The Peak School is pleased to announce Caroline Santinelli as our new Upper School English Teacher! Here is a little bio from her:

Hi folks! My name is Caroline Santinelli. I'm an east coast transplant to the Rockies, originally from Concord, Massachusetts, but for the last year, I've called Leadville home. I earned my bachelor's degree from Middlebury College, where I studied Environmental Nonfiction Writing (very liberal arts) and minored in Education Studies. Currently, I spend summers back in the Green Mountains of Vermont at the Bread Loaf School of English, where I am earning a master's degree in English Language and Literature. Before I began teaching, I had a brief career in digital media. Through this journey, I was lucky enough to be part of a pilot program for the National Geographic Society’s Storytelling Bootcamp as an organizer and an assistant video instructor. In the process, I realized how much I missed being in an instructive role—developing curiosity and inspiring deeper learning—which brought me back to the high school English classroom last year. I love all manner of outdoor activities, particularly climbing and backcountry skiing. When I’m not in the mountains, I spend time reading, writing, cooking, and listening to podcasts. I’m thrilled to be joining The Peak School community, and I look forward to getting to know everyone!

Our Division III students just returned home after a week long rafting trip on the Colorado’s Green River. The section of the Green River that these students conquered is called the Gates of Lodore, which is the entry to the Lodore Canyon in northwestern Colorado. The trip started off on Monday with students loading up their gear in vans and driving four hours to Craig, Colorado. Once they were there, they set up camp at the Gates of Lodore Campground for the night where they met their raft guides during a meet & greet session. Tuesday, after covering safety aspects, equipment, river etiquette, and other information pertaining to geology and history of the surrounding area, students boarded their boats and started floating down stream. The day on the river ends around 5:00pm where they then set up camp for the night at a designated campsite where they made dinner and had campfire conversations until going bags in.

On Wednesday, the group of Division III students came up on a section of the river that had more rapids than the previous day. Guides pulled their boats to the shore to get out and scout the river and made sure they knew the route they wanted to take was safe. Once getting through the white water, the day looked pretty similar to Tuesday with a lunch stop, getting back on the river for a while, then pulling off to set up camp. Thursday offered very sunny skies and gave the group the warmest weather of the trip. Students enjoyed the weather by jumping in the river to swim and cool off.

The group ended their four days on the river at Split Mountain in Jensen, Utah around 1:00pm on Friday. Once they arrived at their destination, students gathered all their gear and loaded in back into the vans to return home to Frisco.

The annual Division III raft trip was a huge success, as usual, and was a great outdoor educational experience for these students. Upon going on this trip, students read the book Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey to help give them insight on the land they were about to adventure in to. Not only did students learn about the river and the land surrounding it, but they grew relationships, made memories and shared plenty of laughs.

Matt Kroschel, KCNC CBS Denver news reporter, came to The Peak School to talk to our community about social media and media literacy.  

Watch the clip from the CBS news. Click here

Grant Morgan, a senior student at The Peak School has been working hard creating an original sonata and taking 17 AP exams.  

To read the full article, click here

Since announcing the appointment of Travis Aldrich as its third Head of School. On July 1, 2017, The Peak School’s staff and community has been preparing for Travis Aldrich to become its new Head of School. Mr. Aldrich will succeed Steve Coleman, who is returning to his East Coast home after a completion of a successful three-year tenure at Peak. Students, families and staff all are thrilled to have Mr. Aldrich take the helm and guide The Peak School. Currently is the Upper School Director at Vail Mountain School, Aldrich brings a strong education and leadership background, as well as outdoor education experience to the position. He has worked at several independent schools since 1998, as an English and history teacher, admissions director, dean of students and, before VMS, as the Middle School Director at Sierra Canyon School in California. His portfolio includes coaching basketball, soccer and lacrosse, as well as leading telemark trips in Colorado, cultural immersion trips to Costa Rico and Thailand, and marine biology trips to Florida. From 1995-2000, he served as Division Director at three nationally-recognized wilderness/educational camps.

“Travis was viewed by everybody as the top choice among a group of outstanding candidates,” said John Vincze, Co-Chair of the Board of Trustees. “He has an extensive background in progressive education at the middle and high school levels and in leading programs focused on outdoor education and international travel. His personality and experience dovetail perfectly with Peak’s needs and mission.”

According to Dana Karin, a Board member and former teacher at Peak who led the Search Committee, “Travis related extraordinarily well to everybody involved with Peak, especially the students. His references were off-the-charts favorable. He has succeeded as a progressive educator wherever he has worked. He is a great fit for Peak.”

Dan Wolf, Co-Chair of the Board, added that the hiring of Travis Aldrich brings a top-flight successor to Steve Coleman, under whose leadership, Peak:

• expanded its educational programs
• solidified its financial position
• increased its enrollment
• achieved early accreditation
• recruited its first international students, and
• added grades 10-12 to the Upper School.

With its announcement, the Search Committee indicated that Travis Aldrich, having helped to direct the growth of several schools already, is ideally suited to build upon Steve Coleman’s successful tenure, while continuing to expand Peak’s enrollment and educational programs.”

Mr. Aldrich relishes the opportunity to become Head of The Peak School, “I have had the opportunity to watch the school grow and expand over the last couple of years, and am very interested in being a part of its development. Peak is a dynamic community that thrives on the relationships between its students and its staff. I want to be part of a place like Peak, where I can influence the school’s direction and growth, and bring what I have learned from other institutions to a school that is continuing to build upon an already-strong foundation.”

The Peak School is an accredited, independent school located in Frisco, Colorado. In its fifth year, the school has 71 students among Divisions equivalent to grades 6-12. With small class sizes, Peak combines a personalized, progressive education with high academic expectations, and features an outdoor education program. Its mission is “to ignite a passion for learning; to develop students of diverse talents and backgrounds who think critically and act with integrity; and to graduate compassionate, confident, capable students who will embrace their roles as local and global citizens.”

Tye Brown-Wolf, Division IV student at The Peak School, was selected to be one of two Colorado students to represent our state in Washington D.C. for Senate Youth Program.  

Read the article here

From the 03.22.17 issue of Education Week: Standards-Based Grading Made My Kid Average

Today's guest post is written by frequent Finding Common Ground blogger Lisa Westman. Lisa is an instructional coach specializing in differentiation for Skokie School District 73.5 in suburban Chicago. She taught middle school gifted humanities, ELA, and SS for twelve years before becoming a coach.

Recently a friend called me in a panic. She was beside herself because she had just received her seventh grade daughter's new standards-based report card.  My friend relayed that her daughter (who was formerly an "A" student) was now "just average" according to the new report card.

I asked my friend if the report card had the word "average" on it and my friend said, "no." She elaborated that her daughter had received all "meets" and no "exceeds" on her report card, and, therefore, her daughter was now, "just average."

I calmly responded that "meets standards" does not equate to average. I clarified that a standards-based grading system does not neatly align to the traditional grading system we experienced in our schooling. I explained that standards-based grading is a much more pragmatic and informative way of reporting student progress than the traditional A-F approach.

I expected my friend to accept this explanation and settle down, but instead, her emotions escalated, and she replied, "well, my daughter's teacher thinks standards-based grading is stupid, too."

"We are the stories we tell ourselves." Joan Didion

Many school districts that have made the switch to standards-based reporting have been met with reactions like the one illustrated above. And, although I was surprised by my friend's response, I shouldn't have been. Reactions like hers are to be expected when identities are threatened, and eliminating traditional grading practices poses a threat to many people's identities.

How so?

The A-F/100-point traditional grading system has been in place since the early twentieth century. This means all parents and grandparents of students currently in kindergarten through 12th grade, plus the vast majority of today's teachers experienced school with a traditional grading system.

Based on the grades we received as students, we told ourselves we were "good" or "bad" students. We used our grades to tell ourselves which subjects we were "smart" in and which ones we weren't. We used our grades to compare ourselves to our peers. Our parents used our grades to compare us to their peers and their peers' children. We used our grades to determine if we were cut-out for certain careers. We allowed grades to tell us many stories about who we were. For better or for worse, these stories have played a part in shaping our identities as adults. Therefore, when we remove a critical piece of our identity formation (traditional grades) we may, consciously or not, feel threatened.

So, now what? We will be uncomfortable for a little while.  Ultimately, just like us, our children's identities will be shaped, in part, by the educational experience they have. However, if implemented correctly (as extensively researched and reported about by Thomas Gusky and Rick Wormeli) standards-based reporting should allow students to identify as individual learners, rather than comparably "good" or "bad" students.

The concept of standards-based grading is not easily enacted by teachers, nor is it easily understood by parents. Rather, this change is a work in progress which requires both educators and parents to work together to relearn what we have been taught in the past about grades.

While this shift is difficult for both educators and parents, it is the educators who must lead the charge, and be the first relearn (watch this video for some inspiration on relearning). The way in which educators share information about standards-based grading with parents is crucial for successful implementation. If educators are positive, admit that change is hard, and stick with the change because it is in the best interest of students, parents will follow suit. However, if educators protest, criticize, or are ambivalent about the benefits of standards-based grading, parents will will react similarly. Educators must model the reaction they hope to elicit from parents and students.

To effectively communicate with parents, educators must put to rest some of the widely-held fallacies about grading like the three listed below:

Fallacy #1: Parents need letter grades to understand their child's performance. Reality: Traditional grades give the facade of understanding because they use familiar words and measures. Consider a report card that lists: Math: A, Reading: B+. Parents understand the words math and reading. They understand that an A is the highest grade and a B is close to an A. But, the reality is, this communication does not actually tell parents anything about what was learned. Math and reading are too broad of categories to offer any insight and the letter grades could mean a variety of things, many of which have nothing to do with reading or math.

Now what? Standards-based grading is an opportunity to create a common understanding of exactly what is being assessed. When teachers take care to ensure assessments are appropriately aligned to the standards they are assessing, the assessments become a vehicle for dialogue between students, parents, and teachers to adequately discuss where students are in their learning progression and where they are going.

Fallacy #2: Letter grades are more objective. Reality: Once again, an A-F system creates a facade of objectivity.  Using a percentage attached to a letter  (93% = A) feels objective. But, what isn't necessarily objective are the tools used to garner those scores. When I taught English, I often struggled to determine the critical difference between an 89% and a 90% on a student's narrative writing assignment. When I taught social studies, I assumed the multiple choice tests I created were completely objective due to the right/wrong nature of the questions. I didn't consider, however, the inherent bias of the questions since I had written them.

Now what? There is a reason teachers are part of a PLC/team and there are reasons why these teams are encouraged to meet frequently. This is a time for teachers to discuss topics like objectivity. It is no longer frowned upon for educators to admit that learning is not an entirely empirical process. Learning is complex and, therefore, grading is complex, too. When we look at student work as a team, engage in dialogue about assessments, and come to a consensus as to what "meeting standards" is, we are making the reporting process as objective as possible.

Fallacy #3: By the time we shift to standards-based grading, there will be a new fad, and we will have to start all over again. Reality: It will take time for individual school systems and the educational system as a whole to fully embrace this change. It is likely that once we become comfortable with this change, there will be additional amendments to the way we grade. But, such is life. This is part of what all successful industries do to stay relevant. They makes changes to improve processes, gather new information, and make more changes to improve processes again.

Next Steps: Don't lament about the process. Don't worry about what the future holds. We are doing what is best for students with the information we have right now. Celebrate the progressive and long overdue steps we are taking to use grading as an indicator of learning rather than symbol of finality. Questions about this post? Connect with Lisa on Twitter.

A few weeks ago on our blog we highlighted Forum, one of the three pillars that The Peak School stands on. This post, I am featuring another one of those pillars: Choices. Choices is one of my absolute favorite parts of this school, and was something entirely new to me before I came to Peak.  Choices is a way for students who are having conflicts to get together to discuss challenges they may have with a student, a teacher or even themselves. The purpose is to have community support and (eventually) get to the root of what might be causing the challenge. Before there is a Choices meeting, a student/teacher must first have a conversation with the person they are having a challenge with. If problems still occur prior to the initial conversation, then they are free to hold a Choices meeting about it. I had the pleasure to sit in on a Choices meeting and what I had observed was impressive. What really had me shocked was that Choices meetings are all student run. There is a student facilitator who runs the meeting and help raise questions to get to the root of the problem. Usually the facilitator is an upper school student. Next, a panel of four students (2 Middle School, 2 Upper School) observe the conversation and weigh in at the end to ask questions and do their best to understand all sides of the story. Collectively, all students involved in the meeting are able to suggest potential outcomes.  Once both the bringer and the brought state where they are coming from on the issue and appear to be at the base of the problem, those students are asked to leave the room while the facilitators and panel come together to decide the outcomes to the situation. Then they are brought back in the room to agree on the terms that have been decided for them.

My take-away from sitting in on a Choices meeting was that these students are learning valuable life skills from this and growing from their conflicts. They’re learning that if they have a problem with someone that the best way to reach a solution is to confront it and have a conversation about it; that’s what Choices is. Choices is not a punishment or should not be looked at in a negative way. It is a healthy, mature solution that helps get to the root of a problem by simply having a conversation about it with the person directly involved.

After observing a Choices meeting, I have adopted some of those strategies in my own life. I tell everyone about Choices and how important a justice system like this is for students. But not just students; anyone can learn something from meetings like Choices. This is just another way The Peak School prepares it’s students for life ahead.

-Brett Burns

Senior at The Peak School, Selah Kreeger, produced, directed and casted her own play based on The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe as one of her three plays for her Capstone Senior Project.  

Learn more about it here

Brain Awareness Week is something that we’ve been apart of at Peak for a few years now. This year, we will be partnering with the Dana Foundation, for the third year in a row, and Colorado State University during the week of March 13th. The Dana Foundation is a philanthropic organization whose mission statement states that they are “committed to advancing brain research and to educating the public.” The Dana Foundation helped their partners bring Brain Awareness Week to the country-wide educational initiative is today. This year, we plan on focusing our brain activities on how our brains are affected by technology, developing empathy for brain disorders and injuries, and local options found in Summit County related to positive brain health. “It’s so important to understand our brains and it’s functions and capabilities,” said Peak student Elli VanDeYacht.  “People can be ignorant on this topic, students especially. Brain Awareness Week has been a great success at Peak because it’s interactive and easy to participate in, just like lots of our classes.”

Dr. Leslie Stone-Roy will be visiting on Tuesday March 14th with a group of Colorado State University undergraduate and graduate students as part of their CSU’s Brain Awareness Week outreach program, and will be bringing a number of interactive stations directed at Middle and High School aged students. Additionally, the Peak School will continue to provide students with materials and information so that they can connect with local resources, including Safe2Tell Colorado and local affiliate High Country Colorado of the National Alliance of Mental Illness to educate about suicide and substance abuse.

Our hope is that by educating young people, they will be able to employ better decision making skills and develop greater empathy towards mental and brain disorders.

“Brain Awareness Week is a great opportunity to learn more about mental illness, substance abuse, and proper brain protection,” another Peak student, Olivia Brown-Wolf said. “I believe every week should be treated like Brain Awareness Week. Education about mental illness is extremely under taught in our society, and I believe Brain Awareness Week is the first step to further educate youth about these illnesses.”

If you would like to get more involved with Brain Awareness Week, the Peak School would love your help. The program runs March 13-17, 2017 at The Peak School during school hours.

The Peak School stands on three pillars: choices, ten common principles, and forum. Forum is one of the more unique and cherished parts of our school’s philosophy that allows students to have a voice and address their entire community with just about anything they want. On Tuesday afternoons, students are either divided into Middle School or Upper School, or forum involves the whole school. Before each forum meeting, two to three student representatives are selected to run the meeting. Their job is to facilitate each portion of the agenda that is laid out before the meeting. A typical forum agenda starts with connections. This is a two minute segment where any student can say just about anything they want; what they’re excited about, what they’re not excited about, something interesting to share with the group. Literally just about anything that would make a connection with someone else. Following that are a few minutes dedicated to any announcement that a teacher or student might have. Next, they move into “shout outs,” which is a time for students or staff members to acknowledge something they appreciate someone else doing. We also use this time to bring attention to recent birthdays in our school’s community. Last is a section of time dedicated for students to discuss current events, whether they be local or global.

Once all of the mandatory forum topics are covered, the rest of the time is used for whatever the teachers have planned. Sometimes it’s a group activity or game, and other times it can be issues to discuss among the community. For example: a few weeks ago, the school needed to come up with a new policy for lunch rules. For this scenario we had the students involved in the conversation.

The main focus of forum is to give students a voice in our school and also on decisions being made among our community. Students find it to be empowering when they have a say in policies and changes in our school and so do the staff. Forum is something that The Peak School values, and it’s part of what makes us who we are.

At Peak, our Division IV students benefit a unique experience, one where they can truly own their education by creating their own carefully crafted schedule. Division IV students this year have been splitting their time between taking courses at The Peak School, such as Lives of Moral Leadership, and at Colorado Mountain College, where they earn college credit. We call this final year for our seniors at Peak a Capstone Year.

A larger piece of the Capstone Year is creating a senior project. The sky's the limit when it comes to these projects, as long as they meet certain educational parameters for growth. Division IV students chose any topic they want to spend an entire school year studying and researching and doing. It should be something they are passionate about -- something that inspires them.  This year, we have six division IV students who have a wide range of exciting topics as their senior projects. Grant Morgan, a pianist, is working on a sonata on his Piano. He plans for it to be 15-30 minutes long with varying pieces to his movement. Tye Brown-Wolf chose politics and is studying what party young voters (ages 18-25) are affiliating with and the influences parties/young voters have on one another. Arel Svenson, a passionate snowboarder, is studying film and working on shooting a snowboard film capturing the emotions a snowboarder experiences as they are flying down a run. Kira Benson, passionate about country music, is recording and producing a country music album that features herself on all the instrumentation and vocals. Jared Lincenberg is studying city planning while using a new software to map Summit County while also studying cultural and historical aspects of city planning. Selah Kreeger, founder of the Peak Theater Club, has been working hard to reach her goal of producing, adapting, directing and acting in three plays this year: Every 17 Minutes the Crowd Goes Crazy, Chronicles of Narnia and Clue.

At the halfway point of our academic year, these six seniors are well on their way to success. These students are being challenged with the biggest project thus far in their academic careers, while also learning about topics that get them excited for future study. A Capstone Year is meant to ignite a passion for learning in a field that these students are interested in, and we are definitely seeing that happen at The Peak School.

Tye Brown-Wolf, a senior at The Peak School, is one of only two recipients from Colorado to be accepted into the Youth Senate program.  

Read the article by clicking here

Travis Aldrich named our new Head of School starting in the 2017-2018 academic year.  

To learn more, click here

Dear Peak School Families, We are delighted to announce that Travis Aldrich has agreed to become The Peak School’s third Head of School on July 1, 2017.  An educator for more than 20 years, Travis has taught English and History; served as an admissions director, dean of students, middle school director and upper school director; coached basketball, soccer and lacrosse; led telemark trips in Colorado and cultural immersion trips to Costa Rica and Thailand; and served as Division Director at three nationally-recognized wilderness/educational camps.

Travis is a terrific fit with The Peak School’s needs and mission, having experience with the unique challenges and strengths of independent schools in mountain communities. He is dynamic, a proven educator, and a skilled outdoorsman.  He was impressive and comfortable in his meetings with students, faculty, staff, parents and Board members.  His recommendations were outstanding.  Currently the upper school director at Vail Mountain School, Travis already knows Peak well and is eager to start working here.

Travis was selected, after a nationwide search, by a unanimous vote of the school’s Search Committee (led by Dana Karin) and our Board of Trustees.  We are all confident that Travis is the right person to lead the school forward, and to build on the progress that Peak has made during Steve Coleman’s term as HOS.

Steve will be returning to his East Coast home upon completion of his three-year contract.  His accomplishments have included stabilizing the school’s finances, increasing enrollment, expanding the school’s educational programs, recruiting its first international students, achieving early accreditation and adding grades 10-12 to the Upper School.  We’re very grateful to Steve and wish him and his family all the best.

Best regards,

Your Board of Trustees

John Vincze, Co-Chair                                 Dan Wolf, Co-Chair

Art Albin                                                        Dana Karin

Bart McGuire                                                Mary Anne Johnston

Carol Craig

Our sixth grade students had an outdoor education trip all to themselves for the first time in Peak history. To learn more click here

At The Peak School, we are always preparing for the future. Whether it’s our staff planning ahead for lessons, our community preparing for an event, or our student’s gearing up for an outdoor ed. trip. The same is true for our Division III and IV students who are looking ahead to life after Peak: college.  

Going to college is such an exciting time in a young person’s life. Moving out of the house and discovering life on your own, making new friends and learning a lot. But planning for college, and deciding which is the right school for a particular student, is something that we take very seriously at The Peak School. Our college counselor, Nick Smith, has been working very hard and getting universities to stop in and chat with our students. Just this past week, we had representatives from Dartmouth College and the University of Vermont that sat down with some of our Division IV students that are working hard on their college applications. We are also very fortunate to be working with Travis and Amy Macy who work with our Division III student’s to help them find a university with that is the right fit for them, along with getting them prepared for every step of the college application process.

  With more colleges visiting Peak in the near future, our students are going to have a great idea of where they want to go for school and what they want to study. It’s no question that when the time comes, our students will be well prepared for their transition from The Peak School to university.

We welcome international students and faculty to bring new perspectives for students. To learn more about this, click here

Mountain Day, one of many things that sets us apart from other schools in the county, is a tradition held at The Peak School where classes are canceled for the day and student's enjoy a day outdoors. To learn more about this specific fall mountain day, click here

A Harvest Gathering to Benefit The Peak School If there is one thing that is certain about autumn in Summit County, it’s that it doesn’t last long. Since this wonderful season is so short, let’s take a moment to step back and celebrate the quiet of a Summit County fall with it’s beautiful blue skies and the orange and gold hues of the aspen trees.

Please join us for the annual Harvest Gathering celebration. This year, the event takes place Thursday, October 6^th, at the Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant in Frisco, Colorado. It runs from 6:00pm until 9:30pm. You’ll be treated to an evening of tastings of more than 100 wines, beers and spirits, along with food pairings provided by Basecamp Wine & Spirits, Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant, Whole Foods Market, Tavern West and Sauce on the Blue. Along with food and drinks, there will be an extensive silent auction, including 2 pairs of skis, private tour of the Coors brewery, private tour of the New Belgium brewery and much more. The popular “Beer Barrel” and “Wine Barrel” raffle will be back, too.

Tickets are $40 in advance and $45 at the door. Tickets can be purchased online at http://thepeakschool.education/event/harvestgathering, in the Welcome Office at The Peak School or at Basecamp Wine & Spirits. This event benefits The Peak School as well as Summit Education Foundation. If you have an item or something to contribute to the silent auction – a night of lodging, tickets to an event, a restaurant gift certificate or more, it is not too late! Contact The Peak School with any inquiries about donating silent auction items.

Save the date for Thursday, October 6th. Invite your friends, family and neighbors to this great event that helps benefit The Peak School. Feel free to contact The Peak School with any questions regarding the Harvest Gathering. We look forward to having you join us celebrate this remarkable time of year.