CAMPUS & STUDENT LIFE
and to the Okwanuchu and Nom Ti Pom Wintu people who cared for this place for thousands of years.
Located amidst the magical wilderness of Mount Shasta, in a densely-forested valley just below Castle Crags, students live alongside a spring-fed creek that runs through our 83-acre campus.
Our region begins at the headwaters of Mount Shasta. We follow those waters, working with the Winnemem Wintu Tribe on salmon restoration, with farmers along the Sacramento River, and with creative entrepreneurs in the San Francisco Bay where the water meets the ocean.
Our campus is on the outskirts of the town of Dunsmuir, a small 1600-person community situated within one of the most beautiful places on Earth. The valley backs up to the Castle Crags, a Jurassic-period crystalline rock formation that is today a State Park with extensive hiking trails and which connects into the Pacific Crest Trail.
More than 100 years ago, Dunsmuir was the largest California town north of Sacramento. Today, it is a nationally designated historic district. There are two prominent murals in town: one that says, “Be Nice to Each Other” and another with the official slogan of Dunsmuir, “Home of the Best Water on Earth”.
Students sleep in renovated rail cars within Railroad Park Resort, a working social enterprise located on campus and owned by Jubilee College.
Our classrooms, indoor and outdoor student lounges, and community kitchen are located in a 20,000 square foot building that until 30 years ago was Dunsmuir’s Elementary School, and has since been completely remodeled into gorgeous meeting spaces. It was envisioned as a sanctuary for education and art and continues in that spirit today.
A typical week for students weaves together the core activities of work, study, and contemplative practice. A normal weekday morning may begin by stoking the building’s stoves with firewood before sharing breakfast and heading off to class to study with guest faculty who have joined, as top leaders in their fields, for that month’s academic block. Then, in the afternoon, students work together at the Railroad Park Resort or out in the wilderness tending to habitat and the health of the ecosystem. In the evening, students gather to study and have group discussion about the culture and creative process of building community together. Saturday mornings are a unique period in the week, held apart for deep contemplative practices. This time might be spent in deep listening along the watershed with cofounder Pom, sitting by the fire with elders, engaging in creative arts for cultivating intuition, or learning from the world’s great spiritual traditions. Finally, Sundays are days of rest and play, unstructured and spontaneous.