News From the Rock Archives

Reflecting on Eagle Rock’s Past and Looking Ahead to the New Decade

The holiday break is drawing to a close and here at Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center, our instructors, staff, administrators, and students will be trickling back onto campus next week as the New Year — and a new decade — get underway.

Recently, there has been a flurry of debate on social sites claiming the new decade doesn’t officially begin until next Jan.1, but proponents of that notion forget that there was no Year Zero when the current era began more than 2,000 years ago. As a result, some may feel that all decades, centuries, and Millenia begin with Year 1.

(Photo by David W. Riggs | Sourced from Unsplash)

Now that we have put that silly debate to rest, here’s a quick look at Eagle Rock’s past, and what the future holds for our school and Professional Development Center (PDC).

Back in the spring of 1989, American Honda Motor Co., Inc. contributed ideas and funds for what would become the Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center. Its vision was for an educational organization that would focus the interest of young people on community, integrity, and citizenship. And it targeted youth who weren’t exactly fitting into the mold demanded in a traditional high school setting.

In addition, through close coordination with other school districts and educational organizations, our PDC team was tasked with Continue reading…

Here’s How to Reach Us During the Winter 2019/2020 Break

The Winter 2019/2020 holiday break is well underway for us here at Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center. That means our students, staff, and administrators are all actively in or are preparing for vacation and break mode.

As we mentioned last week, four Eagle Rock Students graduated on Friday, Dec. 13, in a ceremony here on our campus in Estes Park, Colo. Following in rapid succession was an end-of-trimester community meeting before students headed home this past Saturday for what amounts to a monthlong break. A festive end-of-the-trimester staff celebration occurred on Saturday, while some obligatory but important department meetings occurred on Monday to wrap up 2019 in a big red bow.

Our 80th trimester (ER-80) gets underway on Jan. 6, 2020 when staff members return to campus for collaborative workdays; followed the next day by our Public Allies Fellows participating in a traditional mid-year day away in celebration of reaching the near halfway mark in their yearlong commitment to service and Eagle Rock.

Veteran students arrive on campus and settle back into the routine starting on Continue reading…

Dan Condon Sums Up Eagle Rock’s Mission in Getting Smart Podcast

Tom Vander Ark, chief executive officer and a partner of the popular Getting Smart online community for educators, was treated to a personal tour of Eagle Rock’s one-square-mile mountainside campus this past August — an experience that was hosted by our own Professional Development Center.

Vander Ark’s popular Getting Smart Podcast features news, stories, and information about innovations in learning and teaching, and during his visit, the Seattle, Wash.-based CEO took time to tape a segment for the show with Dan Condon, associate director of our Professional Development Center.

Vander Ark, who may be known to some readers for his appointment as the initial executive director of education for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, now heads Getting Smart, a learning design company with headquarters in Seattle. The company provides advocacy, advisory, and coaching services with the objective of providing resources that lead to powerful learning for all students. As such, Getting Smart partners with education-focused organizations such as Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center, as well as other learning organizations across the country, in order to “invent the future of learning.”

During the 17-minute podcast, Condon shared his thoughts on Continue reading…

News from the Break at The Rock

Like all of the 78 trimester breaks that preceded this one, the one that starts this week at Eagle Rock School will end the same way — with students returning to campus for another trimester of engaging classes and experiences (this time around, on the 16th of September). What distinguishes this current break from all others is what we’ve got planned between now and then.

Below is a rundown of what’s happening during our summer break from classes, along with information on how to reach us from now until all staff members return to campus the second week of September:

Student graduation: Since the spring of 1995, each of our trimester breaks has been foreshadowed by an on-campus ceremony honoring the journey of Eagle Rock School students who are set to graduate. This trimester — the 78th since our founding in the early-1990s — a record 10 students took to the stage at our Human Performance Center, where each donned cap and gown to address family, friends, and the Eagle Rock community before leaving campus as high school graduates. Watch a replay of the August 9, 2019 graduation ceremony here.

Public Allies fellowship graduation: Our students weren’t the only learners honored with an on-campus graduation ceremony last Friday. Our 2018/2019 cohort of Public Allies Fellows, which included Continue reading…

Eagle Rock Debuts New on-campus Low-energy Faculty Triplex

A ribbon cutting ceremony and open house were held late last month here at Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center, marking the completion of a much anticipated 3,700-square-foot triplex on campus that will house three staff members and provide a common room for select campus gatherings.

In addition to providing living quarters for three Eagle Rock staffers — all of whom will now be highly integrated into our residential life program — the triplex affords additional support for house parents, which means enhanced opportunities for student growth and success.

The floor plan includes two, one-bedroom apartments — each measuring about 750 square feet — a 1,500-square-foot two-bedroom apartment, and a shared common area similar to the commons found in all six of our student houses. The common area is designed for residential life activities such as support groups, movie nights, enrichment and club activities, as well as other recreational opportunities.

Our new triplex is unique in that it Continue reading…

Community offers Eagle Rock’s Free Store the Coat Off its Back

Estes Park community members have always been big supporters of Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center, and an excellent example of that local love came near the end of last year. That’s when a group of community members began making regular donations toward what would become our organization’s Free Store.

Located in our on-campus Lodge, the Free Store became fully functional at the end of 2018, and today displays unused garments, school supplies, toiletries, and other day-to-day items that can be used by our students and others in the Eagle Rock community.

Instead of driving these items to thrift stores in town, community members save up a few bags of clothing and other items, then deliver them to our mountainside campus to be displayed in the Free Store. And don’t think for a moment these hundreds of items are just strewn around an upstairs open space. In order to make Free Store items appealing for students and staff, volunteers separate them in order to determine which are appropriate to display, which can be offered to thrift stores, and which are most suitable for recycling. This process includes a detailed inspection. For example, with the apparel we receive, volunteers inspect each item to assess cleanliness and even wearability and durability for our sometimes harsh-weather environment here in Estes Park.

The Free Store is arranged categorically, with racks full of options for Continue reading…

Not Everyone Catches a ‘Break’ During Eagle Rock School’s Trimester Break

Once again, we find ourselves between educational sessions as our 77th trimester draws to a close and ER-78 stands in line for its debut next month. It is during this trimester break that our instructors take a break from the classroom, and students enjoy a well-deserved vacation from independent studies, nontraditional classes, leadership responsibilities, and duties as stewards of the Eagle Rock community and our natural environments.

Last Friday, we celebrated the graduation of four students during a ceremony held here on out mountainside campus. Those grads include Alethea Auguste, Mohammad Thabata, Yxcelline Serafin, and Maria Suaste Perez. An End of Trimester Community Meeting took place the following day, with the trimester’s final staff meeting taking place yesterday.

For the most part, this period is technically a respite from school. However, several of our Professional Development Center (PDC) staff remain at work supporting our efforts to reengage youth from around the nation in their own education. That occurs through the work of the PDC as well as various administrative functions taking place on campus.

On Monday, Dan Condon, our Associate Director of Professional Development, was hard at work with the Boulder County, Colo., office of Continue reading…

The PACT Process: Building a School Community Where Everyone Thrives

The Eagle Rock community has always prided itself on a tradition of coming together to create positive change. We believe that a thriving educational community is the direct result of skills, structures, and trusting relationships that are constructed through effective change processes.

As a result, school leadership, staff, and students are gathering together for a school-wide afternoon class during the second five weeks of our current trimester (ER 77) to explore an Enduring Understanding that affects us all. (For those unfamiliar with the language, an enduring understanding is a statement summarizing important ideas and core processes that are central to a discipline and have lasting value beyond the classroom.) The end result is to collectively bring our entire community together to learn and grow. The belief is that everyone involved will leave the process with a deeper understanding of each other, the skills to make positive change in communities, and specific structures that will make Eagle Rock a stronger community.

We are calling this afternoon course, “Participatory Action Community Time,” or PACT, which focuses specifically on five main areas: Continue reading…

Wrapping Up Another Trimester of Progressive Education

Our winter trimester break is now underwayhere at Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center, which means many of our students have returned to their hometowns or headed elsewhere for this thrice annual vacation from school. Back here on campus, it’s been a busy trimester, with the graduation celebration for three of our students last Friday, followed by a mass departure of students the following day after an end-of-trimester community meeting. The staff held a holiday party on Saturday, and individual work teams met this past Monday for some trimester wrap-up work.

And while many of our instructors and staff head off to their holiday destinations, some — including Dan Condon, our Associate Director of Professional Development — are working during parts of the trimester break with educators who are committed to making high school a more engaging experience for our country’s youth. In Dan’s case, he was working earlier today on a Restorative Practices project with the Étude Group in Sheboygan, Wis., while tomorrow he’ll be working with TNTP (formerly known as The New Teacher Project), and on Friday he will be participating in a meeting at Public Allies, Inc. in Milwaukee.

Etude Group (Sheboygan, Wis.) engaging with Eagle Rock's Professional Development Center. — Etude Group (Sheboygan, Wis.) engaging with Eagle Rock’s Professional Development Center.

As for our organization itself, our campus schedule for the weeks ahead is as follows: Continue reading…

Eagle Rock Blueprints Describe Both Physical and Mission Projects

A set of blueprints is most often construed as an architectural plan for a physical building project. And, in truth, we’re discussing such a construction project in today’s post that will see the first of two new buildings bringing a welcome — and needed — addition to Eagle Rock 640-acre campus in Estes Park, Colo.

But we’re also talking today about a second set of “blueprints” that specifically affects Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center’s institutional planning process. Called Vision 2020, this blueprint enables our board members and staff to fulfill our mission by carefully planning for the allocation and use of resources.

As the result of a thorough planning process conducted several years ago, our board — assisted by students and staff — adopted an updated plan that incorporates seven major areas of focus (called domains) to be carried out over a multi-year period.

These domains range from one dealing with the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion; to another describing the implementation of an Continue reading…