antonellasjourneys

Her name is V. She is 15 years old. At night, she works at her dad’s restaurant, helping clients to their table, taking reservations, coordinating waiters and orders. That is where I met her this summer, hardly recognizing her. Only one Summer ago, she looked like a a very young girl, in love with aerial dance and with a deep and alert spark in her eyes that was impossible to ignore. The passage from 14 to 15 seems to have impressed on her a sense of self-awareness and confidence that I have rarely witnessed in a girl of that age.  V. greeted us in an impeccable Italian accent with a northern intonation, the result of her mom and dad’s Italian roots, Piedmont and Friuli.

During the day, V. attends a horseback riding camp from 9 am to 4 pm, at a ranch by her house. A busy life for a teenager.

I tell her mom how impressed I am by V.’s overall composure and demeanor. She tells me that since V. started high school, everything has changed. That her job at the restaurant, is indeed part of the school curriculum. It’s called “work crew” and it offers students the option to work either at school, in the pottery lab, making pots and cups for the school cafeteria, or in the school’s organic vegetable garden, growing herbs and vegetables that will be served at lunch at school.

V. chose to help her father at his restaurant during the Winter, as part of the work crew program and, on her own, she elected to continue working there, this Summer.

I am blown away. I must see this school. So, the following Sunday, V. gave me a tour of her high school. Located in Carbondale (population: 6427), 25 miles from Aspen, the Colorado Rocky Mountain School has a body of students of 168. Students come from all over the world.

We begin our tour from the gym, where three of the four walls are climbing walls. We are in the Rocky Mountains and the encouragement to engage in mountain sports is constant. There is a poster on the one wall not occupied by climbing hand holds. It is a famous female rock climber. The poster is signed by her and on top of her name she wrote ” to CRMS dream big”. At this point I laugh. I can’t help but thinking of my high school Physical Ed. teachers, whom I have never seen wearing a pair of gym shoes in five long academic years. CRMS also offers a variety of other sports: soccer, tennis, horseback riding, yoga, kayaking, mountain biking, swimming and, of course, any type of skiing.

We proceed. There is artwork hanging on the hallway walls. They represent Mt. Sopris, the beautiful mountain that overlooks Carbondale (12,965 ft- 3,952 mt). The paintings were done by students and teachers.

The school looks like a college campus in an heavenly bucolic setting.  There are  several buildings hosting different departments. Subjects include all the regular courses you will find in any other American high school, English, History, Geography, Math, Biology. And creative arts. We pass the theatre ( the school produces plays and musicals), the orchestra hall, the jewelry lab, the glass blowing lab, the iron and clay lab. A writing on the wall reads : Art is long. life is short. Get going.  A quotation by Francis Whitaker, a famous American blacksmith. Art is something your work on with your hands at Colorado Rocky Mountain School. At this point, just by walking and listening to V.,  three things are clear and, I love all three of them: the relationship of alliance between students and teachers; the attention to trade learning and, the invitation to know, respect and benefit from the environment.

We keep walking and we pass the organic vegetable garden “learning center”. Growing plants and planting seeds is a skill you work at, just like any other subject.

The CRMS is not a public school, it is a private school and tuition is high. Living in the United States, this doesn’t surprise me. To put things in perspective, my son’s preschool in Chicago and tuition at CRMS are in the same price range.

I know V. will do well in life, whatever she chooses to do. What I gather from observing the CRMS, is that the pedagogic approach of the school aims at a 360 degree education. A system which focuses on traditional subjects together with a hands on approach and trade learning. A combination of instruction and education. A school whose goal is to prepare students for life.

I am wondering if this type of approach represents a national trend and other schools are following in the same steps. With this question in mind, I will continue my research and visit the Aspen public schools.