Nine Colorado Academy students and I are heading back from Interim where we’ve spent a week in the wilderness of southeastern Utah. We have hiked and climbed, scrambled over tough terrain, rappelled off cliff faces, all in areas of intensely concentrated ruins of the Ancestral Puebloan people.
Hiking in both Natural Bridges and the Bears Ears National Monuments just west of Blanding, Utah, we saw the plentiful features of well-preserved rock art and ancient structures. Students were learning important technical skills, as well as navigation and survival skills. And what I learned all over again is how impressive, mature, and thoughtful CA students can be.
Leading seniors on this trip affirms for me how our students become the embodiment of the mission of our school. Whether helping one another off a ledge or sharing cooking duties in camp, each of these students had learned the importance and power of looking out for one another, of respecting nature, and of engaging in thoughtful and meaningful conversation. I could not be more proud of these students who will graduate from CA next week.
What I know is that we are a better school for having had them as students, and the schools to which they will matriculate are very lucky to be welcoming them into their midsts.