Untraditional education

CRESTED BUTTE — To most, memories of school days consist of morning bells, recess adventures and less-than-entertaining assemblies. The weekend conjures thoughts about skiing or snowboarding trips and Friday-night outings with friends.

A public school’s main goal is to provide an environment and instruction where a student can learn to his or her full potential.

However, for students who attend Crested Butte Academy — a private school sitting only feet from the base of Mt. Crested Butte’s 12,162-foot summit — a school day is much different and so is its purpose.

Crested Butte Academy is a co-educational, independent sports academy. It opened in 1993 in Crested Butte, which is now a 1,629-people ski town. The school started struggling financially after having been open for a decade.

In 2003, the sports and talent agency, International Management Group, rescued the almost-bankrupt school. The move brought a new staff, a stronger curriculum and a coaching team that carries real dedication and life experience to the slopes.

“I don’t feel like I’m missing anything,” sophomore Michael Fritz said.

Fritz grew up in Montrose but didn’t attend public school. He came to the academy as an eighth-grader, after the tedium of homeschooling became overwhelming. He sticks by his decision to attend a private, rather than a public school.

“I feel they are missing out,” he said.

The students spend half their day on the mountain training and the other half in the classroom. Their long days and busy weekends might send the average student packing. At the academy, students have to have something more.

“You get back as much as you give,” Fritz said. “This is not a place for lazy people.”

The daily routine

The school week starts around 7 a.m. Monday with a mandatory breakfast. The school accommodates sixth- through 12th-graders and students can be seen sharing conversation while in long johns or snow pants in the Elevation Hotel cafeteria.

Elevation Hotel sits just feet away from Mount Crested Butte’s two bottom lifts, Red Lady Express and Silver Queen.

The hotel once housed Club Med. However, hotel visitors now mix with students, as the students live, eat and study at the hotel. The school’s administration offices are also housed here, as is the pool, indoor skate park and student’s lounge area.

Not all the 70 academy students use all the school’s accommodations. About 32 students from states such as Michigan, California and Pennsylvania stay in the hotel’s rooms, looked after by two dorm parents and hotel security. Only 56 students are there from day-to-day, both attending school and training. Other students only train through the season, attending school in their hometowns.

Schedules for high- and middle-school students alternate. Mondays, high school students finish breakfast and shed their designer gear in exchange for a yoga mat.

In an hour, the students will be flying through the air practicing jumps and racing down the mountain in just seconds. Stretching is important to prevent injuries and keeps the students loose.

Tight muscles and sore joints are obvious through students’ groans, as is the desire for them to lay their heads on the mat for a quick nap.

But the nap will have to wait. They’ve got a full day of training and learning ahead of them.

Training

Over the years, the academy has gathered some of the most experienced coaches in the country.

Recently, Bud Keene started instructing the snowboard and freeride skiing program.

Keene coached snowboarder Shaun White to the Olympic Gold in 2006. He has received numerous coaching awards, along with an induction into the Mt. Mansfield Ski and Snowboard Club Olympians Hall of Fame. He joined the academy last spring and said IMG’s involvement was a big part of his decision.

Being able to train and learn from some of the best athletes in the country is definitely an incentive and big sell for the school.

The student’s yoga teacher and performance director is none other than Carrie Jo Chernoff, the 2006 winner of the U.S. free-skiing title and third-place winner on the world tour. A Western State College graduate, she’s been coaching at the academy for four years.

“These are people who have carved out reputations for themselves in whatever sport they might be in,” Dean of Students Leon Harris said. “Comparing ourselves to other people, that is one of the strengths we see.”

There are other academies with similar goals in Colorado, many that the school competes against including Telluride and Vail mountain schools.

Snowboard coach Christian Robertson is in his ninth season with the academy and has seen it evolve.

“It’s always been great,” he said. “But (the school) is getting more motivated and focused students. (The program) has evolved a lot and gained more experience.”

Experience is not only seen on the mountain, but also in the classroom, as most teachers hold master’s degrees in their subjects.

The classroom

After several hours of training, students return to the hotel to fill their bellies and then their minds — the rest of their day is spent in the classroom and their evenings, in study hall.

Teachers here admit they have the advantage over public schools because of their small class sizes. With only 56 students, some classes may only have two or three students.

“It’s more manageable. You have time to do a better job,” teacher Gail Sovick said.

Sovick left the academy while it was under previous management. She worked a year at Crested Butte’s public community school. However, she returned to the academy after Graham Frey, a former Virginia private school director and senior vice president of operations for The Herman Group in Denver, became the head of the institution.

“(The community school) has cool kids and good administration, it’s just overloaded,” she said.

However, she has mixed feelings about private schools and said she wouldn’t choose the life for her children.

She said she sees the value of a private school, such as small classrooms and not as much pressure on state and federal benchmarks, but also sees how it feeds an already excessive lifestyle.

Tuition at the school runs about $34,000 a year, not including equipment and traveling. During the regular season, students will travel most every weekend to competitions.

As a result, many of the students come from wealthy families. The valley itself has a reputation for affluence with the estimated median house valued at $351,400 in 2005, according to city-data.com.

About 50 percent of students come from the area. Harris said it’s important to be affordable for locals and the school provides scholarships to make that possible.

Fritz said he is able to attend the school because 90 percent of costs are covered by his scholarship.

The mix between locals and boarding students creates a much different environment then a private boarding school on the East Coast, Sovick said.

Some parents are very involved and many have moved to the area as a result of the academy. However, she said the academy can also be a drop-off place for students while their parents spend the winter in Hawaii.

College bound

Mid-day, students travel to their advisor groups where they meet with a teacher to talk about academic problems and weekend race events.

High school students pop into college advisor Kelly Farrell’s office to view their grades and talk about graduation and college requirements.

All students need to complete a minimum of 23 credits to graduate, 21 of which include English, math, social studies, science, foreign language, art and electives. The other two credits can be in physical education, health or vocational courses.

The school’s main goal, Harris said, is preparing students for college and he thinks they are achieving that mission.

“The proof is in the pudding,” he said in his distinct Aussie accent.

In the last five years, students have been accepted — and many received scholarships — to such colleges as Berkeley, Columbia and Dartmouth. In 2007, all 13 graduates had college acceptance letters.

Farrell said students have even made grades and acceptance letters into a competition, trying to “out do” the graduating class before them.

Harris attributes some of students’ success to the school’s academic program.

“The difference between 200 minutes a week when you’ve got three kids to work with or 200 minutes a week when you’ve got 30 kids to work with, you can just get through so much more stuff,” he said. “You can really just accelerate and individualize the instruction.”

Arranging academics around athletes’ desire to train and be great at their chosen sport is an opportunity of a lifetime for many. However, an academy student has to have more than talent; he or she must have character.

“You don’t have to be exceptionally good (athletically),” Harris said. “It’s weighing up the whole kid and figuring out the individual situation of the student: academics, attitude and athletics. You could have the best ski racer in the world, but if that kid has a bad attitude — we want someone to come in that wants to work. Are they going to be at the right place and what can they bring to the school? Are they going to fit, because not all kids are.”