Lupine Experiential School

Our Story

Lupine School was born from the vision of Jackie Taylor, an educator with over 20 years of experience in progressive education. With degrees in Early Childhood and Elementary Education, as well as a Master’s in Teacher Leadership, Jackie’s extensive background in both the classroom and school administration prepared her to build something truly unique.

Her deep connections with colleagues, students, and their families helped form a passionate and supportive community—one eager to reimagine what school can be. Dedicated parents and experienced educators came together to design an innovative learning environment that engages students through rich experiences, meaningful projects, and active community involvement.

Our Name

Our name was inspired by two sources. The first is the resilient and generous plant, the Prairie Lupine. Its seeds were the first to take root in the deep ash and pumice that covered the flanks of Mount St. Helens after the 1980 eruption. Able to survive in the nutrient-deprived debris, the lupine produced excess nitrogen, which enriched the soil and paved the way for more plants, insects, birds and mammals to return to the area. This colonizer’s success shocked scientists and the recovery of the landscape was accelerated largely in part to the prairie lupine.

The second inspiration comes from the beloved children’s book Miss Rumphius, a favorite among our faculty. In the story, a young girl named Alice makes three promises to her grandmother: to travel the world, live by the sea, and do something to make the world more beautiful. As an adult, she fulfills that last promise by planting lupine flowers, spreading beauty across the land and earning the name “The Lupine Lady.”

Our Commitment

At Lupine, we are deeply committed to making our school accessible and affordable. As a secular, private school, we receive no state or federal funding and rely entirely on tuition and fundraising efforts. Despite this, we provide over $70,000 in tuition assistance each year to qualifying families. All funds raised during GiveMore24 will go directly toward our Tuition Assistance Program, helping ensure that more local families have access to a high-quality, meaningful education for their children.