Stanley Hotel Archives - Eagle Rock Blog

Meet The Team: Business Office Administrative Assistant, Elizabeth Rivera

Solving complex office issues and working with the public are two things with which Elizabeth Rivera, Eagle Rock’s new business administrative assistant excels. This Florida expat works side by side with our office staff, playing a crucial role in the areas of student insurance billing, student banking, data entry, and an endless amount of other paperwork that’s important to the administrative functioning of Eagle Rock.

As a way of further introducing Elizabeth to our campus community and other Eagle Rock stakeholders, we asked our new office staffer to answer a few questions about herself.

Here’s what she had to say:

Eagle Rock: What did you do for work before arriving at Eagle Rock? Continue reading…

Eagle Rock’s Wilderness Documentary Film ‘All Who Dare’ Debuts Sept 28 in Estes Park

Each year just like clockwork, Colorado’s blue skies offer its citizens a front-row view of the migration of wild geese — those long-necked waterfowl heading south in pursuit of sufficient grains, sunshine and open water to wait out the winter. Also like clockwork, each trimester at Eagle Rock School finds its incoming cohort departing on a 24-day orientation program to a remote wilderness area, each location placing them in an unfamiliar landscape with other new students who must rely on each other to complete two dozen adventurous and often emotion-filled days on the trail.

It’s a rite of passage for these new students, who have just arrived at our school that features an unconventional approach to education — a system that for decades has provided hope for young people striving to turn their lives around by engaging themselves in their own education.

A new hour-long documentary film called “All Who Dare” records the incredible experience that recently took place within the Lost Creek Wilderness area of Colorado. The documentary “stars” include nine incoming Eagle Rock students, accompanied by our school’s accomplished wilderness instructors.

Supported by the American Honda Motor Co., the film premiers at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 28 at the Stanley Hotel, 333 E. Wonderview Ave., in Estes Park. And while tickets are free, they must be reserved in advance (by Sept. 26) by visiting http://allwhodare.eventbrite.com.

Additional screenings of the documentary will be held around the country, and those interested should check back for updates regarding “All Who Dare” regional screenings by visiting www.AllWhoDare.com

The nine students featured in the film all arrived at Eagle Rock’s mountainside campus on May 14, 2016, as part of the incoming group of students known as ER 69 (for Eagle Rock’s 69th incoming class since our founding in the early-90s).

As the film begins, these teens look into the camera and tell the interviewer about their battles with Continue reading…

Meet the Team: Eagle Rock’s Facilities and Maintenance Assistant Terry Tierney

Terry Tierney says it was our campus — 640 acres of beauty and nature — that initially drew him to toward Eagle Rock School. In fact, it was the mountainside community of Estes Park that prompted him to move his wife, Kerry and their son Finn into a home in nearby Estes Valley.

And it was while residing in this pristine setting that Terry joined the Eagle Rock family, responsible for assisting with the school’s maintenance and facilities needs. Here’s a little background on this campus care master:

Eagle Rock: Where did you go to college?

Terry Tierney: I am a graduate of Kean University in New Jersey with an undergraduate degree in public administration and criminal justice, along with a collateral degree in environmental studies. I also received an associate of arts degree in criminal justice from Union County College in New Jersey.

ER: What did you do prior to coming to work for Eagle Rock?

Terry: Before coming to Eagle Rock, my past lives in the Estes Valley include working at the Stanley Hotel, working seasonally for Rocky Mountain National Park, a ski lift operator at the old Hidden Valley Ski Area, and a wastewater operator at Upper Thompson Sanitation District.

Eagle Rock: What was it that attracted you to Eagle Rock?

Terry: I knew a lot about Continue reading…

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…

Showing Support For What We’ve Helped To Create

While we happily accept donations for the Graduate Higher Education Fund at any time, there are several times during the year when Eagle Rock staff and students really go all out and “work” for it.

Take, for example, the start of the summer and fall trimesters when we set time aside for Graduate Work Day. During the first week of these trimesters, our students and staff members devote a day to serving the Estes Park community through yard work and other chores.

These folks charge an hourly rate — but instead of pocketing the money, they turn the proceeds over to administrators of the Graduate Fund. This year our community earned $1,500 sprucing up areas of the town on May 15. Charging a flat $12 per hour per worker, 10 staff members and about 40 students divided themselves among 16 projects around town. One group headed off to the historic Stanley Hotel to weed and perform other gardening tasks on the resort hotel’s expansive 55-acre grounds. Other groups headed to private homes to rake leaves, clean windows, stack firewood, shovel snow and complete other chores.

The funding program had its origins in 1997 when Eagle Rock staff realized that they had a lot of grads that wanted to go to college and had the grades to get into college, but lacked the money to do so.

The Graduate Higher Education Fund award was gradually increased over the years and now stands at Continue reading…