New to Peak this year, Division II student Natalie Anderson says she is most excited about how The Peak School works. Natalie has been enjoying the project-based learning, hands on assignments, and small classroom environment, and commented that there is “a lot of trust here.” She has already ‘wowed’ teachers by incorporating her love of baking into a STEM project, where she decorated cupcakes with images describing the different steps in the nitrogen, carbon, phosphorous, and water cycles. Natalie really likes all of her classes at Peak this year, but Spanish with teacher Monica Mills stands out as her favorite so far. Natalie is also enjoying her food elective, taught by Adam Brenner. She describes the class as a great balance between learning about food and culture, and preparing food. Students in the food elective have learned how and why people from different regions of the world use the resources available to them to make certain foods. So far, students have prepared shrimp ceviche, smoked salmon pasta, elk tacos, chicken yakitori and ramen, and Laksa, a Malaysian coconut chili noodle soup.

Outside of school, Natalie participates on the Summit Rugby 8th grade team. She has been playing rugby for two years, but this is her first year on the team, and it’s off to a great start. She plays the position of “prop,” which is in the front row of the scrum, and pushes against the oppositions props. Natalie likes that in rugby, everyone is equal because it’s a team sport, and everyone has to work together. There are no pads, except for an optional scrum cap, which is a foam helmet that helps prevent cauliflower ear during the scrum. Between rugby and school, Natalie is sure to have a busy year, but she’ll still find time to help out at her family’s business, Soupz On in Breckenridge. She doesn’t hold regular hours at the restaurant, but Natalie lends a hand when her mom needs help, someone calls in sick, or she needs some extra cash! We are thrilled to have Natalie and her family as part of The Peak School community!

Other than attending The Peak School, Division II Peak student Jake M. doesn’t spend a lot of time off the ice. He is the goalie on several different hockey teams, including a AAA tournament team based in Denver, the Thunderbirds. At 13 years old, this Breckenridge teen has already been playing hockey for six years. On and off the ice, Jake is being carefully groomed by a goalie coach who meets with him twice each week at the rec center to work on building strength and agility. His favorite part about suiting up to defend the goal? The pressure. Jake says the adrenaline of knowing he is the last line of defense makes him work harder for his teams. Outside of the hockey rink, Jake enjoys the outdoors and spent time rafting and camping this summer. He also plays lacrosse and mountain bikes. Jake recently started his second year at The Peak School, and he said one of the biggest differences he’s noticed is the strong community and always feeling welcome. His favorite subject is Humanities because he loves history (and his teacher, Kathleen), and he enjoys his friends at Peak.

The decision to attend Peak was just the beginning of Jake’s ownership over his education, and he has the Air Force Academy in his sights as a next stop. His goal is to play hockey for Air Force. He’s off to a great start there, as he’s already in contact with the coach, who has watched him play. With a love for planes and flying, Jake hopes to accumulate hours during college toward becoming a commercial pilot. So listen carefully on flights of the distant future, as you just may hear Jake welcoming you to your destination!

Summit Daily News | Monday, November 23, 2015 Read the story on Page 7 here or see below.

Summit Daily News | Monday, March 30, 2015

Summit Daily News | Monday, February 24, 2014 Read the story on Page 2 here or see below.

Summit Daily News | Monday, February 17, 2014 Read the story on Page 3 here or see below.

Summit Daily News | Monday, May 11, 2015 Read the story on Page 3 here or see below.

Summit Daily News | Monday, September 7, 2015 Read the story on Page 4 here or see below.

Summit Daily News | Monday, October 24, 2015 Read the cover story here!

Summit Daily News | Monday, November 23, 2015 Read the story on Page 3 here or see below.

Summit Daily News | Monday, September 1, 2014 Read the cover story here!

Summit Daily News | Monday, October 19, 2015 Read the story on Page 3 here or see below.

Arguably one of the best Mandarin speakers in the school is not a Division 3 student, or even a Division 2 student.  It’s Division 1 student, Piper Miller. Piper’s extensive background and skill in Mandarin come from her seven elementary years at an immersion school, the International School of Denver (formerly Denver Montclair International School), in that language.    She remembers the challenge of the early years there where curriculum was delivered in nearly 100% Mandarin.   While there, she explored a few instruments too:  piano, violin and guitar.

Since coming to The Peak School, Piper said one of the biggest differences she’s noticed is the very close bond and strong relationships students have with teachers. She enjoys being treated as a mature student member of the community and appreciates the opportunities to present to different audiences, as she did with her STEM project and her civil rights movement/MLK project.

Outside of school, Piper has a broad array of interests.  While she enjoys snowboarding, soccer, camping, hiking, fishing and even hunting, her real passion is hockey.  Piper plays center and left wing with Summit Hockey.  She enjoys competing in the regional tournaments; and their team made it to state this year.  Piper also will attend the prestigious Shattuck-St. Mary’s hockey school for a week long summer hockey camp.  Whether on the ice or in the classroom, we look forward to seeing more great things from Piper over the years!

Like many Peak students, Arel Svenson is smart, active, loves to get outdoors and really enjoys life in Summit County.  Along with those things, this Division 3 student has so much more going on. Besides snowboarding, back country experiences and mountain biking, Arel enjoys ultimate Frisbee and, recently, has taken up climbing.  As far as time at the climbing gym, he’s been getting some great coaching from friend and fellow Peak student Will Sharp.

Arel successfully transitioned from home schooling to The Peak School.  He liked the home school experience because, if he worked hard to complete his studies for the day, he was able to get out and snowboard or bike. Since coming to Peak, Arel has really enjoyed the strong student-teacher relationships and class interaction with teachers and other students alike. After completing his high school education at Peak, Arel intends to pursue studies in engineering, videography and as a pilot.

Uniquely, Arel hasn’t waited for graduation to start his education or experience in videograpy.  This full time student also runs a business.  He and student Will Sharp have partnered to create and run Ten Mile Digital, where they shoot both interior and exterior video footage for clients like the Breckenridge Nordic Center.  He’s already off to a great start!

Summit Daily News | Monday May 4, 2015 Read the story on Page 3 here or see below.

The way Danny Rudolf moves through the backcountry - quietly and steadily moving forward - is exactly what he’s been doing at The Peak School. This year, Danny’s steadily developed and moved forward with some tremendous projects of great benefit to our school: Peak 2.0, the accreditation process and the assessment and communication enhancement tool, JumpRope. As you know, Peak 2.0 was rolled out after much inquiry within the Peak community, planning and development. This evolution of the Peak Divisions, structure and curriculum brings about logical places for students within a progressive education setting, academic progress, college preparation and more. Also, the accreditation process is a long one with many varying stages; and as our school prepares for its accreditation visit next week, Danny has been a huge part of our readiness.

One of the areas Danny is most excited about is the assessment, data management, reporting and communication tool JumpRope. He has been a key part of the Assessment Task Force, leading parents, students and staff on a journey of investigation and reflection about these areas at Peak. In looking at the strengths and challenges present in the current program, Danny began much arduous research and evaluation to find a tool that meets the identified needs of the Peak community. The need for this is best expressed in Danny’s words per his recent article to the accreditation committee:

Formerly, teachers at Peak relied upon basic Google web-based spreadsheets and documents to manage and share class data. This made organizing, analyzing, and communicating student assessment information cumbersome. One of our 10 common principles is to dedicate resources to teaching and learning. Increasingly, the amount of time spent managing data has felt inconsistent with our desire for teachers to focus on true progressive education practices. As our community has continued to grow (students, staff, and parents), a more simple, robust and useful data management tool is needed. After much exploration and investigation this year, JumpRope was selected for its capacity to manage the assessment of our specific learning objectives in a way that makes sense for us – not just based on traditional assessment (i.e. state standards or common core).

This exciting new tool soon will be piloted with the staff. After further review and tweaking, it will be implemented for the 2015-16 school year. Don’t worry – there will be additional communication and parent/student training sessions.

Concurrently with all this, Danny continues to pursue his Master’s Degree in Science Education, which he hopes to finish this year. We are so fortunate he’s taken time away from these studies to help our community thrive!

With a passion for animals, singing, acting, volleyball and her studies at The Peak School, Winter Michelle Eby’s plate is full; yet she makes it look so easy! Winter Michelle is a Division 2 student at Peak who joined the Peak community after successfully beginning her education at Frisco Elementary. This year, Winter Michelle’s volleyball season has just concluded with successful participation in a competitive tournament in Atlanta. She was a setter on both the Summit Middle School’s team and on Vail Volleyball Club’s #1 14 year-old team. She’ll continue with volleyball camps this summer where she hopes to continue to improve as a setter and possibly to learn a new position, either as a hitter or a libero. Also this summer, you may want to head down to the Boulder Actor’s Academy to see Winter Michelle in a performance of Mary Poppins. She began performing with the organization 3 years ago when she appeared in the lead of the musical Gleeful, and followed that performing in last summer’s Footloose. Winter Michelle said, “I really enjoy acting and singing because you can really let loose and express yourself.”

She also stays busy doing volunteer work with the Summit Animal Shelter. Winter Michelle began volunteering at the shelter a few years ago playing with and giving attention to the cats and dogs. After spending time there and learning about the importance of the Shelter, she wanted to take that work to another level. Now, Winter Michelle and a couple other students teach a class, Humane Ed, once and week to second graders at the SC Elementary Schools. Her class covers the benefits of the Shelter to Summit County, the importance of spaying and neutering pets, how to approach a dog or cat safely and other topics.

Two other experiences really stood out for Winter Michelle this past year. Last summer, she attended the Rotary-sponsored Young RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) camp. While it’s billed as a Leadership experience, she said it covered so many valuable areas that it’s really a “Life” camp. “It was really amazing,” noted Winter Michelle, “I learned so many life lessons that I apply day-to-day and in supporting my volleyball team.” She highly recommends all Peak 7^th graders apply. During the Winter Break, she was the youngest person to attend Dr. Deepak Chopra and Dr. Andrew Weil’s alternative healing and body/mind connection seminar, Journey Into Healing, at the Chopra Center for Wellbeing in Carlsbad, CA. Besides getting to meet and learn from the author, speaker and alternative healing guru, she really enjoyed learning mindful meditation and loves to share her experience and all she learned with her peers.

With such a strong and diverse background, Winter Michelle is an asset to our Peak community. We can’t wait to see what she’s up to next!

“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” If you know STEM and Outdoor Education teacher Morgan Moore, you’ll agree that quote perfectly sums up her approach to experiential learning and love of the outdoors.  In fact, it’s her favorite Dr. Seuss quote. For Morgan, making the leap from the curriculum to real world and the outdoors is what it’s all about. One of her personal favorite outdoor adventures was climbing Denali.  She said, “It was hard work with a big reward!”  

Morgan is particularly excited about identifying and studying local and regional water issues with Division 1 students in the coming months during the “Water in the West” STEM curriculum for the 4^th quarter. An important take-away for the Division 1 students will be to understand the value of water as a controversial natural resource. Noted Morgan, “Water in the West is a precious resource for many reasons, and it will be very interesting for them to study our local and regional relationships to water, and the controversies surrounding specific water issues."

For Division 3 students, the OE trip is a 5-day rafting trip with Adventure Bound River Expeditions.  These students are reading a book prior to the trip about John Wesley Powell's expedition down the Colorado River so that they will learn the history behind the river exploration. Besides the educational benefit, she appreciates the opportunity to build community, as well as strengthen leadership, teamwork and outdoor skills. She’s looking forward to making some great memories and having a lot of fun!

Summit Daily News | Monday, March 23, 2015 Read the story on Page 2 here, download the PDF or see below.

Catch Him if You Can!

We bet some of you reading this will recognize our first student profiled right away when we say he’s a Division I student who, besides being a good soccer player, is an incredible Nordic ski talent. Yes, it’s Wylam Mocatta.

Wylam comes to The Peak School from Upper Blue Elementary where he was a good student and active in sports and activities. During this first year at Peak, Wylam has continued his strong academics and intense sports training. Peak’s flexibility provides him the opportunity to be an aggressive competitor. Spring, summer and fall, Wylam participates as a forward on the Summit Strikers competitive league. But his favorite extracurricular is Nordic Skiing, where he really loves how free you are when skiing. According to Wylam, there’s “nothing like it when you get in the zone. It’s really fun!”

With Nordic, Wylam competes on two teams – the Summit Middle School team and the ultra-competitive Summit Nordic Club team. This keeps him in top shape, as well as pretty busy, with practices every day after school and competitions on weekends and some weekdays. In the summertime, he does “dry land” training by running and inline skating. This year, Wylam has travelled regionally all over the state and even to Utah. He’s placed as high as 7^th at multi-state tournaments and recently placed 16^th at the Middle School level competition facing top teams from all over the state of Colorado. We’re guessing his interest was sparked by his father Jonathan, a Nordic coach for the award-winning Summit High School team. With such strong support and talent, Wylam hopes to be able to ski at the college level and even perhaps for the U.S. Nordic Team someday. We believe he will do it!

Wylam is also a world traveler. With his family, he’s visited his Grandmother in London and been to England a number of times. He notes that Iceland was “really cool!” This year, he’s looking forward to visiting Paris, France. We look forward to hearing all about it!

When we asked Wylam, “why Peak,” he said he and his family made the decision based on the desire for a great personalized education, the schools unique approach to learning and the tight community. Some of his favorite things at Peak include the student-driven policies, that it’s a smaller school without such huge crowds and, especially, getting food for lunch from local restaurants. Thanks, Wylam!