Our Seniors Are Back on Campus After Visiting All Corners of the World

Each Colorado Rocky Mountain senior organizes and carries out an independent, three-week project away from school and home, in which he or she works under a master or employer. Upon their return to campus, seniors present their real-world learning experiences to peers, family, and a faculty jury. Both the quality of the project completed and an oral presentation (a key opportunity to exhibit public-speaking skills) are evaluated, as is a reflective essay designed to help students chronicle their expectations and learning.

Planning the apprenticeship can be an exciting and thought-provoking process. Students are encouraged to begin exploring apprenticeship options at the end of their junior year, making the program one of the hallmark experiences of their transition to the new challenges and responsibilities of preparing to graduate. Students often identify unexplored passions or compelling service opportunities, or they may design a program that intensifies current interests. Recent senior projects include:

• Helping to launch a biodiesel fuel operation
• Working in a South African orphanage
• Learning organic farming techniques
• Working in the Washington studio of a Sunday morning political talk show
• Working as a dental assistant in Micronesia
• Tagging and tracking sea turtles
• Writing computer programs that allowed dolphins to communicate with researchers through “touch plates”

Welcome back class of 2009!