnerships, capitalizing on the shared knowledge, innovation and creativity within our community.

The Innovation Hub at Northwood School offers auxiliary programs including after-school, weekend, summer, guest lectures and professional development to ignite the intellectual, cultural, and professional pursuits of our boarding school students.

As an extension of Northwood’s main campus, the Innovation Hub at Northwood School provides the space, tools, and academic curriculum to hone the modern world knowledge and experience that the country’s top colleges and employers value most. With the addition of this space to the Northwood School experience, our graduates will be better empowered to confidently lead lives of consequence.

Programs like Robotics, Innovation & Design, Entrepreneurial Studies and LEAP (Learn, Engage, Apply, Perform) allow Northwood School to offer an interdisciplinary approach to education that emphasizes active learning, making, and risk-taking and challenges students to become resilient, independent thinkers.

The interdisciplinary approach means that students don’t learn about one subject at a time in a silo. Instead, they look at a topic through the multiple lenses of history, science, literature, and more. Reflective of the academic shifts of many universities as well as the demands of the modern workplace, interdisciplinary learning provides students with more in-depth perspectives on a variety of topics and helps them develop critical thinking skills. 

The Innovation Hub also hosts a “makerspace” where students can experiment, take risks, and explore their ideas in hands-on ways. This innovative approach to learning gives students permission to trust themselves and their own compass in relation to self-directed and collaborative learning. 

In the last decade makerspaces have exploded across the country, and we are excited to provide our students with the tools and resources that they may not otherwise be able to access outside of a professional laboratory setting. Engaging with other students, local citizens, alumni, and scientists in the makerspace provides a variety of benefits including:

• Learning how to innovate

• Solving complex problems in hands-on ways

• Taking classroom concepts off the page and turning them into real-world applications

• Embracing “failure” as a critical and necessary part of the learning process

• Creating resiliency

• Exposing students to new ideas

• Letting students work with high-tech machinery, tools, and science professionals

• Building critical thinking and problem-solving skills

• Future-proofing students by enhancing skills such as flexibility, collaboration, adaptability, leadership, and initiative

The $2.5 million funding for this transformational project has been provided by key early philanthropic support from Northwood school alumni, families and friends. This financial commitment to the development of the Innovation Hub at Northwood School exemplifies the sustained support from our generous donors of our mission to provide diverse academic offerings in top-notch facilities.

With the visible Main St. facility, Northwood alumni will feel increased pride in their school and enjoy the opportunity to connect with current students through alumni-supported programming and collaboration in this new location. 

For more information on how you can support this initiative, please visit Northwood Giving page or contact our Associate Director of Development Stephanie Gates at (518) 523-3357.