A Shift in Education | Ian Hopper
Coming from a school with 3,000 students, 25+ students per class, and a course structure completely around taking notes, the first academic block of HMI was eye-opening. For the first time in my life, I can honestly and wholeheartedly say that I have enjoyed learning.
You can assume it was a slight shock when our first reading of the academic block was an excerpt from Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire, which explained that my entire school and past schools have been using what he calls the “banking concept of education.” While Freire didn’t name my home school specifically, he described it to a tee: an education system based around taking notes and storing information in memory to repeat on tests, where there is a hierarchy in the classroom and the teacher is superior to the student.
There is another form of education mentioned in the book, one where students and teachers learn from one another, where there is constant interaction, and where problems are posed and solved, the ideal kind of education in my mind. Imagine what it was like when I realized, “Wait… this sounds pretty much like HMI.” The very first reading at HMI perfectly encapsulated the reason I wanted an alternative kind of education and related to me on a personal level unlike any reading at my sending school, where pages of jumbled words dragged on day after day with nothing to show for it.
It probably sounds like I am just talking about one specific moment, but it wasn’t just the first reading. Practically every class at HMI has a reading due before the following class, and not a single one has bored me or created confusion. Every reading has taught me something, made me think, wonder, question, and realize things in a way traditional school never has. My mom was probably a little surprised when I sent her two of the readings and asked her to read them so we could discuss them the next time I called.
It’s not just the readings either. My past two English classes have been maybe the most interesting 2.5 hours of my life. Two classes ago, I was given a partner and, about ten minutes into class, I was told, “Now you have to stare directly into their eyes for seven minutes.” What in the world? Why? What can this teach me?
Then in the next class we were led outside and each given a tree. We were told, “This is your tree. There are many like it, but this one is special,” and then told to get to know our tree in complete silence for ten minutes. How can I get to know a tree? How is it different from any other tree? What does this teach me?
By the end of looking into my partner’s eyes for seven minutes, I had asked countless questions in my head and felt like I had learned about her without talking. When faced with a silent conversation with a tree, I saw things relating to my own life. I noticed patterns that no other tree in the world has, just my tree. When it came time for discussion afterward, everyone had found something in their tree that we most likely would have never noticed in day-to-day life. It became a lesson in how much can be said even without words.
All of this while also learning about poetry in the same class, studying a history topic I had never heard about before in Western Perspectives U.S. History, exploring avalanches and the way snow forms in science while going off campus weekly to dig in snow and run experiments, and learning about nature and human interactions in our environmental class, P&P.
As a student with ADHD, especially where traditional learning environments have never worked as well for me as for other students, I have never felt so respected or so knowledgeable, by teachers, peers, and everything in between. From late-night talks with my new little family in Cabin 3 which we nicknamed “The Saloon,” to cook crew where we make a meal for the entire campus, all the way to meeting a tree, this first academic block of HMI has far surpassed my expectations.
I cannot believe I am about to say this, but as this academic block is coming to a close, I am proud to say that I am excited for the next academic block after the second expedition.
The First Academic Block | Indy Roberts
When I submitted my enrollment form for HMI, I was both nervous and so excited. But now I know that this was honestly one of the best things that has ever happened to me. And I don’t just mean the expeditions, which are fantastic. Who wouldn’t want to spend two weeks in the desert backpacking with people you had met five days before? We entered Utah with ten strangers and crossed back over to Colorado with ten friends. We all had this shared experience, this toughness we had endured together, some of us for the first time ever.
Every school day on campus you can have up to five classes a day, each around seventy-five minutes long. One class I was most nervous about when coming to HMI was AP US History because of how much I disliked it at my home school. But after my first class with Sarah and Kaitlin, I knew this would be one of my favorite here. This academic block we have been focusing on the Gilded Age in America and I’ve learned more about this era than any other just because of how discussion-based Sarah’s class is. But Sarah’s is just one of all the exemplary classes here!
In science class with Emma and Hazel, we’ve been outside recording the characteristics of the snow and learning about avalanches while still taking time to have a snowball fight and do snow angels. In English class with Jacob and Ethan, we’ve been digging deep into so many different topics. We’ve covered the education system, read poems, been tasked to ask people thought-provoking questions, and even hugged a few trees.
In P&P with Tate and Sarah, we’ve had discussions about values and ethics surrounding many things. From deciding between chocolate or vanilla ice cream to deciding whether humans should be classified as a level beyond animals because of our intellectual capabilities, the discussions have been vibrant and intentional. And last but not least, math with Lou is so different and awesome! Lou is so understanding and doesn’t make anyone feel stupid for not comprehending something. She simply nods, picks up the marker and gets back to work on the whiteboard using a different method.
I also wanted to touch on some activities on campus: community meetings in Stuen with Sergio, cabin meetings with our cabin apprentices, casino night where we all play poker, drink soda, and dance, and Tuesday activities with the apprentices which include climbing, creating art out of old soda cans, a-capella, making cookies, or even taking a tour of the Melanzana factory. We’ve been to town and gone crazy in the two-story antique shop, gone ice skating and gotten pizza, and had dinner with our advisories. We even had four days of skiing during the past two weeks!
With the first academic block coming to an end tomorrow, we’re all headed into this next expedition with a positive outlook to move through the difficulties we’ve experienced and build back up better than ever, ready for the second academic block.
1st AB Reflection | Samuel Scott
Coming to HMI has been a new experience in so many ways. While I have loved every bit of my learning experience at HMI, I have found so much appreciation for everything beyond it as well. Getting to know your teachers on a personal, and friend level is incredibly new, and very meaningful. Getting to meet so many great friends from places I have never been, and making connections I know I will treasure forever. Through skating on weekends, prank wars, learning to tele ski, chopping lots of wood, and hundreds of spikeball games, I have found so much fun in the HMI life. I have met some of the most amazing, accepting, and fun loving people here at HMI, who are open to try new things and get outside.
Learning to tele ski has been a highlight of my first academic block. The trips up to Cooper have been amazing, and getting to see teachers and apprentices rip on tele skis has been incredible. I have loved getting to learn to tele ski, and have been very pushed to try new things both on the slopes and in the classroom. HMI has cultivated a space for me that encourages growth and pushing your boundaries. HMI makes you step out of your comfort zone, and try things foreign to you; allowing you to be wrong, and it be ok. HMI has given me a new perspective on learning, the outdoors, and life while forming close friendships with people I normally might not have, trying things I would have been opposed to, and learning things I might not have.
What is community? | Greyson Grubb Smith
What is community?
A community consists of the following:
- Running full speed back to your cabin to make sure Sam doesn’t miss roll call even though they’re already half way to his name.
- Hearing that you can trade cook crew shifts to go to church, but instead of trading shifts, someone offers to switch with no request for repayment.
Little Things | Sophie Tait
When I was first coming to HMI, I thought of it as this big scary thing. What was it going to be like, living at 10,000 feet of elevation in a state halfway across the country from home, with 30 other kids I had never met? What would life look like? But over these last few weeks of the first academic block, I’ve begun to see that “HMI” is really about the little things.
“HMI” is creating a jousting match when you go ice skating on Saturday by sitting on a pushy-cart wielding a hockey stick and having someone push you at the other team, then crashing into each other and falling into a heap, laughing your heads off.
“HMI” is being told by your English teacher that you would have to stare for seven minutes into a classmate’s eyes without looking away, and being a little bit terrified, but eventually realizing what an interesting experience it was. Realizing that really, you would have never had such a connection with someone else if you hadn’t been encouraged to.
“HMI” is going for a walk with your friend and spending the entire time yelling about how amazing it is and how pretty the scenery is, grinning ear to ear and definitely looking stupid but not caring at all.
“HMI” is jumping around picnic tables screaming “The Hills Are Alive” from The Sound of Music at the top of your lungs because the sunset reflecting on the mountains was just too beautiful.
“HMI” is going into town on Sundays and having a whole discussion with the owner of the toy store, Christie, about how different our lives are, then befriending the waiter at the Golden Burro restaurant, Jesus, and practicing speaking your Spanish with him.
“HMI” is hopping on a bus and digging through snow in science class to observe the actual measurements of water in a snow pack, and having interactive labs in the outdoors for the first time.
“HMI” is having dark circles under your eyes because you stayed up until 1 in the morning talking with your cabin, strumming guitar, or playing games during study hall instead of doing your work like you should’ve. But you don’t regret it one bit, because your stomach still hurts from laughing, and you’re saying hi to people in the hallways that maybe you wouldn’t have before.
“HMI” isn’t the buildings. It isn’t Leadville. It’s not the yogurt bowls, it’s not the chicken and tofu, it’s not even the mountains or the scenery around it. HMI is the memories, even the littlest ones that you might consider insignificant, but looking back, you’ll realize you would relive it again and again and again. Even if it’s just drawing silly things on the whiteboard with a friend or a small conversation with someone new on the chairlift during one of the ski days leading up to winter expedition.
“HMI” is something that can slip through your fingers if you’re not careful. So savor it, even those first weeks of the academic block when you don’t think anything big is really going on. Because every moment here is worth remembering.