THE CONNECTION

Grand Opening Today! I am excited to share that Samantha and Andy came down to host the grand opening to our new school building today. All students got to come in for a tour and a treat. Starting today and continuing throughout the week, we will begin rolling out our classes and music lessons in our new space.

Grand Opening Today! I am excited to share that Samantha and Andy came down to host the grand opening to our new school building today. All students got to come in for a tour and a treat. Starting today and continuing throughout the week, we will begin rolling out our classes and music lessons in our new space.

Andrew Pontbriand joined the SMS faculty full-time in August, and his impact on the community has already been profound. He heads the new Learning Support Center, which spans both campuses and offers academic enrichment services for students in grades 6-12.

Halloween is a good day to let you know that we have begun our nutrition unit, the first unit in our health curriculum this year.  Our school nurse, Audrey, began teaching our lower school health curriculum

Paper, bridge design, 3-D model, and presentation: the ingredients for an engaging approach to mathematics. For Emily Spangler’s Applied Math course, students recently completed the sort of project-based assessment that best exemplifies the complex ambition of “authentic assessment.” Rather than the traditional ‘plug-and-chug’ requirements for a standard math test, which is usually a summative assignment meant to demonstrate what a student knows by the end of a unit, authentic assessment includes a much more dynamic and thorough approach.

Last week, I enjoyed my first ‘Desert Week’, a decades-long tradition for Upper School students that breaks from the academic calendar midway through the first trimester to partake in the expanded classroom of the great outdoors. This year, students opted between canoeing, mountain biking, canyoneering, or backpacking excursions, each trip centered around greater Moab, which is some of the most spectacular landscape on earth.

Project based learning isn’t always the fastest route to learning, but it can lead to the deepest learning. When projects and partnerships succeed, and when they fail, students are gaining insights that they will transfer into future experiences. And to top it off, projects are fun!

The Steamboat Mountain School believes in Thriving through Contrast. At the Emerald Campus, one of our norms is Be Intentional. Both of these values intersect when I think about our ELA (English and Language Arts) program.

The SMS monthly college guidance blog geared toward our junior and senior families written by SMS Director of College Guidance, Erin Daivs. The College Summit is typically broken out into three sections: For Seniors, For Juniors, and Resources.

Last Thursday through Saturday, the Upper School embarked on Orientation camp trips, our yearly tradition to get out in the woods before classes begin and help students further their practices of expedition behavior.

On Saturday, faculty and staff gathered with families and guests to celebrate Commencement for the 2022 seniors. Head of School, Samantha Coyne Donnel’s speech spoke to the value of the SMS experience of the class of 2022's time at SMS, “Last year Gina Wither shared with me that SMS’ unofficial motto is ‘you’ll thank us later’.

The SMS community came together to honor students for their 2021-22 achievements.

The Steamboat Mountain School’s IT Explorations class recently visited Yampa Valley Sustainability Council (YVSC) to recycle electronics. Landfills will not accept electronics due to the possibility of leaking toxic contaminants, sparking fires, or causing other hazardous conditions. Anything that has a battery or plugs in can be recycled at YVSC!

Last week, the 6th graders carried on the MS tradition of putting a Greek character on trial. The case this year revisited Euripedes’ Medea, and the students were limited to the classic text (in translation) as their evidence.

The SMS community hit the weekend running last Friday with the spring “Come Together” auction. As a culmination to the year’s giving campaign, and centered on a Rock-and-Roll theme

There is a common saying in the world of travel, something along the lines of “the act of planning a trip is often more fun than the trip itself.” I’m sure there are those out there that would disagree...

Two weeks ago, the 7-8 class took a nine-day trip to Costa Rica with the World Leadership School. We stayed at the Chilamate Rainforest Eco

San Luis de Monteverde is a rural community on the edge of the cloud forest. When we first arrived, it didn’t feel like much of a town at all. We needed some context. After all, we were going to be here, staying in homestays...

This week Ms. Durkan's biology class is learning about the variety of lifeforms on our planet and how humans define intelligence in other organisms. More specifically, they are studying a protozoan species of slime mold nicknamed "The blob".

Last week, 5th and 6th graders braved the rapids of the Colorado River and enjoyed the spectacular vistas of the Utah red rocks east of Moab for their spring trip. I was fortunate to be among the faculty...

This group has seen and accomplished so much in the past week! They have traveled from mountains to the sea and back again.

The Trek de Ordiales in Pico de Europa National Park was strenuous but beautiful (see handstand pictures below). The next few days

Greetings and buenos dias from Spain. We’re writing to you from Granada before our departure for Nerja. Nerja marks the beginning of the trip’s “Expedition Phase” wherein everything we do was planned by the

The Trek de Ordiales in Pico de Europa National Park was strenuous but beautiful (see handstand pictures below). The next few days

Hola from Ecuador! We write to you sweaty with bellies full of plantains. Our two trusty guides, Reyna and Jorge, have led...

We left off our last update in San Luis with students exploring the Cloud Forest, touring the coffee plantation, and performing trail work in Monteverde.

Asking a kindergartener to tell you a story is always an interesting task, one surely filled with adventurous intrigue, but that may also try the patience of even the most hearty of souls. One tends to wonder, ‘Where is this thing going?,’ often including the storyteller, who may not be at all sure until the plot hits an unforeseen roadblock. To assist the design and outcome of such undertaking – while fostering its creative merits – Merrick has recently designed an ingenious unit for the Eagles.

Q & A With An Alum

Q&A With An Alum

Congrats to two members of the Class of 2021 for making U.S. Ski and Snowboard teams this season. Cooper Pucket and Riley Jacobs...