Colorado Rocky Mountain School - Review #4

Colorado Rocky Mountain School in particularly unique in that it has an extensive outdoor education program. Every new student is required to attend a 10 day backpacking wilderness experience. This introduced students to the wonders of being outdoors, showed us how to deal with adversity, and allowed us to form close relationships to other students.

I think that going to boarding school has allowed me to connect deeply with my surroundings, peers, and teachers.

I think that my advice would be to take full advantage our your time at school. There are so many great opportunities that are easy to miss out on.

The group of great students and great teachers! I also love the outdoor active program.

Make sure to visit the art adobe, ceramics room, glassblowing studio, and base camp. My favorite food is the kale salad at the salad bad.

At CRMS, we have small classes where students are encouraged to actively participate in class discussions and feel safe to express themselves. Student-teacher relationships are emphasized and students often know their teachers beyond the classroom as they coach teams and lead the school trips. The classes do not feel competitive and students often work together to maximize their potential. Classes range from the basic curriculum (core classes) to optional electives (game design, geology, graphic novel, creative writing, silversmithing, etc.)

CRMS has a very unique athletics program, which makes the school really stand out. Rather than normal high school sports, we have a climbing team, telemark skiing team, kayak team, ski team, etc. These give students the opportunity to learn lifelong outdoor skills that will allow us to continue being outdoors in our futures. The sports are not super competitive and everyone is encouraged to participate even if they have little experience, which allows everyone to try new things.

Our theater program is small, however, our art and music programs are my favorite parts of CRMS! I love the art classes that the school offers and along with fine arts, we have glassblowing, silversmithing, and ceramics. Most students also tend to take a music class at some point in their time at CRMS.

The school has all school volunteer days where we give back to our communities as well as work crews that all students are required to participate in. They are very fun and rewarding to do and it is good to know that we are helping the CRMS community and greater Colorado communities.

Dorm life is very fun and a great opportunity to bond with classmates. To chose a roommate, you fill out a form of preferences and list your top three roommate choices. Dorms are nice and most of them have kitchens and fridges to cook food. Dorms are separated by grade level.

We are provided 3 meals a day and the food is great! There are always vegetarian and vegan options and the food is healthy and delicious. A lot of our food also comes from our school garden!

Carbondale is a cute small town with a nice downtown and many restaurants to eat at. There are also fun art galleries and events in the town.

Because it is a small school, everyone is very close and students know everyone well. There is not a large divide between grades so it is not uncommon for upperclassmen to be friends with the underclassmen.