Steamboat Mountain School - Review #1

The faculty's drive to push your limits physically and mentally is fantastic preparation for college and life. The small student body lets each faculty member get to know you personally, facilitating the overall learning experience.

Being pushed. I came into the school a very shy person, not confident in my abilities generally. The school pushed me in every aspect of my life, academically, physically, spiritually, and emotionally. When I got to college, I found myself better prepared than my peers for the rigors of academic classes, both in my ability to manage my own time, and also in my ability to keep pushing myself harder until I had reached my goal. This served me well and enabled me to excel through college, a top-five law school, work at Colorado's supreme court, and work at a prestigious law firm.

Be open to new things! At Steamboat Mountain School, you will have to.

The people and adventures. Both went together for an unparalleled experience.

Go for a hike with Margi as often as you can; check out the yurt and south pasture, both wonderful spots. Go adventuring at every opportunity—one day you won't be able to anymore, because of work or age.

The school has a carefully crafted program that both challenges you, but provides you with a support network to make sure that you are not pushed beyond your abilities. A wide variety of classes are offered, and class sizes are small (in the 3-7 student range).

There are few schools with such exciting athletic programs. "Mandatory" skiing or snowboarding, or, in the fall and spring, biking, hiking, and climbing, provides a fun way to ensure physical fitness and provide you with skills that will last a lifetime.

Art and theater classes are offered, and locally there are plenty of other artistic opportunities, even if not offered directly through school.

Most of the activities that are extracurricular at some schools are actually curricular here. Examples include the physical education components of the program, including winter sports club, camping trips, and global immersion studies.

I enjoyed the rustic but well-maintained facilities and the caring dorm parents, as well as the carefully planned recreational opportunities both on and off campus. Living in a dorm in high school, in this smaller setting, prepared me for living in a much larger dorm in college without the shock that many of my peers experienced.

There are a pretty extensive variety of meals. Meals are at set times. Food is usually served for 30 minutes to an hour (although you have longer to eat, of course). There is no assigned seating.

As someone who has lived in Miami, Chicago, New York City, Denver, and San Francisco—it is not an exaggeration to say that Steamboat is still my favorite city to have lived in. There are so many things to do, extensive outdoors opportunities, a highly educated community, concerts, events, and, of course, skiing and snowboarding.

It is a very small, close-knit, community. Your dorm-mates, classmates, even teachers, inevitably become your friends.