Graduates Archives - Eagle Rock Blog

Meet Eagle Rock’s August 2015 High School Graduates

With apologies to Sha Na Na, it’s Summertime, Summertime, Sum-Sum Summertime here in Estes Park, and along with the sunshine comes our latest class of Eagle Rock School graduates, including Heather Johnston, Gabriel Hernandez, Daryl Jones Jr. (DJ), Amelia Howard, Garrison Seizer and Ziyad Johnstone.

Eagle-Rock-School-Graduates-ER66

These half-dozen students will take the stage at 4pm Mountain Time, on Friday, August 7, here in Estes Park where we’ll celebrate their growth and development while at Eagle Rock and wish them well in their future endeavors.

Below is a little background on each graduate, along with a word of encouragement and advice to students and faculty from these seasoned Eagle Rock veterans:

Heather Johnston has proven herself to be a tremendous leader during her time here within the Eagle Rock community. She arrived in ER 58 (our 58th semester since the early-1990s), hailing from Dillon, Colo., which is just down the road.

Heather has been an active member of Aspen House for the past three years, during which she has added to her resume by leading morning exercises, participating in PeaceJam, acting in our campus production of In the Blood, and becoming a lifeguard. She was also a student co-teacher for the Gender and Violence course and served as a student leader for Spectrum, Eagle Rock’s gay-straight awareness group.

Heather says she was able to conjure up the energy for all these activities with her love of chocolate. She also has a special talent as a unicycle rider. Upon graduating from Eagle Rock, Heather will be attending Marlboro College in Vermont, beginning this fall.

Heather’s parting words of wisdom to Eagle Rock’s educators: Challenge yourself to be Continue reading…

Introducing Eagle Rock School’s Latest Graduates

Springtime graduations are among our favorite times of year at Eagle Rock School. It’s an event that coincides with mother birds nudging their young offspring out of the nest, and no, the irony does not escape those of us who educationally nurture these young folks.

In the case of our latest grads — who take the stage starting at 4pm MT on Friday, April 10, 2015 — we’re celebrating the successful completion of the Eagle Rock experience for four inspiring high school graduates, including Song Candea, Sonja Stolmar, Maya West, and Hunter Gantz.

Below is a little background on each, and even a piece of advice from these veteran Eagle Rockers:

Song Candea joined us in ER 57 (the 57th trimester of Eagle Rock) and has been an active member in the Eagle Rock community ever since. He hails from Niwot, Colorado, and resided in Aspen House throughout his three years here.

Song has been described as an incredibly strong leader who leads by example, taking every opportunity given to him to grow as an individual. Because of this mentality, he was recently selected as the Student Wilderness Instructor for the incoming students of ER 64.

His success in his roles with the Outdoor Education department is paving the way for future student involvement. And with this passion for the outdoors he is seeking to major in Outdoor Education while attending Colorado Mountain College in Steamboat Springs, beginning this fall. Song also showed his talents as an active member of the musical improvisation ensemble, choir, as well as acting in the play In the Blood.

Song’s advice for all the educators reading this: “Teach students what they want to learn and they will learn it.”

Hunter Gantz is another Colorado native — from Boulder — who also joined us in ER 57. Hunter was immediately drawn to the multitude of music and performance opportunities on campus — from musicals to choir and a cappella, and poetry slams.

Hunter was in the Eagle Rock theater productions of Continue reading…

3 Eagle Rock Students Join the Ranks of ER Grads

In terms of size, the graduating class of ER 64 didn’t produce a large congregation of students, but what the group lacks in mass, it more than makes up for in talent and potential.

Gigi Hagopian, Isaac Holmes and Cat Leger are all heading out into the world after today’s graduation ceremony here in Estes Park, Colo. — each having experienced enough personal growth and development opportunities to last most people their age a lifetime. If you’d like to watch the graduation ceremony live online, simply click Eagle Rock School Graduation starting at around 6pm Eastern Time / 3pm Pacific Time.

Eagle Rock School Trimester 64 Graduates Gigi Hagopian, Issac Holmes and Cat Leger — Eagle Rock School Trimester 64 Graduates Gigi Hagopian, Isaac Holmes and Cat Leger

In the meantime, here’s a rundown of this trimester’s graduates:

Gigi Hagopian joined us in ER 56 (the 56th trimester in the history of our school). She lived in the Spruce House here on campus, and immediately immersed herself deeply in our music and theater department. She performed in annual musicals and participated in our musical improv group, and even picked up some tips on playing drums and became particularly talented at “bucket drumming.” In fact, for the past few years, you might have seen Gigi on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder or on the downtown streets in Milwaukee displaying her talents during breaks from school.

Gigi is returning to Wisconsin after this week and plans to continue her theater studies in college.

Also from ER 56 is Isaac Holmes, a native New Yorker who became a resident of Ponderosa House, and who also displayed a passion for music. In fact, during his tenure at Eagle Rock, Isaac could often be found in the Continue reading…

Orbiting The Rock: The Eagle Rock Alumni Association Takes Flight

The quaking aspen leaves basked on the Eagle Rock esplanade, maximizing their sunlight intake as they reveled in the longest day of the year. Shortly after the summer solstice sun set on that June 21 day, the Eagle Rock campus was drenched by a “supermoon.” That’s when a full moon reaches its closest point to the Earth each year.

These big and beautiful celestial events were befitting for a gathering of 10 Eagle Rock School alumni — tasked with initiating a process to connect and maintain the orbits of every Eagle Rocker arriving through the gate over the past two decades.

When people live and work in the Eagle Rock community, tight bonds are formed, and many of these close associations continue well after walking out that same gate to the next stages of their lives. Head of School Jeff Liddle believes a family that has been growing for 20 years needs some extra help in order to remain close—keeping our orbit around the Rock. Liddle and five of Eagle Rock’s Public Allies fellows formed an alumni engagement focus group intent on bringing former students, staff, and fellows for a weekend together to formulate plans to build our alumni network.

The weekend was highlighted by eating delicious meals in the Lodge (the vegan sausage and peppers were my favorite), watching an impressive production of the play In the Blood, and playing a rousing game of soccer with a Shaman versus Bonepipe mash-up. My lungs struggled to keep up with the high-altitude dwellers. The crux of the weekend was the time we spent discussing and planning ways to engage Eagle Rock School alumni.

Friday evening we listened to a group of Continue reading…