Powderhouse Studios, Fall 2026

We are searching for new, practical approaches to transform public education. This means we serve the same people public education aims to: everyone. Enrolling at Powderhouse Studios is free and admission is not selective: We work with anyone who wants our help figuring out what they care about and learning what they need to go after it.

Often people come to us because they are looking for something different. Almost everyone wants to spend more time working on creative things they care about, and less time in boring classes. But beyond that, maybe other schools are too big or dramatic. Or maybe they don’t like sitting at a desk all day. Or maybe they have specific needs—e.g. special education, finances, housing, mental health—that make other schools a bad fit. All of that is fine.

There are, however, some eligibility criteria ensuring we can support you at Powderhouse:

1. You must be able to get to Powderhouse reliably. We provide public transit passes, gas money, bikes (via BlueBikes), or parking passes as needed.
2. You must be able to work with Powderhouse for at least twenty hours each week. Powderhouse is not drop-in, but we try to support individualized schedules.
3. You must be ≥ 15 years old when you enroll. If you already have a diploma or high school equivalent, we’ll discuss whether Powderhouse is a good fit.
4. You must be conversational in English. It’s fine if you’re not fluent, but we need to be able to talk together to work together.
5. You must be able to walk a flight of stairs. Our current space is not wheelchair accessible, and our program happens on both floors.

You can enroll at Powderhouse through several pathways:

1. You can join as a homeschool student. ⇒ We manage your home education plan, coordinate with your home district, and take care of all the logistics associated with withdrawing from any school you’re currently enrolled in.
2. You can join as a partner-enrollment student. ⇒ You are enrolled at your current school (your “school of record”) but attend Powderhouse, earning credit at your school of record. We have existing partnerships with some local school districts, but if we don’t yet have a partnership with your school or school district, we’ll explore establishing that during your enrollment process.
3. You can join as a direct-enrollment student. ⇒ Powderhouse awards your diploma. Powderhouse is still undergoing its accreditation process, so if you’re considering this option, please reach out to discuss your particular situation and timeline.
4. Or, you can join as an independent student. ⇒ You are ≥ 16 years old and neither want to homeschool nor want a diploma, though you may want a high school equivalent like the GED or HiSET (which if you’re a minor, will require a legal guardian’s permission.)

Our admissions process is designed to ensure you and your family understand Powderhouse and what we offer. Throughout this process, remember: there are no wrong answers. What you share does not affect your admission.

Enrollment happens on a rolling, space-available basis, from September 1st to March 1st each year. If there is no space available, you can join the waitlist for future admissions.

Enrollment happens in three phases: exploring, registering, and enrolling. You are not officially enrolled at Powderhouse until you finish all three phases.

The goal of exploring is for us to get to know each other and make sure you have all the information you need to decide if Powderhouse is a good fit.

1. First, you’ll fill out an interest form sharing your contact information.
2. Then, we’ll schedule a short, online meeting to learn a little about you and for you and your family to learn about Powderhouse and ask any questions you have.
3. Then, we’ll schedule a 45–60 minute, in-person meeting with you (and where appropriate, your family) at our space. This goal is simply to get to know you better, discuss what you’d like from Powderhouse, and give you a chance to see the space.

While you’re registering, we want to make sure you (and where appropriate, your family) take some time to consider Powderhouse. This is also when we confirm your eligibility.

1. We ask you take one week to decide if Powderhouse is a good fit. If you’d like to visit and meet others at Powderhouse during this time please do! But, this is not required.
2. If you’re still interested, fill out a registration form collecting a bit more information from you and your family. If you’ll be a minor when you enroll, we’ll need to meet a legal guardian of yours—in-person or virtually—and get their permission for you to register.
3. We enroll people in the order they register. If there's availability when you register, you'll move onto enrollment immediately. If not, you may choose to join the waitlist.

And finally, while you’re enrolling, we’ll focus on where you’re at, where you want to go next, and what we ask of people at Powderhouse.

1. First, we’ll collect more information from you, your family, and—if it’s relevant—previous schools or other providers with whom you’ve worked (things like transcripts, IEPs, etc.).
2. Then, we’ll schedule a 60–90 minute interview and brainstorming session to:
   1. talk about your background, interests, and priorities,
   2. come up with some ideas for your first projects,
   3. review the expectations we have for people at Powderhouse,
   4. and set up your computer, email, purchase cards, and user accounts.
3. Based on your interests and priorities, we may schedule another 90m session where we do some short baseline exercises to figure out what comes easily to you and what doesn't, so we're not guessing about how to best help you.
4. And finally, we’ll make the first drafts of two documents which we’ll review in our last meeting before enrollment (which usually lasts 60–90 minutes):
   1. The first we call your game plan. It’s an individualized, living document the captures what you want to work on, why you want to work on it, and where you hope to go next.
   2. The second we call our social contract. It’s also an individualized, living document, but it focuses on how we work together: Both what Powderhouse commits to you, and what you commit to Powderhouse.

Finally, we’ll ask you to sign that social contract, and then you’ll be officially enrolled on the first day you come to Powderhouse!

But, even prior to your first day, we are available to work with you (and where appropriate, your family) to help address any life support needs that might get in the way of your participation at Powderhouse. In the past, we’ve helped students with medical and housing needs, legal and mental health challenges, and more. It can be awkward to share these things (especially when we’re just getting to know each other), but we encourage you to bring us into these issues if you’re comfortable. We want you to achieve your goals, and that is so much harder without a stable foundation.