When a school is named Steamboat Mountain School, there is every indication that the outdoors will play a part in a student’s learning. Started in 1957 by outdoorsman Lowell Whiteman, the private facility has changed names several times, but its core mission remains.
School Has a Global Reach
Current enrollment is 160 students, who each receive education tasks based on “perseverance, fitness, craftsmanship, imagination, self-discipline and an opportunity to achieve goals.” Steamboat Mountain School is split over two campuses. One downtown for day pupils in K-8th grade, and a boarding optional campus on 140 acres off County Road 36 in Strawberry Park.
Students hail from all over the country with 10% of the population in high school coming from overseas. High school students have the option to focus on competitive sports through a partnership with the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club and Steamboat Springs High School. Schedules are designed to maximize seasonal training and competition time with intensive classwork in summer semesters.
Global Immersion Studies
The high school offers an alternative Global Immersion Studies program with students spending four months in four countries on four continents. Their schedules run in harmony with competitive sports students, which affords small class sizes and maximizes learning opportunities.
Strog Sense of Community
At the heart of the school is the concept of community. Students are encouraged to engage not only with each other through activities and campfire talks, but the community at large. Their academic week includes physical and outdoor pursuits around the locale, along with weekly community service.
When Lowell Whiteman first started his school, it was a summer camp for boys. Today the coed student body will climb 14-ers, take camping trips and spend a week in the desert together before they graduate. They will learn what it means to be self-sustaining and how to grow from their personal strengths and weaknesses.
The Steamboat Mountain School is a college preparatory school, filled with experiences that have turned students into Olympians, scientists, business leaders and humanitarians.