Our Founding

The Greene School was born from a simple but ambitious idea: what if a high school could be built entirely around students' relationship with the natural world?

A Vision Rooted in Nature

Our co-founder and Board President, Dr. Amy Pratt, a veterinarian by training, imagined a school where students could deepen their understanding of the natural world and, in doing so, become the environmental stewards their generation badly needs. That vision took years of planning and hard work — a testament to how much conviction it took to build something this different from a traditional high school.

Dr. Pratt's thinking was shaped in part by Richard Louv's influential book Last Child in the Woods, which explores what today's young people lose when they grow up disconnected from nature — and what they gain when that connection is restored. 

Dr. Pratt didn't build the school alone. Co-founder Laura Clavette helped bring the vision to life alongside her — a partnership honored today in the names of two of our campus buildings, Pratt Hall and the Clavette Center.

Opening Our Doors

The Greene School opened in 2010 and from the beginning, Greene was designed as a statewide, tuition-free public charter school — meaning any Rhode Island family, regardless of zip code, could choose it for their student. That statewide draw remains true today: our students come from all corners of Rhode Island, bringing very different backgrounds and levels of experience with the outdoors, which is part of why a strong orientation program has always been central to how we welcome new students into our community.

Built for the Outdoors, From Day One

Unlike a typical high school building, The Greene School's 70-acre campus of forest, wetlands, and meadows was designed as a living laboratory rather than a single building with hallways and classrooms. Small, decentralized buildings mean students are outside every single day — in every New England season — whether they're doing fieldwork or simply walking from one class to the next.

A Mission That Has Stayed the Same

More than a decade later, The Greene School still exists to explore what our founders set out to explore from the start: the interdependence of human and natural systems, and what it means to raise a generation of students who understand their role within it.