IN DEDICATION TO This book is dedicated to Oswald “Oz” Gutsche, a committed member of the Alexander Dawson Foundation for over 50 years. His leadership, vision, and loyalty to Dawson’s mission, its campus, and its future have been integral to the school’s success. We are grateful for his lifelong commitment to Dawson.
Dawson School is dedicated to excellence of mind, body, and character. We prepare students, through challenging and relevant learning, to become creative, resilient problem-solvers who bring their best to the world. -Dawson Mission Statement Dawson expresses enormous gratitude for all of the students, faculty, staff, parents, trustees, and friends of the school, who have brought that mission to life for over 50 years. Content courtesy Dawson School; George P. Moore, Head of School Contributing Author – Corey Radman Layout and Cover Design – Sarena Hebebrand Executive Editors – Sarah Amirani and Claire Gilbert Alexander Dawson School 10455 Dawson Drive Lafayette, Colorado www.dawsonschool.org303-665-667980026 Copyright © 2021 Alexander Dawson School PASSION & PURPOSE: 50 years of Dawson
1 SECTION ONE, Relevant Learning TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION TWO, Community Creates Resilience SECTION THREE, Connecting to the World SECTION FOUR, My, How We’ve Grown SECTION FIVE, On Purpose
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Though my job as Head of School requires me to be forward looking, the occasion of our school’s 50th anniversary prompts me to reflect on our past. Our unique roots and our trajectory are accomplishments of which we can all be proud. Dawson School began in 1970 as an educational organization founded to help struggling youth. Step by step, we have served our community’s needs and evolved into one of the most successful independent college preparatory schools in the region. This book was created to celebrate those accomplishments and to demonstrate in a concrete way how our work at Dawson makes a difference in the lives of our students, our families, and our community. In five sections, we have highlighted some of the methods that make Dawson students such whole people upon graduation. Relevant Learning, Community, Connecting to the World, Campus, and Purpose are all examples of the intentional, best-in-practice methods we employ to help our students become the very best versions of themselves.Ithas been a pleasure to think back and seek to understand the connections between our work now and that of the previous generations. When I talk with our veteran faculty members and trustees who have contributed to the school for decades, I am reminded that—as much change as Dawson School has seen in 50 years—we are still deeply committed to our core principles and values. Attaining excellence of mind, body, and character through challenging and relevant learning experiences functioned just as well in 1970 as it does for today’s 21st century learners.
An anniversary like this one is a good moment to recommit to what has changed and to what should never change. Dawson’s core principles are immutable, though the methods utilized to impart those values and skills have evolved with time, and that has shown us to be adaptable. Due to the digital reality today’s young adults confront, students must be able to learn, unlearn, then relearn. Technical skills that are relevant upon graduation are soon replaced by new technology; thus, emphasis must be placed on developing flexibility and creativity instead of building a store of knowledge. In other words, today’s workers must be able to adapt and transform their work, or be transformed by it.
We adult faculty grew up used to a much slower pace of change. Upon our own graduations, we were reasonably confident in being able to predict what life would look like—this is no longer true. It’s an interesting juxtaposition that we are trying to prepare students for uncertainty while negotiating a challenging new paradigm of our own. This unprecedented shift is an opportunity that levels the dynamic between adults and students. Because of the pace of change, we’re all negotiating uncertainty together.
Head of School
George P. Moore
Letter from Head of School
Inevitably, these thoughts led me to wonder, what will Dawson School be doing in the next 50 years? My hope is that the next generations of educators will continue engaging students to identify their purpose. The groundwork has been laid to help our students continue to be interested in learning, to develop skills that will serve them well here and wherever they choose to go in their lives. By preserving the legacy Mr. Henderson began 50 years ago, we at Dawson School are making sure we’re producing good, educated citizens, who have the skills to be successful, and we couldn’t be prouder of the ways they contribute to our world.
Best GeorgeRegards,P.Moore
4 5 US Highway 287 runs north to south, bisecting Colorado along the front range of the Rocky Mountains. In the 1970s, Hwy 287 was a lonely two-lane road bordered by corn fields, not commerce. Turning west off the highway around mile marker 309, you would find a small school filled with high school students who lived, worked, and learned at what was then called Colorado Junior Republic. As the years passed, the school’s name changed, along with its population and curriculum. The ethos, however, remains the same. Since it opened in 1970, Alexander Dawson School has inspired its students with innovation and experiential education. Many of the lessons those residential students learned were pretty different than today’s Dawson curriculum—milking cows, feeding chickens, and maintaining farm equipment hasn’t been necessary for quite a while— yet, the school motto, “Nothing Without Labor,” is the unbroken thread that stretches from then to now. In the intervening years, the name changed to Alexander Dawson School. It evolved from a boarding school to a college preparatory model, eventually adding a lower and Middle School, becoming kindergarten through high school. Instead of early cattle feedings, Dawson students commute via 287 for classes followed by club meetings, music rehearsals, or team practices. In many instances, students have swapped notebooks and #2 pencils for iPads and laptops. One tenet remains; Dawson students learn by doing just as much now as they did in the early years. In fact, the term “relevant learning” was encoded in the school’s mission statement in 2019. While the practice of exposing students to real-world experiences has been adopted widely in recent years, Dawson School had that value in mind from the beginning. What is relevant learning? It is figuring out how a concept in a book has a tangible application. It is seeing the connecting threads between abstract concepts and life beyond the school grounds, SECTION ONE Relevant Learning
Dawson School is dedicated to excellence of mind, body, and character. We prepare students through challenging and relevant learning, to become creative, resilient problem-solvers who bring their best to the world.
-THE DAWSON MISSION
There is also a business and marketing team that handles budget, fundraising, branding, and communication about the project. With the exception of a team of lawyers, this is the same setup these students will encounter if they go on to careers with Intel or Hewlett-Packard or any other tech company. In fact, with the curriculum available at Dawson, accomplished graduates could launch their own startups. Just like in the real world, competitions require that teams collaborate with other groups. Every robotics tournament pairs teams from different schools together; scores are based on the quality of the robot as well as a team’s ability to collaborate with other groups.
Robotics
6 7 turning trivia into useful knowledge. It is the answer to the perennial student question, “Why do we have to learn this?” The concept plays out differently throughout the school, depending on age. For kindergarteners, relevant learning looks like the Apple Fest unit which integrates math, science, and art. Students pick apples from the orchard, make applesauce in class, cut and examine the parts of the apple, paint with apples as stamps, and, of course, taste the apples. In all of those different ways, five- and six-year-olds are getting their hands on an object, sensing it, and seeing how many different ways there are to learn about apples. They’re firing up their curiosity and seeing where it leads. As students get more advanced in their skill and maturity, relevant learning might look like primary research in the library. This is why a fourth grade teacher has her class in the Lower School library, one fall afternoon. Information literacy staff are helping the class gather sources for their reports on animals. From the outside, it looks like students typing on computers, writing in notebooks, and having discussions about their task. “How do you spell Madagascar?” “Is this a good website to use?” “I want to do mine on giraffes!” Little do the children know, there is more to this process than fact finding only. This process of doing researched reports begins in kindergarten. Every year, Dawson students get ageappropriate media literacy training that is scaffolded to their level. Yes, elementary students have a lot of fun finding fascinating facts about sharks, lemurs, and giraffes. At the same time, they are learning how to access sources on the internet, evaluate their validity, and form a cohesive understanding of a topic. They are learning how to seek out accurate information. Relevant learning, indeed. Relevant learning, at its core, is giving students skills that they can directly apply to life outside of school.
One other big facet of the program is the opportunity to learn leadership skills. Jeff Ellenbogen, Director of Innovation and Technology, says, “The kids who come in as freshmen aren’t going to have as much responsibility as the juniors and seniors, but those juniors and seniors were the freshmen once. So if you do this for four years, you really build up your skills.”
The Dawson Robotics program accomplishes that goal and then some. The Upper School’s FIRST Robotics team, known as RC Dawson, breaks down into the exact team functions one would find in the tech industry. There is a build team that designs and constructs the physical components of the robot. The coding team builds the brain, developing the computer that runs the robot.
The leadership opportunities for team members also extend to supporting up-and-coming engineers. Factions of the RC Dawson team spend time both on and off campus mentoring younger robotics enthusiasts, be it at Dawson’s Middle and Lower Schools or at STEAM events in Boulder County. They also judge Dawson’s Middle School robotics tournament. Because so many Upper Schoolers participate, the excitement around robotics at Dawson is palpable. About 50 students participated in 2019-2020, which is 20 percent of the Upper School Headpopulation.ofSchool George P. Moore says the way the robotics program has flourished at Dawson is exciting and an example of handson learning done well. Since its inception in 2009, the number of students who have joined the Upper School’s program has skyrocketed, Middle School has a competitive Lego Robotics team, and Lower School has robotics in the curriculum. According to Moore, “Robotics is a fundamental part of what we are doing at the school and one of the reasons that we needed an innovation center.”
What is the choice role that all the seniors vie for? Driver, of course. “Because it’s almost like playing a video game,” Ellenbogen says. “You have to fully understand how the whole thing was built and how it works and also have the hand-eye coordination to drive the vehicle.” Because the missions are so complex, often there are two robot operators: one to drive and one to complete whatever task is assigned such as to shoot something, deliver a payload, or flip a lever. This means communication is key.
-HEAD OF SCHOOL GEORGE P. MOORE
8 9 “I think the robotics team and program is an interesting example of how we can broaden the parameters of education.”
What the kids are doing in their various roles is an example of entrepreneurship at work. Coding, prototyping, building, marketing, budgeting . . . these are all skills of a successful businessperson or team of businesspeople, which is actually a perfect echo of founder Girard “Jerry” Henderson’s desire for the first Dawson School students. Moore explains, “Our founder was a serial entrepreneur. I think he would be proud of these students. The idea that everyone is an entrepreneur today is big these days, whether it is a YouTube channel or an Etsy store.” While the roles that today’s Dawson students fulfill differ from those of their predecessors, Henderson’s vision of experiential learning has endured.
The Dawson Center for Innovation, completed Fall 2020, was designed to be a best-in-class facility that—like the Dining Commons and Learning Commons before it—is LEED Gold Certified, and as close to zero-waste as possible. Dawson’s newest addition includes six middle and Upper School classrooms that will be used for traditional sciences as well as food chemistry. Meeting the established need for flexibility, the building has a 3,000 square foot space that can be used for workshops, activities, and presentations as well as small-group break-out sessions. There is a Makerspace that includes multiple 3D printers, a large format printer, electronics prototyping stations, as well as embroidery and sewing machines. Adjacent to this space is the digital fabrication woodshop and metal shop, featuring metal plasma cutting tools, a CNC router table and mill, plus woodworking tools. Following the theme of flexibility, the Center’s lobby and rooftop both serve multiple functions. The lobby will be the Welcome Center for campus visitors as well as a gallery/display space for community projects. The rooftop patio takes typically unused space and makes it home to outdoor lessons and events.
“ . . . just to figure out the next thing is such a joyous feeling.”
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-DIRECTOR OF INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY JEFF ELLENBOGEN
Fortune Tellers
In some ways, a space can mold what happens inside it. Large, open ceilings confer a feeling of awe or celebration. Closed-in alcoves lend themselves to contemplation or quiet study. So, as Dawson School undertook the strategic planning for its future, the school thought carefully about what might be best to facilitate the school’s growth. In planning the new Dawson Center for Innovation, the school wanted to consider how it might be used . . . a tall order since many of the uses for the newest addition to campus have yet to be imagined. Moore explains, “I think a space can inspire teachers, and I think it can inspire students just by creating different opportunities for people to come together.” The way Moore sees it, getting out of the traditional classroom can spark new ideas, new lessons, and new ways of learning. Because education best practices are constantly shifting, a space that must last for decades has to be flexible. Moore says, “When you talk to colleges and workplaces, they are looking for people who have experience working on teams, collaborating, and solving real problems—not completing a worksheet by yourself at the kitchen table.” So, the Dawson Center for Innovation committee assumed a “fortune-teller mindset” to imagine a space that would facilitate skills building, entrepreneurship including prototype creation, community partnering, and inquiry-based learning now and for the next 50 years.
Ellenbogen is especially excited about the learning that will be possible in the new center because Dawson School students thrive on projectbased learning. “I am most excited when someone has an idea of what they want to make and they don’t know how to do it, and then we work together to figure it out . . . just to figure out the next thing is such a joyous feeling.” Ellenbogen says he wants these class experiences to transform students’ future lives. Instead of assignments that have due dates and then are forgotten about, he wants kids to be so excited by a topic that they are still thinking about how to improve an invention after it has been graded. And because the new Dawson Center for Innovation is so complete, high schoolers who follow this line of study will have the time and equipment to develop ideas, beginning to end, from inception to prototype. Upon graduation, techspecialized students will have professional-level portfolios to show colleges or employers. In building the Dawson Center for Innovation, the school is ensuring that students learn real-world and authentic skills that will transfer to problemsolving well beyond campus to their personal lives or their neighborhood or their community, be it Boulder, Colorado, the United States, or the world.The upstairs flex space is intended to be a place where teachers can come and try a new idea that would not work in their regular classroom. That might be a paper airplane test course, a solar system model, a robotics competition, or a debate tournament. It is a place for the whole school to use and enjoy. Ellenbogen also envisions the lobby area as a gallery space that will house interactive projects made by Dawson classes for Dawson classes to come see.
In Social Studies teacher and Department Chair Craig Angus’s AP Human Geography class, relevant learning gets a stark side dish of empathy. The class heads outside to the challenge ropes course, which opened in Spring 2016. The course is not only used for fitness and confidence-building, its use is incorporated into academic classes. Today Angus’s freshmen and sophomores are imagining life as Syrian refugees.
“[My] experience on the ropes course simulation was short; after reaching the first checkpoint . . . the harness I was wearing constricted me, and the dice rolled off the platform. This represented my death, and therefore I could not continue my journey. This made me feel extremely empathic for refugees. I felt that dying so early on in the process was unfair and I should get a second chance, but upon further reflection, I came to realize that life as a refugee is extremely unfair and for many, there are no second chances.”
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Tenth-grader Grace (name changed) stands atop a narrow platform, 40 feet up in the air, holding a pair of dice. “Roll!” shout her peers. Grace is participating in a lesson about civilians in war zones. To flee from one platform to the other, representing cities along the journey like Aleppo and Istanbul, she has to roll a lucky number, so she lets the plastic cubes fly. Her stomach drops when they tumble too far and plummet off the edge of the wooden platform. Grace—or at least her refugee character in this simulation—has died. She climbs down pondering the unfairness of losing on a technicality. Her written reflection about the exercise shows that the experience was, indeed, relevant.
Radical Empathy
“Oh my gosh! That’s what Caroline was talking about—the baby corals!”
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- WINTER MESKO-EBY
It’s Winterim 2017. Student Winter Mesko-Eby is wearing a snorkeling mask and diving beneath the waves off Cape Eleuthera in the Bahamas. She and several classmates have spent a week leading up to this experience learning about coral ecology from Upper School science teacher Melissa Barker and a Dawson School alumna, Caroline Hobbs. Hobbs took the same trip in high school and was so inspired by marine biology that she went into the field. Winter’s mission on this trip is to help the Cape Eleuthera Institute identify new coral growth that could survive in the increased acidity and warmer temperatures of a changing ocean. So, when she and her teacher spot something that looks exactly like what they talked about in class, eyebrows shoot upward, fingers point excitedly. Flippers propel them to the surface with a splashy breath. “Oh my gosh! That’s what Caroline was talking about—the baby corals!” Those sorts of eureka moments cannot be manufactured in a classroom. They are the most effective way to integrate new information into one’s life. That is one big reason why Barker, her colleague Kris Deardorff, and all the Dawson School teachers spend so much time and effort ensuring that this trip and others like it will continue. Upper School faculty members are encouraged to delve into their field and develop an experience that will help kids get elbow deep into a possible career or field of study. Some perennial favorites include that Bahamas marine biology trip, landscape photography immersions, avalanche science in the Colorado backcountry, learning to blow glass with a professional artist, and cultural/language immersions in Japan, Spain, and China . . . the list goes on. Whatever the topic of study, Winterim is an opportunity for students at all levels to have immersive experiences where they step away from classroom routines to get deep into an area of study. They dig deeply into a topic, spending five to ten days at a time learning from all angles and getting hands-on experience. Dawson School is so invested in the importance of hands-on learning that they reserve half of Barker’s time to serve as Director of Experiential Education. Her other half includes teaching Biology, AP Biology, and Environmental Science.
Winterim
Some might assume this in-depth experiential learning should be limited to upper grades, but it’s not. Barker says it’s important to begin experiential trips in early elementary because, “starting them from a very young age really helps them to be curious, and to be asking questions, and be engaged in a place where they are, locally. Then the opportunities broaden as they get older.” Winterim for students in grades kindergarten through fourth grade have special campus activities, guests, and field trips around a theme, such as World Cultures, or Dawson values. They dig into a topic on campus, then pile on the buses to explore Colorado museums or venues like Red Rocks. *** Craig Angus has watched the Winterim program grow from its early days in the late 1980s. In their genesis, the trips happened in the fall, not the spring semester, and were more of an opportunity to meld the group together at the start of the term. The school did retreats at Jerry Henderson’s mountain property, skiing, mountain biking, and rafting trips. Angus remembers his first rafting adventure as a teacher. “Back when the school was very small, maybe sixty kids, we all got into two rafts and went down the Westwater Canyon section of the Colorado River.” That float trip is intermediatelevel rafting—Class II and III whitewater rapids during the fall months except in one section, Skull Hole. That jumble of boulders can easily flip rafts and is to be paddled around, but Angus says, they inadvertently ended up smack in the middle of it. “A bunch of the students went flying out of the raft down into the hole. It was really terrifying. I didn’t know that much about whitewater rafting at the time. So, I wasn’t, I think, appropriately terrified.” They all swam to safety, and they carried on with the trip, bringing home excellent stories. Now that Angus has rafted that section a number of times, he looks back on the experience aghast and relieved that everyone was okay.
In the first years of Winterim, there was no structured academic component outside the chance to try an outdoor activity. However, those adventures skiing, mountain biking, and hiking spawned the Winterim program that Dawson School knows today. Angus says his first proper Winterim trip was taking 18 or so students mountain biking and climbing in Santa Fe. “A week straight of just biking is a little much,” he says, which is how he and other teachers had the idea to spend time in the art museums of the city while they were there. From that seed grew the sorts of intense academic immersions you see today such as the Exploring US/Mexico Border Narratives trip to El Paso, cultural and historical tours to locations like Greece and Peru, or conservation-focused study in Yellowstone National Park.
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Because of Caroline’s education at Dawson, she knew that talking to teachers wasn’t scary; in fact, it was necessary and often rewarding. Building a relationship with the person you are trying to learn from is a key way to ensure you get the benefit of their knowledge.During that office-hours visit, Caroline learned that the test was not actually the paper she had written and on which she had received a 70%. The test was whether or not students would advocate for themselves. This college professor wanted his freshmen to learn that they should have confidence in their ability to ask questions and, when necessary, to argue their side of a point. Caroline didn’t need that lesson, because she had learned it at Dawson. She already knew—as do the rest of the graduates who matriculate each year from Dawson School.
Dawson is a school that takes its mission to provide relevant learning very seriously. Dawson School students graduate with a set of academic skills that will shine on applications and resumes, that will take them far in the world. However, relevant learning here extends to more than the written curriculum—much more.
Board of Trustees member Susan Borst relates a memory of her daughter, Caroline Borst, an alumna of Dawson. As a freshman at college, Caroline was enrolled in the required writing class. When the first assignment was returned, everyone in the class got a low C—the whole class. According to Susan Borst, “Everyone was freaking out, of course.” It was a small, independent school; the students there were elite kids who were used to receiving higher grades. The professor did say, “If you have any questions about your grade, please come see me.” A lot of students did not do that, figuring they would have to work harder, or the low grade would average out. Caroline did not want to wonder about it. She went to the professor’s office and asked, “What did I do wrong? What did I miss?”
ALUMNI VOICES SARENA HEBEBRAND(BECKER) CLASS OF 2005
Confidence
“Dawson didn’t just challenge me, it taught me how to challenge myself, and that has been valuable throughout my life. How do I take an assignment and look at it in a new way? How can I make the outcome of a project bigger and better? Perhaps you can’t do that with 100% of things, but you can fight for those that are important to you. We are never done learning and growing.”
Community Creates Resilience
When students are surveyed, they often reply that one of the best parts of the Dawson experience is the teachers and how easy they are to talk to. That isn’t just young people parroting what adults want to hear. You can see that connection in so many different ways. Graduates return and seek out their mentors; current students lean on teachers in hard times; or there’s an everyday example: the campus dining hall. At most traditional schools, teachers eat in a separate lounge from students or in their classrooms. Dawson’s facility makes it much easier to be a part of a community, which is the point of the design. (The top-notch food doesn’t hurt either.) Set up more like a work-place cafeteria with hot food served by chefs and salads/desserts on a self-serve bar, the Dining Commons is a place everyone wants to be. Teachers, faculty, and students all eat in this shared area, breaking down the traditional us/them social barriers. If a student has a question for a teacher, they know it’s okay to ask, and they often do. Altogether, these experiences build resilient Dawson graduates whose early formative connections stick with them into their adult lives. 2013 Dawson graduate Rob Keown underscored that sentiment in a video he recorded for a parent-night event. “People always say the best thing about Dawson is the teachers. I hate to be unoriginal, but I would just kick myself if I ever passed an opportunity to express my love for the teachers at Dawson. I can point to everything I like about myself and point to the Dawson teacher where that came from.” Keown goes on to detail how jokes he still tells remind him of Spanish teacher Arnold Lewis. His creative energy bursts call to mind learning to use them in theater director Kieffer Denning’s class. English teacher Dr. Anne Hecox would be proud every time Rob analyzes a movie’s dramatic themes with his friends. “I made great friends at Dawson, but it was the teachers who got me out of bed, who I was most excited to spend time with because they guided me, loved me, listened to me, cried with me . . . they are truly the best people I have been lucky enough to have in my life.”
-SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHER AND DEPARTMENT CHAIR CRAIG ANGUS
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SECTION TWO
“ I think what Dawson does really well is hiring teachers who want to be connected to kids.”
Within Dawson’s mission statement is the commitment to challenge students to become resilient problem-solvers. This ethos implies that Dawson School students will be asked to determine some of their own learning objectives—to not just solve a problem, but to first define it. This practice parts ways with educational goals of previous generations. Rather than a predefined science lab with a set outcome, or an assignment of 30 linear equations to solve for x, Dawson teachers might start with a realworld concept students are asking about and work backwards to arrive at the applicable knowledge required. Then, age-appropriate curriculum will be woven into the process of finding out about West Nile Virus or learning to code a graphing calculator using linear and quadratic equations. In essence, Dawson students are learning to do what professionals in that field do: explore, experiment, and discover. What does all this academic creativity have to do with community? Simply put, one cannot be a risk taker without a solid foundation on which to stand. Students (and adults) must feel they are safe before they are willing to jump into unknown territory. In their 2014 book, Stress and Anxiety, psychologists Marriner, Cacioli, and Moore show that the best way to create a safe environment that nurtures resilience is through attachment. In a school setting, these pivotal attachments develop naturally when teachers challenge students, root for students, and—crucially—take the time to recognize and acknowledge students’ unique talents. That’s one of the advantages of an independent school. Everyone in the group is known. No child is left to wash around alone in the tide of the crowd. With seven students to every faculty member and an average class size of 15, there are a variety of educators connecting with each child. In traditional schools, this sense of connection gets a bit harder to find once students begin to shift teachers and classrooms throughout the day. But at Dawson, just because students leave the classroom does not mean that teachers stop seeing them and thinking of them throughout the day. Middle and Upper School staff meet regularly to discuss initiatives and problems. If a student is having trouble, the first question they ask is, “Who are they close to on the faculty?” Then an adult will reach out.
Tradition of Community
The family feel isn’t limited to teachers caring for students. Teachers and administrators nurture each other as well. Director of Admissions and Tuition Assistance Scott Schneider recalls getting hired as a history teacher and athletic director in March of 2005. Before he had even taught a class, Angus called him up to invite Schneider to the Thursday-evening teacher gathering at a pub in Longmont. Schneider says, “I was invited to the cool kid table. I’ve never been a cool kid. I just felt welcomed.”
The flipside of this attachment dynamic is also true. Teachers appreciate being able to connect to students just as much. “I think what Dawson does really well is hiring teachers who want to be connected to kids,” Angus says. Angus has taught at Dawson for over 30 years in a variety of roles, which culminated in his current position, Social Studies teacher and Department Chair. In that time, Angus has seen education trends, people, and programs come and go. One theme that has remained strong throughout his years at Dawson, he says, is the strong bond between faculty and students. Some of the youth Angus has nurtured grew up and remained friends for years. “Last week I got together with a former student of mine who, in ninth grade, learned how to be a history student in my Ancient History class. This week he is finishing up his PhD in German history. He refers to me as his friend and mentor. It was so great to sit there and chat with him and to realize that we have been able to maintain this relationship over the years.” Most Dawson teachers who have been around a while can point to a similar mentee or two with whom they stay in touch, who come back to say hi when home on university breaks. It’s just that kind of place.“I think that our school community—our people—are phenomenal,” says Head of School George P. Moore. “Our campus, obviously, is something that sets us apart from other schools, but ultimately it comes down to the people.”
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It’s the Teachers
Longtime Lower School teacher and assistant teacher Carol Kanda expresses the same sense of being cared for when her husband passed away and the Dawson community looked out for her and her children. “It became more family than ever; that time holds a big place in my heart.”
Dawson School has a long history of building community. Looking backwards, we can trace the principle of teacher/student bonds all the way to the school’s founder, Jerry Henderson. When he founded the school in 1970, Henderson leveraged some of the best parts of his own education into this new entity he was building. Henderson’s special relationship with his high school math teacher helped to delineate one of the more important characteristics that still echoes at Dawson School today. Jerry Henderson believed in strong relationships between young people and adults; he believed in working with students to create a profound difference in their lives. Though much about the school has changed, this value has not. The community is intentional. Current psychological research shows they had it right all those years ago. To gain resilience, a person needs strong attachments to trustworthy mentors and some sense of control over one’s environment. Dawson has all of those elements in spades. And because the teachers set a tone for caring and compassion, the students follow suit. The result of an entire community pulling toward that goal of unity is a kind of magic. When you set a tone for connectedness, the efforts start to snowball.
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Peer Mentorships
At the Upper School level, mentoring is baked into multiple settings from mixed-age Winterim cohorts to the way the Upper School Robotics team works with the younger novice students in Middle School. Scott Schneider points to the peer leader program, which is a chance for the upperclassmen to guide the younger ones . . . and to help them get over themselves a little bit. “We have mixed-grade advisories because in ninth grade, students are always around each other, and they think their problems are the end of the world, sometimes. You get a junior in there and things change. They can say, ‘No, you’re fine. This is how you do this project.’ Or, ‘Oh, Ms. Barker—just go in for office hours, and it helps you on the test.’ They have been through the younger grades, and they view it as an opportunity to be mentors rather than an opportunity to be mean.”
A second-grader is seated on a scooter in the gymnasium. Behind him, a senior at Dawson pushes him from one end of the gym to the other while our eight-yearold projectile holds on for dear life. His face shows not fear, but pure elation: this big kid needs his help to win the race! This scene or one very similar to it has played out during the Winter Carnival every year. The event, scheduled in late January or early February, achieves several goals. It stirs up the learning environment right at the point when the winter blahs can become winter paralysis. More importantly, Winter Carnival unites the whole Dawson School population. From kindergarten to twelfth grade, every student participates on a mixedage team, where seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds are competing alongside five- and six-year-olds. Winter Carnival is just one of the long-held traditions that connect Dawson students to previous generations, reinforcing the concept that there is value in being a part of something larger than yourself.
As evidenced by the Winter Carnival example, it’s not just teacher/student relationships that make Dawson pupils feel supported. Peer mentorships are also key, which is why they occur in so many grades and activities. Formal arrangements exist between kindergarten and fourth grade as well as fifth and first grade. Carol Kanda says the older students have these collaborations so well in hand that her co-teachers joke they could leave for coffee and things would be just fine. “There is such a level of engagement that’s so different once you remove the adult from the situation. The older kids become so much more doting and very caring, and they are so much more invested. And the younger ones listen even better than they listen to the teachers!”
Winter Carnival Scene
-DIRECTOR OF ADMISSIONS AND TUITIONSCOTTASSISTANCESCHNEIDER
26 27 Schneider is referring to the sorts of siloing by grade that often happens in larger schools, but not at Dawson. That comes partly from the tone set by faculty, partly it is campus tradition to maintain a tightly knit community, and it’s partly pragmatism. Athletic Director Mike Jacobsma explains it succinctly. “They know they need each other.” Dawson is a small school, so teams, clubs, and classes have to depend on every member to achieve the goals they set. “Freshmen contribute a lot to our varsity teams, and if they are not on varsity then they’re on a developmental JV team or C team. Everyone understands the bigger picture.” When the fall season starts, many of the incoming freshmen are new to Dawson. Because practice starts before the school year, they are on campus working out with the captains and leaders of the team who take the opportunity to welcome them to the fold. Jacobsma says, “The upperclassmen are great at just taking those young kids and helping them feel a part of the family.”The approach seems to work. Due to the breadth and depth of its success, Dawson School’s athletic program is regularly voted in the state’s top 5 to 10 percent of 350+ prep schools statewide. It has four state titles for its athletic teams, including: Girls’ Soccer in 2018, Boys’ Baseball 2016, Boys’ Golf 2013, and Boys’ Soccer 1996. Across athletics and activities, Dawson School students have achieved myriad individual state titles. The Upper School Robotics team makes it to state every year. And then there is the speech and debate program. Dawson’s Speech and Debate team has built the kind of dynasty that gets recognition nationally. Between 2007 and 2019, individual contributors from Dawson’s debate program have won 10 separate state championships in Public Forum debate alone, a jaw-dropping accomplishment to say the least.
Size Wise
Dawson’s size is another contributor to student success. In a typical suburban high school of 1,000 or more, it is rare to have students who fulfill leadership roles in so many different tracks. Students might play two or three sports, but those same individuals aren’t typically also in the play or on the robotics team. Dawson’s Upper School population of around 250 students means there is room for everyone to try. In fact, it is a requirement: Dawson Upper School students must participate in two co-curricular activities per year; for freshmen through juniors, one of those activities must be a sport. This is due, in part, to the PE credit earned. Dawson administrators also believe that everyone should at least try out a sport or two because it builds resilience . . . which can be hard for young people who are used to getting A’s all the time. Scott Schneider explains, “We have a lot of students who are academic all-stars. They are good at school.” So, when they play in a tennis match or lacrosse game and lose, it’s a new and important experience. “We try to get across to them that it is okay to fail, in the classroom and on the field. You should try something hard, and it’s okay if you can’t succeed at it. You’re going to learn from that, and you’re going to improve from that. A really good batter in baseball is a .300 hitter. Seven out of ten times they strike out.” “ You should try something hard, and it’s okay if you can’t succeed at it. You’re going to learn from that, and you’re going to improve from that.”
-ATHLETIC DIRECTOR MIKE JACOBSMA
Jacobsma explains, “It’s about having a great experience for everyone. The parents, faculty, and staff are sharing those moments with the kids. That’s how I think you build a community . . . just by being together.”
Again, this is how resilient people are formed. Getting knocked down or striking out teaches a student that he or she can get up again. When students with perfectionist tendencies are required to try something foreign, it’s a tangible lesson in risk andOfreward.course, the opposite happens, too. Often, students try a new sport and find a previously unknown talent. For example, in the 2018-2019 season, Dawson struggled to get enough players to make a boys’ lacrosse team. Rio Sueyoshi, who went on in 2020 to play college soccer, tried lacrosse for the first time as a junior. According to Mike Jacobsma, “He played major minutes and was a varsity contributor.” Sueyoshi’s case highlights another of Dawson’s attributes; there is room for talent to shine. Students who have innate athletic ability can play at a high level at Dawson, often while also fulfilling leadership roles like team captain. “Our All-American lacrosse player Gavin Pure played tennis and was voted Player of the Year in boys’ basketball by area sportswriters. And he was in the winter musical. That hardly ever happens {elsewhere},” says Jacobsma. Prior to assuming the Director of Admissions role, during his tenure as Athletic Director, Scott Schneider remembers countless students trudging into his office to complain about being required to participate in sports. They enrolled at Dawson for the math, or the history, or the debate, why did they have to play a sport? Schneider would give them patient explanations about learning to try new things, to handle adversity, to play on a team. They would sigh and flounce and grumble . . . but, he says, many of those same grumbling freshmen ended up playing on varsity teams as upperclassmen. Another benefit of being small is the family feel that Dawson is able to achieve. Students and teachers from all departments cross paths frequently throughout the year. In the fall, someone might take part in the play, then participate in speech and debate through the winter season, then play lacrosse in the spring, which means that students of all grades and social groups get a chance to meet each other in disparate circumstances. Rather than established cliques, students travel from group to group, depending on the season or activity. This social cross-pollination means that when an important event occurs, like a playoff soccer game, everyone knows someone on the team and wants to root them on . . . which is how on a Wednesday afternoon in November 2019, over 400 people turned out to cheer for the varsity boys’ soccer team. Temperatures were in the 20s, and teachers could have legitimately kept students inside to continue working. But they didn’t. Class was dismissed so that the Dawson collective could go cheer for the team as a whole. The fact that they won the playoff game wasn’t really the point.
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“That’s how I think you build a community... just by being together.”
The afternoon or evening before Upper School graduation, Dawson holds a ceremony to individually recognize each student. One by one, a teacher will take the floor and begin celebrating a senior, although the crowd doesn’t yet know who.
Ask a Dawson community member how students know that they matter and you will hear one special example again and again: Senior Honoring.
“Dawson said, ‘Here’s every opportunity; now try them all. Do what you’re already good at and what you are not good at, but might enjoy. Engage with those activities and make the most of those opportunities.’
Teacher and Arts Department Chair Dwight Ovelman is a frequent speaker. He says, “One of my favorite things is when I walk out there and look around and see all these faces. They give you an expectant look that could mean, ‘He could be talking about me.’ And that’s the wonderful thing about Dawson. There is a chance that probably I could talk about 90% of those kids; that’s the connection that we have with them.”
Senior Honoring
By the time I graduated at age 18, I felt like I had lived all of these different lives. I had been on stage, I had been to state championships, I had engaged with multiple members of my community. That wouldn’t have happened so fully had I not attended Dawson.” VOICES
ALUMNI
There is a trend in American education to be very data driven, to ensure excellence through measuring test scores and positive change over time. While Dawson School has absolutely led the field in advancements and best practices including paying attention to the need for qualitative data, the school has remained focused on its foremost educational mission. Without a personal connection, no amount of positive test scores is enough. For all the import placed on statistical proof of academic achievement, some of the most important benefits of education cannot be quantified. And Dawson parents know that.Asa part of a market survey Dawson School performed in 2014, the question was asked of families: what is the number one word that comes to mind when you think of Dawson? One might assume that this audience would be pretty unanimous by answering academics or college placement, but the overwhelming answer was “community.” It’s just that kind of place.
Some of his more famous speeches incorporate costumes and voices, like the time he honored Kelly Dulin (Class of 2013) by dressing and speaking as Julia Child, a reference to Kelly’s love of cooking. “How do you create a Kelly Dulin?” Ovelman sang in his Julia Child voice. One year, Ovelman became a grumpy old man he called Johnny Corporation to make the point that this particular student (who had avoided explaining her art for years) needed to talk about her art if she wanted to be heard over grumpy corporate voices like that character’s. These time-honored ceremonies operate under a rule of exclusivity and are tinged with excitement. Only family members and honored students are allowed to attend Senior Honoring. Once over, parents never fail to say how powerful it is to see just how loved and known their students have been at Dawson. ***
ROB KEOWN, CLASS OF 2013
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A graduate who has spent four years in Dawson’s Upper School has traveled, served others, and been immersed in a variety of cultures and professions. That students have tried athletics, arts, and technology; they have explored well beyond the books and bricks of the school’s walls.
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Dawson School’s vision statement reads, “Dawson graduates are young men and women who achieve their individual potential, savor life, and meet the challenges of the world.” Many alumni go on to enjoy careers in activism, service, and entrepreneurship—not to mention have creative adventures like cycling across the country, making films, and creating jobs of the future. The variety of their success is a testament to the efficacy of Dawson’s approach. The school emphasizes rigorous education, yes, but the school’s superlative results are achieved in part by facilitating the development of the whole child.
SECTION THREE Connecting to the World
- LOWER
While in school, Dawson students are exposed to an infinite number of possible careers, a plethora of ways to experience the world.
“That’s the ethos here. We can try things. I think that’s a key piece in our school and something I’m grateful for.” SCHOOL TEACHER KIM HAINES
If students were limited to just the curriculum, their education would not be so rich. Most of those extra learning opportunities come to Dawson through the teachers. Eighty-two percent of the faculty have advanced degrees. Many Dawson teachers are at the forefront of their fields, and they bring their professional connections into the classroom. Paired with that tremendous capability is an environment of encouragement. Dawson administration truly wants teachers to take big swings.Kim
Haines, Lower School teacher says, “We talk a lot as a faculty and in our classroom about having a growth mindset and being willing to take risks.” She vividly remembers a conversation with her teaching partner about whether they should try an out-of-the-box approach to a problem. Haines was not sure it would work, and her co-teacher responded, “Well, let’s just fail forward. Let’s see what happens.” Haines continues, “That’s the ethos here. We can try things. I think that’s a key piece in our school and something I’m grateful for.”
In 2019, Angus took a group to Pittsburgh and Cincinnati to consider the revitalization of Rust Belt cities, whose populations had shrunk but were starting to come back. Through some connections, Angus got the group invited to Paul Brown Stadium, home of the Cincinnati Bengals. The team’s Director of Business Development, Bob Bedinghaus, used to be on the city council and had some jarring words of wisdom to share. Angus remembers the conversation. “This was the best thing I have ever done in urban geography. The councilman said he knew Cincinnati would come back out of the depths, but they needed to re-invigorate the waterfront. He said, and the students totally got it: ‘I knew if I did this, I would never get re-elected, but I knew it was the right thing to do.’” Bedinghaus was correct on both counts. He was voted out of office, and the city revived because of the work he did. This is how Dawson fulfills its mission to help students meet the challenges of the world. They take them into that world and introduce them to role models who have followed their curiosity and set an example.
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The net gain from this adventure in literacy is a generation of Dawson students who can clearly envision the job of author or illustrator and may consider it for themselves one day. In conversations with classes, authors often share their elementary-aged writing, “and it doesn’t look any different from what my students write,” Haines says. “These visits make the vocation of author more real. They find out that these people did not come to Earth as fully formed professional writers. They have had to work hard. They have had failures. One author showed us the incredible scroll of rejection letters she had taped together from her first book.”
Kim Haines felt confident she would receive support when she started inviting authors to speak to her fourth-grade students. It began as a Skype session with Wendy Mass, author of The Candy Makers. The students were so enlivened by the conversation that Haines started actively looking for more ways to expose her students to authors and illustrators. That put her in touch with a sales rep from Boulder Book Store who happened to mention an author was in town and might like to come to campus. That visit went so well, and book store staff were so impressed with the welcoming way the Lower School as a whole embraced this writer that they now think of Dawson as an excellent tour stop for visiting authors. Legacies like these build slowly on a foundation of passion and talent that is allowed to flourish.
Because teachers are so encouraged to open up opportunities for students, the ethos exists schoolwide, especially during Winterim.
***
Craig Angus says his urban geography trip is a favorite. “My focus as a human geography teacher is to take that curriculum out into the real world and show kids things that they might be doing in life.” The trip includes visits to North American cities to see what makes them thrive, like urban planning, the importance of nature in urban spaces, and public service—they all support each other in ways that make a city feel like home.
Dawson shows students innumerable pathways to follow and models to emulate, because experience is the best teacher.
If You Give a Teacher Some Freedom
“I’m very proud of how many of our students have gone on to be engaged in public service. In many cases, they are doing things that make difference.”
Starting at the Lower School, arts curriculum is folded into the 10 weekly hours of specials, supplemental specialarea subjects taught at the primary level in addition to classroom instruction. Students explore the visual arts with media like watercolor, clay, and collage. Music, concerts, and plays are readied for performance regularly. By Middle School, the offerings for performing and visual arts might include art production, art history, art criticism, and aesthetics. These courses incorporate units from students’ academic classes as well as their theater performances.
At the Upper School, the options explode; teens could take a different arts class each semester and not repeat. Some of the performing arts classes include: instrumental ensembles, choir, the Lost Keys a capella group, dance, improv, and theater. Visual art enthusiasts can choose from: ceramics, digital photography, digital art, drawing and painting, jewelry making, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and woodworking.
Savor Life
36 37 ***
Arts Department Chair and teacher Dwight Ovelman says that art connects the classroom to the world in multiple ways. Looking at the work of historical artists from different cultures can change one’s perspective. “Even more than that,” he says, “students get to learn a little bit more about themselves. They get to see how they can relate to the technique that someone has used year after year to build a ring or a table. It’s not just a connection to a process, it’s a connection through history.”
-ENGLISH TEACHER AND SPEECH AND DEBATE COACH REBECCA WEEKS
Speaking of taking students into the world . . . picture this scene from 2012. Speech and Debate team members Brian Litchfield and Bryan Thomson are standing outside a lecture hall, palms sweating, hearts racing, though they are trying to appear calm. They’re about to begin the first round of the culmination of a year’s effort. The pair has spent the whole of this scholastic year working together to wipe the floor with their competition at tournaments across Colorado. Because topics rotate on a monthly basis, “the Brians” as they were collectively known, have argued for and against the merits of climate change funding, the federal assault weapons ban, foreign policy in the Middle East, and so many others. Since clinching first place at the state tournament in January, the pair has been preparing for national competition, June 10-15 in Indianapolis. National Forensics League Finals! This is the big time.Their topic? Resolved: Stand Your Ground laws are a legitimate expansion of the doctrine of self-defense. In 13 rounds, Brian and Bryan thrust and parry, assert and defend. In the end, these two young men finished 11th in the nation, two of the most skilled logicians in the country. But when you ask their coach what she remembers about them, she recalls teens who supported younger students. “They were such fun to work with. Not only did they end up at nationals, but they also encouraged others,” says Rebecca Weeks, English teacher and Speech and Debate Coach from 2006-2020. Weeks says the program came into existence because a group of her students asked her to help them start it. The program grew from just nine original kids to today’s 50-plus. Driven by student initiative, the Dawson Speech and Debate team has garnered extensive awards in its 14 years. They have won first place in Public Forum debate so many times that they should probably just call it the Dawson trophy. Dawson School has regularly taken top honors in Original Oratory, Value debate, Lincoln Douglas debate, Poetry, Impromptu speaking, and Becausemore.most of the debate events center around current events and world issues, Weeks says her team members learn to see beyond the Boulder bubble. “I have to say, I am very proud of how many of our students have gone on to be engaged in one form or other of public service. Some of them are in law, or international business. In many cases, they are doing things that make a difference and that we can be proud of.”
Recognizing that seeing the world through many lenses is an empowering way to learn, Dawson has created an incredibly robust arts department that benefits both visual learners and those with other learning styles alike.
38 39 to a process, it’s a connection through history.” To facilitate connections, Dawson’s art teachers often bring in visiting experts to speak, to show a possible career path, to expose students to the numerous ways that art intersects with commerce, with public life, with culture.Ovelman, a 22-year veteran faculty member of Dawson, says he is grateful to oversee such exceptionally rich curriculum options because kids should get to try everything. “Life will narrow us down as we get older. We all have passions that we start to focus more on, so, I think it is important that they try a little bit of everything. Even if they never paint again, the exposure to other cultures and techniques is relevant—even to non-artists.”Dawson graduates go on to diverse and varied careers; a percentage do work in creative fields that span the fine arts world.
For those who never lay out another motif, understanding how art functions remains valuable, Ovelman says. Maybe they will work with a design team and need an understanding of composition or color. More than that, successful, problem-solving requires a functioning “creativity muscle.”
There is a trope that college prep graduates are all the same, academically driven drones who will get an Ivy League degree and become lawyers. By exposing students to such diverse experiences, especially with focus in the arts, Dawson re-shapes that mold. “I don’t think we want to create a sausage factory where everyone is coming out of here the same,” Ovelman says. “I think we want to inspire students to be thoughtful about what they want to do with their lives. Whether a student follows that [corporate] path exactly, or they want to try to be an artist, or something else entirely . . . all those paths require “I think we want to inspire students to be thoughtful about what they want to do with their lives.”
- ARTS DEPARTMENT CHAIR AND TEACHER DWIGHT OVELMAN
Four Virtues
Virtues in Action SCHOOL GEORGE P. MOORE
Teenagers, in particular, can be poised and dignified one moment and mercurial the next. So goes adolescence; however, the more teens are exposed to positive role models, the more concrete tools they will have to call upon when negotiating emotional challenges. The role of a school goes beyond teaching facts; educators also help students develop the maturity necessary to meet challenges and to effect change in the world. That is why, in 2010, Dawson administration codified the values they want to help students develop. The four character virtues are respect, compassion, courage, and integrity. These virtues are folded into many of the teachers’ lessons throughout the year. In the Lower School, first-graders do a bake sale. Afterwards, they take the proceeds to an area grocery store and buy items to donate to Sister Carmen Community Center, which supports low-income families in the Boulder area, thus folding in compassion and integrity as they complete the project. Dawson’s Upper School class trips, which occur during the opening four days of the school year, showcase an emphasis on place-based, experiential education, combined with a focus on character growth. Each grade level focuses on one character virtue: ninth grade spotlights respect on their camping and hiking excursion, tenth grade’s community service exhibits compassion, eleventh-graders need courage for the river trips, and twelfthgraders focus on integrity in their final year.
“Virtues require that you continually practice them. You are only as virtuous as your last decision.” -HEAD OF
Head of School George P. Moore says, “Although people may use the terms value and virtue interchangeably, I see them as different. Virtues require that you continually practice them; they’re not something that you either have or don’t have. You are only as virtuous as your last decision. It is easy to lose your integrity, but it takes years to build it up. Those four have stood the test of time, and we continue to try to make sure that they are front and center in our conversations with students and families.”
40 41 You can give students experiences, but that alone isn’t enough. How do you prepare them to receive those experiences?
It was fortunate for the 2010 Dawson School administrators that so many of the virtues they identified were already ingrained in the Dawson culture. In fact, if they had gone looking for a case study that showcased all four virtues, they would have had to look no further than Bill Meyers’ eighth-grade ENO (Environment Online) club. In 2002, Meyers gathered a group of students to create a project that would then be presented at a conference in Finland. Hello, courage! While there, Meyers and his group met a Kenyan teacher with whom they had been communicating via the ENO program. The African professor convinced the group as a whole that they had the power to effect change for his school back in Kenya. Compassion? Check. Between 2002 and 2009, the students took it upon themselves to raise enough money for computers, electricity, and internet installation for this school. They also raised money for food during a drought. The financial responsibility required allowed the students to demonstrate integrity as well as perseverance since the project continued for so long. As a result of their work, Meyers’ ENO Club helped bridge the digital divide for a group of orphans on the other side of the globe. In 2007, the Kenyan teacher and three students came to Dawson, requiring Dawson students to show respect and allowing them to see where their kindness had gone. By all measures, the adventure was a wildRiffingsuccess.onthe triumph of the Kenyan program, Meyers assigned a group of seventh-grade students to begin collaborating with students from Botswana on a global infectious diseases initiative. Through a National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) challenge, the African teens came to Dawson’s campus in 2008. Students from Kenya came to Colorado with their teacher to present at the NAIS Conference in Denver – seventh-graders with the students from Botswana and eighth-graders with the students from Kenya. All visiting students stayed with Dawson families while they were here. Together this international youth consortium prepared a paper on malaria prevention
Community service is an Upper School graduation requirement, and Dawson provides plentiful opportunities to find an interest match through group service projects or community service clubs that are often student-initiated and student-led. Dawson sponsors service days where pupils can perform acts of service such as outreach to homeless teens in Boulder or volunteering to help at the Special Olympics.
Ninth-graders complete service activities through their “I Am Change” project in English, inspired by Malala’s book of the same name. Sophomores must document a minimum of 20 hours of community service throughout the school year; half of these must be for organizations outside of the Dawson community. Juniors and seniors are encouraged to log service hours even with the heavy academic load of those years.
Dawson School’s culture emphasizes compassion, cooperation, and respect by encouraging students to invest time in the wellbeing of others. Students are encouraged to engage in service that will stretch their perspectives. In the Lower and Middle Schools, students participate in a variety of age-appropriate service projects. These efforts include food and clothing drives, fundraising, serving meals, even home construction. The projects vary from year to year, but the spirit of compassion remains constant.
For some students, what begins as a requirement becomes a true passion, and they log hundreds of hours on a project. By the end of their high school careers, Dawson graduates have spent numerous hours engaged in community service. More than the time, these teens have hopefully honed their understanding of diversity, their Service is Expected
42 43 and presented it at the NAIS conference in Denver. Then, the fundraising commenced. Fifteen Middle Schoolers sold smoothies every day to raise funds for mosquito nets, which they distributed in Botswana to prevent malaria on three separate trips between 2008 and 2012. Meyers knew this would be the first time these young teens would experience such a different culture. “The students had a phenomenal opportunity to live with host families, experience different foods, and to visit their host students’ school and attend classes. We then all travelled together on a bus to a village in the north of Botswana where malaria was a serious problem. With the Botswana students, our students visited homes, met families, and delivered mosquito nets to people in the village.” Meyers says the students did an amazing job. “They were really gracious when we went to the village and would go home-to-home to deliver the nets. I was always just amazed at how the students were so engaged and thoughtful and polite.”Learning occurs when people are willing to try on a new idea, to place themselves in spaces where they don’t know the norms. Change is only possible when individuals are collectively willing to go there. So, whether new ideas come from a conversation with a civic leader in Ohio or a service trip in Botswana, Dawson students are well positioned to meet the challenges of the world because they have had experiences like these.
His was a curious mind, always ready to seize the next opportunity, which was how he happened to purchase a dude ranch in Colorado abutting the Roosevelt National Forest by Ward, Colorado. Lifelong friend, business associate, and Dawson Board of Trustees Chairman Oswald “Oz” Gutsche, tells the story. “Mr. Henderson, our founder, was involved in restoring the property as a dude ranch for hospitality. He knew the owners of the New York Junior Republic [a reform school based in New York State]. He knew the judge who assigned those kids to the school, and in one of his visits he mentioned to the judge, ‘I’m doing a beautiful restoration of a dude ranch in Colorado. I think I could do a better job with those kids than you can on the outskirts of New York.’”
Director, Mike Jacobsma says the Dawson School alums he has encountered have developed the habit of looking for ways to be involved. “I think that mindset has carried on through their college years and adulthood. From what I have seen they are involved in their colleges—they want to be involved. Community service is a big part of that.” Jacobsma figures that looking for opportunities to be of service becomes a habit that extends to adulthood.
SECTION FOUR Change is the only Constant: Campus and Culture
“My fondest memories of Dawson don’t involve a classroom or a book, but rather the moments outside of the classroom. I remember science trips down to the river in eighth grade to wade around collecting samples. I remember hiking and canoeing with Mr. Lord and biking with Mr. Angus. I’ll always smile when I think of Coach Durst doing the Can Can with the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall. Those experiences and so many others gifted me with a sense of belonging, community, and a desire to contribute. That shows up in my nonprofit volunteering, in the organizations I choose to work with, and in the difference I try to make in the world.”
After deliberating, the judge agreed to run a trial and see if the fresh air and rigors of the Colorado high country might facilitate a better rehabilitation, as Henderson suggested. It worked. The boys moved in and were paid as summer laborers at the dude ranch, doing chores, serving guests, which required etiquette lessons, and learning from Henderson how to work for what they wanted. This was the origin of the two mottos, “Love of the Land” and “Nothing Without Labor,” that still feature prominently in Dawson School’s culture today.
44 45 for difference, and a sense of responsibility to helpAthleticothers.
Jerry Henderson wasn’t the most natural candidate to found a premier college preparatory academy. Though he had great affection for his high school math teacher, Henderson did not complete his Dartmouth degree. His path was more hands-on. Through a vast array of avocational and vocational pursuits, Henderson developed a treasure trove of skills in entrepreneurship, service, and leadership in his young life. Henderson’s father, Alexander Dawson Henderson, was one of the founders of a company that would eventually become Avon Products, Inc. By age 30, Henderson was serving on its board of directors, a position he held for 40 years. In the 1930s, as tensions with Germany heightened, Henderson formed a group of sea scouts who patrolled the coast of South Carolina looking for U-boats, leading up to World War II. (Thankfully, they found none.) Later in his career, Henderson became an industrial pioneer, investing in what were then new, exotic industries like cable television and lasers. Henderson wrote about all these adventures and many more in his 1982 book, Turn the Clock Back Sam!
ALUMNI VOICES ALEX GURY, CLASS OF 1997
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At age 21, Jerry Henderson—inspired by Charles Lindbergh—learned to fly an open-cockpit airplane. In fact, his was one of the nation’s first pilot licenses and was signed by Orville Wright. It was this freedom and mobility that allowed Henderson to hop about the country as much as he did. Gutsche remembers accompanying Henderson on one expedition during the late ‘60s. “We were coming back from a trip to one of his holdings on the east coast and he said, ‘I have to stop and see a friend of mine in Boulder.’ We landed over at Jeffco Airport and came out here [to the future Dawson School site]. Right down where the ditch crosses the road was Jerry’s friend,” he recounts, indicating a location near Dawson’s Lafayette, Colorado campus. Henderson had provided capital for the man to purchase 240 acres of agricultural property. His plan was to develop a British riding academy. It turned out that at the time there was no market for an equestrian horse camp in Boulder County. The man said, “Jerry, I really appreciate what you did for me, lending me money, but I can’t make [the loan payment]. It’s yours now.” As the investor on the venture, Henderson held the deed of trust for the acreage. Much to his surprise, it seemed he had inadvertently purchased a farm. Gutsche continues the story. “Jerry said, ‘What are we going to do with 240 acres of property around here?’ It took him about a week, he came back and said, ‘I have an idea. Instead of having these boys come out from New York, I am going to see the judge in Denver who’s in charge of the juvenile court. I’m going to tell him I have a great opportunity for the boys from Denver. If he agrees, we are going to call it the Colorado Junior Republic instead of the New York Junior Republic.’”
-DAWSON SCHOOL FOUNDER GIRARD “JERRY” HENDERSON
In 1980, under the direction of new Head of School Barry Grove, the institution’s name changed to the Alexander Dawson School, Henderson’s salute to his father, Alexander Dawson Henderson. Just three years later, Girard “Jerry” Henderson, the school’s founder, visionary and guiding spirit, passed away on November 16, 1983 at the age of 78. *** Alumnus Tofer Henderson (no relation) was a student at Dawson in the school’s second decade. (Because of his shared last name with the founder, this text will use Tofer’s first name.) Tofer arrived in 1981, just after the school had started the transition toward becoming a more traditional college preparatory school, though the boarding school and many of the behavior rules remained. As a freshman, Tofer was more than used to uniforms since his previous education had all been at Catholic schools. He says coming from a private school environment made the transition to Dawson pretty easy. “Something that people are surprised about now was how much etiquette was stressed back then. That meant coat and tie for dinner, and we had the whole ritual of standing up if a woman was coming to the table and pulling out her chair.”
Accidental Property “What are we going to do with 240 acres of property around here?”
That was 1970 and the beginning of a new boarding school that, for a short time, operated as a alternative school of sorts. In addition to basic high school courses, students were required to complete chores on what was then a working farm with horses, chickens, cattle, ducks, pigs, and the like. For that effort, they would be paid in in-house currency that could be used for extras like flying lessons, trips, commissary snacks, and more uniforms. (Students were supposed to arrive with one set and earn more as they worked.)
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Looking back over his career in engineering and telecommunications, Tofer says some of his Dawson lessons stood the test of time. “I played soccer and learned to fly and did all those things. Now, looking back, it was the values that stuck with me. The ideas which they were trying to reinforce are very much aligned with the values I still carry with me today.” Tofer says the motto, “Nothing Without Labor,” resonated throughout his education, career, and continues in his family life today. “My wife didn’t even go here, but she loves the idea of nothing without labor. What you put into it, you are going to get back.” It comes up a lot now that the couple’s twins, Aria and Zayden, started as kindergartners at Dawson School in 2019. “Looking back, it was the values that stuck with me.”
-TOFER HENDERSON, CLASS OF 1985 ***
Tofer recalls that even as a freshman, he was impressed that Mr. Henderson had established such an egalitarian meritocracy. “No matter where you were coming from, everyone came to boarding school with the same number of shirts, the same number of ties, the same number of shoes—no matter who you were. Everything else after that, you had to earn through the currency on campus and buy. That was a great shared experience.” Campus life then still included chores, but also the opportunity to ride horses, and flying lessons were offered as a special incentive. Through it all, emphasis on Henderson’s guiding principles continued.
During the years that Tofer Henderson attended what was then known as Alexander Dawson School, change was afoot. The school continued to evolve on the track Jerry Henderson had laid down before his death. By 1986, the institutional structure had evolved. In the preceding 16 years, emphasis on student transformation had receded, and was replaced by attracting college-bound students like Tofer. The up-and-coming institution gained accreditation in the North Central Association, dropped the payment system for chores, and set about attracting students and teachers who wanted to work toward academic excellence . . . though the insistence on etiquette and comportment remained. *** One of the new hires from the ’80s remains a teacher today. Craig Angus was hired as a dorm parent and English teacher in 1986. He says, “Back then the school was pretty different than it is now; it was a very conservative place. I was clean shaven and had a short haircut when I got hired. I showed up for my job looking like I do now [with longer hair and a bushy beard]. They just took one look at me and said, ‘You are not the person we hired. If you see him, let him know.’ I went out, got a haircut and a shave, and came back. They were like, ‘Oh, yeah, we remember you.’” Angus says the word “curriculum” was a pretty loose concept in those early days of college prep. “I was hired to teach English and I said to the head of the school, ‘What curriculum would you like me to follow?’ He looked at me, and this is no joke, said, ‘You’re the English teacher. Don’t you know?’” There was no prescribed program. “Then I said to him, ‘Where’s my classroom?’ He goes, ‘I don’t know, go in that building over there and pick one.’”
All these stories are more than just a humorous look at Dawson’s colorful past. The rough and tumble beginnings are the reason the institution evolved into Boulder County’s premier college preparatory academy. Jerry Henderson’s belief that work and fresh mountain air could be good for some wayward boys cultivated a culture ripe with possibility. Colorado Junior Republic became today’s Dawson School because that go-figure-it-out freedom to explore was paired with exceptional teachers, who were gifted a magical setting in which to work. The result is the region’s leading independent school with the sorts of outdoor education opportunities that cannot be gotten anywhere else. Gradelevel river trips, Winterim backcountry snow studies, an on-site cyclocross course? Those and so many others grew directly from the seed Henderson planted.Because of its size, Dawson has always been able to adapt its teaching to fit the population. It is one of the benefits of independence, says Head of School George P. Moore. “Dawson uses its independence to stay nimble. We have been able to shape the school’s curriculum and programs to ensure they are leadingedge; not trendy, but at the forefront, so that our students are as prepared as they can be to bring their best to the world.” Angus says that these days—and for quite some time now—curriculum is far less “loosey goosey” than when he started. “Now we have a scope and sequence, a course outline, curriculum guides. They have all been tirelessly worked on by people spending hours and hours coming up with what they felt were the best practices and the best curriculum.” Note that he says teachers wrote the curriculum. Not a school board, not a state board, or a national association. The people who teach the plan are the ones who wrote it: Dawson teachers who work with this student population on these grounds and know what works and what will help students succeed. Flex
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Growing Sustainably
Tofer says the attribute he most appreciates is the school’s emphasis on the whole student. “That is key, the idea that the school has an interest in, as Mr. Henderson did, helping to give people building blocks that they can use to continue on.” He points to the requirement that students need to be active in sports for their physical and mental health. “The idea of it seems much more rooted in a holistic view. You’re going to come out with a good academic experience, but you need to have fun throughout, and focus on the whole person. It’s balanced. Back [in the ’80s] it was the same . . . well, it was a little more structured. Again, when I went here it was coat and tie.” ***
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Through the years of growth, Jerry Henderson’s guiding principles held strong. When he established the Colorado campus, he knew from his own experience that living and working outdoors taught a person selfreliance. Henderson believed people should have the knowledge and ability to care for themselves and the land on which they lived. He knew that seeing the fruits of one’s labor over time created a connection to the land. Watching a fruit tree grow strong and productive was a rewarding experience, for instance. Those thoughts precipitated Henderson’s second school motto, “Love of the Land.” Gutsche says, “Nothing without labor and love the land—those were two big ideas that Jerry came up with and preached throughout his life.” An immigrant himself, Gutsche agrees with the sentiment and adds that “Love of the Land” also refers to the broader definition of the phrase. “There are opportunities in this country that most people don’t even realize. That’s why it’s good for some of our kids to travel and see the differences.” Gutsche has remained a steadfast influence on the Board of Trustees for decades.Inkeeping with Henderson’s intent, Dawson’s current and past leadership teams have remained highly conscious of the unique duty to act as stewards of the school’s campus. Self-adopted guiding principles require that all growth adhere to the stated vision for Dawson’s best future. Part of Dawson School’s Campus Master Plan for growth includes a commitment to sustainability. Thus, all the buildings added to campus since 2016 have been low-impact and meet LEED Gold standards. All trees removed due to new construction are replaced with newly planted trees. Thanks to some serious composting, the Dining Commons is near zero waste—no easy task when it comes to kitchens. The Dawson Center for Innovation was designed to be as close to zero energy as possible. Plant Superintendent George Chromy, a 25-year employee of Dawson, says, “Our special use permit with Boulder County dictates that we have the same average energy, gas, and water usage that we did in 2008-2012. Even though we are growing and we have more students, we need to continue trying to reach all the sustainability goals. LEED standards allow us to do that in our new buildings. We have come a long way with sustainability.” Chromy, a lifelong tinkerer, is enthusiastic about the technology that facilitates those goals. He likes watching the buildings go up, one piece at a time, and makes an effort to know exactly what’s in them from the variable frequency drive motors to the recycled insulation – a testament to both his personal interests and his dedication to Dawson and his work. Chromy even pushed out his planned retirement date at the school’s request to be on campus for the growth phase. He says it wasn’t too hard a decision to make. “When the school approached me to stay and kind of extend my retirement date to help finish the innovation center, I couldn’t resist. I just love this place; my heart is here.”
When Tofer Henderson returned to campus for a tour with his wife, Tammy, it had been quite a while since his last visit. Though the Hendersons don’t really live that far from where Tofer went to high school, there was no reason to drive onto campus until they were looking for the best school for their twins. “It was a big wow,” Tofer says. The 34 years stretching between Tofer’s tenure and his twins witnessed momentous changes to Dawson School’s campus. Just like Tofer, the institution had grown up. Where there were open spaces and barns, now sat a Middle School, a Lower School, an athletic center, library, and Dining Commons—not to mention several new athletic fields, an outdoor pool, a high ropes course, and a fruit orchard. Wow, indeed. Though the facilities were certainly a plus for the Hendersons, Tofer says what actually clinched his and Tammy’s decision was the school culture. “Everybody is very tuned into making it a rich experience without it being overly pressurized.” Meaning that instruction is developmentally appropriate; first- and second-graders are encouraged to move and play while they learn, not just sit at desks all day long, preparing for their future SATs.
Inside the Buildings
“What we have here is a jewel, no question about it.”
“Dawson excels in making sure that students know who they are and that the best parts of them come through. The school is helping to create people who are capable of taking on the world outside of these walls when they leave.”
TOFER HENDERSON CLASS OF 1985, FATHER OF TWO SECOND-GENERATION DAWSON STUDENTS ALUMNI VOICES
The tools and facilities provided to Dawson School students are special and afford incredible opportunities to learn and develop skills. Still, between classes, you will find teenagers doing what teenagers do. Regardless of their stateof-the-art surroundings, they sometimes still clown and pull pranks. Chromy has been on staff at Dawson School since 1996. Between his first job here as a maintenance worker to his current tenure, he has seen some doozies. When he first started, Chromy remembers, one prank took place in the basement of Henderson Hall. “One night the seniors took some of the partitions out of the women’s restroom and set them up in [history teacher] Peter Chandler’s office. Then, they moved his office into a stall in the restroom. I thought that was pretty good. My boss, the Plant Superintendent at the time, didn’t find it funny, but the maintenance guys and I were yucking it up.”
It may seem like pranksters aren’t future CEOs and public servants, but that’s just at first blush. The ingenuity, drive, and passion it takes to lead a crew to disassemble bathroom stalls in the dark of night is the same grit that gets things done in the adult sphere. Those same leaders of midnight whimsy did, in fact, go on to august roles as leaders of policy, culture, and business. Dawson alumni are accomplished, impressive people who report that their formative experiences at the school had an impact on their lifelong values. Jerry Henderson liked the idea of educating students in this unique environment. He used to say, “We are going to build the future leaders of America.” From his initial vision to where we are now, it seems the mission was accomplished.Or,asGutsche puts it, “What we have here is a jewel, no question about it.”
Another time, the seniors built a wall of bricks (without using cement, thankfully) blocking off the Upper School classrooms from the rest of the building. “Then, they filled thousands of little bathroom Dixie cups with water and placed them all over the stairs so you couldn’t get down.” No class that day! One year, Chromy remembers pulling up to the school and thinking that a prank had gone way too far. At first glance, it appeared that seniors had painted on the columns outside. “At dawn, it kind of looked like they had graffitied the building.” It turned out that there was Saran Wrap protecting the columns from the paint. But that wasn’t all. “They had parked a Subaru in the reception lobby . . . they had filled it with furniture from the dining hall . . . then locked it.” But, they put down a tarp first to spare the floor, so no permanent damage was done. Chromy says the protective gestures were nice touches.
-BOARD OF TRUSTEESOZCHAIRMANGUTSCHE
***
“They had parked a Subaru in the reception lobby... they had filled it with furniture from the dining hall... then locked it.”
In recent years, the school has tried to supervise pranks a bit, requiring that a staff member gets input on the senior prank committee . . . though there are always a few that the adults don’t hear about in advance, like the tennis ball practice machines that were placed in the cafeteria rafters and set to launch at lunchtime. An extra senior ditch-day acts as an incentive to cut down on seniors pulling pranks the last week of school; it often works. An extra day off will do that, but Chromy says a small part of him will always remember those pranks fondly.
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-PLANT SUPERINTENDENTGEORGECHROMY
It is illuminating to trace the seeds of passion sown by teachers through the growth of their former students. One of Jenkins’ previous first-graders became a master’s student at University of Colorado, Boulder’s ATLAS Institute, an interdisciplinary institute for radical creativity and invention, and developed an algae-derived bioplastic that was then used as an edible wrapper for ramen noodles—just drop the entire brick, packaging and all, into boiling water and voilà—lunch is served. Those science birthday experiments in Jenkins’ class have started more than one student down a path toward engineering. “Talk about creating passion. When kids leave my room at the end of the year, what’s their favorite subject? Science.”
At Dawson School, the answer, whenever possible, is both. The spark that drives a lifelong purpose can begin with passion. Head of School George P. Moore is aware that creating an engaging curriculum that still meets standards is a careful balancing act; however, making school interesting—even engaging—is a worthwhile goal. “I am not saying it’s easy, but I think we engage students by tapping into what they are already interested in.” Outdoor learning, creating robots, art, or story are all examples of exciting educational methods, and Dawson students have access to each of those curiosity outlets.
Many times, educators teach purpose by demonstrating it. For instance, First Grade teacher Debbie Jenkins has a longstanding classroom tradition around birthdays. “Twenty years ago, I decided I’m not having cupcakes for birthdays. I do not like that stuff as a part of a classroom celebration.” Jenkins asked herself what might be an alternative? “I love science,” she says. “My dad was a plant geneticist, and I loved working in his lab. So, I decided for birthdays, we’re going to do special science experiments.” Every first-grade birthday at Dawson is a big deal because time is allotted for hands-on exploration. One favorite experiment is making a magnet and using it to create a simple compass. This work ties into the class’s map discussions as well as the earth science unit that follows. The birthday boy or girl is the teacher’s assistant, but everyone in the class does the experiment and takes home the materials so they can demonstrate what they’ve learned for their families. Jenkins says the excitement around science birthdays far surpasses cupcakes. “Talk about creating passion. When kids leave my room at the end of the year, what’s their favorite subject? Science.”
-LOWER SCHOOL TEACHER DEBBIE JENKINS
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Granted, it’s a tall order to ask an eight- or even eighteen-year-old what their life’s purpose is. Moore believes there are ways to get at the question without it seeming daunting. “I think purpose is all about helping kids identify their potential. What am I good at, what do I like to do, where do I think I can make a difference?” Even the dreaded what-do-you-want-to-be-when-yougrow-up question is a trailhead to purpose, though he says it is probably more helpful to ask, “What problems do you want to solve?”
The scholarly debate weighing the concept of passion versus purpose has persisted for centuries. Philosophers like Aristotle and Socrates felt that purpose was the only honorable path to choose. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, and to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” On the other hand, modern-day thought leaders like Nelson Mandela, Steve Jobs, and Oprah Winfrey urge us to follow our passions and attempt to make careers from them. Mandela said, “There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” So, which is the superior motivator: passion or purpose?
This approach to education has the potential to ignite passion in learners. When that pursuit layers on top of a larger mission—a problem without a solution—that’s where it becomes purpose. Moore says, “Purpose and passion are both important to engage students. In an educational setting, passion is about helping them figure out what they love to do. Over the last couple of years we have made a concerted effort to learn more about purpose and incorporate it into the classroom.”
SECTION FIVE On Purpose
In practice, instilling purpose looks like helping future adults become critical thinkers, adapters, and dreamers. In her book, Teaching for Purpose, author Heather Malin defines the characteristic as, “a futuredirected goal that is personally meaningful and aimed at contributing to something larger than the self.” The larger point being that it is not only possible to help students find their path, but that doing so leads to superior outcomes.
“The Dawson experience gives you the curiosity, personal awareness, and tools to go out into the world and be innovative—to be thoughtful leaders, and to play a meaningful role in determining what the future looks like.”
Receipts
58 59 Or, consider Nathan Fey’s career. As a Dawson student in the late ’90s, Fey paddled with Dawson English teacher and Canoe/Kayak Team coach Nate Lord. While still in the Upper School, he also worked as an outdoor guide, largely because of the passion for the sport he had found. As Fey matured, his purpose grew with equal measure, guiding him to take positions in the non-profit sector, working to preserve public lands and water, which ultimately led him to work in public policy. Steadily, Fey followed that career track until now, 20 years later, he is the Director of the Colorado Governor’s Office of Outside Recreation, working on water supplyand-demand management issues. Fey says Dawson students have a huge opportunity to find their path in the Upper School. “The academic knowledge we gain at Dawson is immensely important, but it is essential to notice the nonacademic lessons as well. The Dawson experience gives you the curiosity, personal awareness, and tools to go out into the world and be innovative— to be thoughtful leaders, and to play a meaningful role in determining what the future looks like. Not just for yourselves, but for your community— however you choose to define it.”
“Dawson does a really great job of helping kids figure out what they care about.”
It’s all well and good to say that an institution helps students find purpose in life. Dawson School can prove that they do so. Graduate after graduate can point to a seed planted during high school that led them to the careers they are pursuing now. Dawson alumni have become actors, artists, filmmakers, restaurateurs, entrepreneurs, lawyers, veterinarians, engineers, educators, environmental and humanitarian advocates . . . the list goes on and on.
-NATHAN FEY, CLASS OF 1995
When asked, alums are happy to point to formative experiences from their Dawson years that led them to think of their burgeoning curiosity as something they could pursue professionally. For example, Madison Pelletier, Dawson Class of 2016, went on to study at New York University, Shanghai. She says, “Dawson does a really great job of helping students figure out what it is that they care about.” For her, an interest in the law was born during her senior year Winterim visit to the Supreme Court in Washington, DC. Three years later, Pelletier served an internship at the court and says her Upper School exposure was key. “I don’t think I would have had the knowledge or confidence to have even applied for that internship if I hadn’t been on that trip,” she says.
-MADISON PELLETIER, CLASS OF 2016
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Dawson School has a valuable asset that aids students in finding purpose, and it’s not what you might think. The college counseling program gives graduates a head-start on purpose by prioritizing fit. A famous maxim remains top of mind through every Dawson counseling session and application deadline: “College is a match to be made, not a prize to be won.” (Frank Sachs, former president of the National Association for College Admission Counseling). Rather than pointing every future graduate toward only the most prestigious universities in the world, Dawson teaches students and their parents that the match between undergraduates and their prospective schools is a far greater benefit than status. Stefanie Esposito, Director of College Counseling, says, “We start with the philosophy that fit is the guiding force, and the process is individualized. We are really trying to make it a process of self-discovery for students.” In that way, the College Counseling office dovetails into the approach the entire school takes. From a young age, Dawson students are being asked, what are you interested in? What project do you want to research? Which sport do you want to play? What club will you join—or start? Which trip sounds most interesting to you? Through their years at Dawson, children and teens have the opportunity to make choices and, at an age-appropriate level, direct the focus of their efforts. Esposito says, “As they get to know themselves better and understand how different colleges offer different features, they are more equipped to choose schools that will support their chosen path.” In other words, Dawson helps graduates to become their best selves and thrive. For a passionate rock climber, a school with stellar outdoor education programs is best. For the prize-winning debater, perhaps a solid political science school that boasts a positive record of post-graduate law school admissions. Some might assume that Colorado kids usually College Counseling just go to the hometown school—and why not? The University of Colorado is a powerhouse of excellence, but college choice is not a one-sizefits-all proposition. It takes time to choose the right one, not just because there are so many options, but because a teen must know what they want first, a formidable question at any age.
Purposeful
The process of college consideration begins early with Esposito and her colleagues working with freshmen and sophomores to think through their Upper School plan to choose courses that meet graduation requirements as well as match their talents and abilities. Starting in the spring semester of junior year, the students meet in a classroom setting with the college counselors to start working through the application process: coming up with a list of possible colleges, looking at the available programs and what matches their personal goals. Then students and counselors meet individually and with families to hammer out details of individual plans. This close contact continues through students’ senior year as they proceed through testing, summer opportunities, financial aid, scholarships, and so on. In a 2017 Dawson student survey, respondents reported that the college counseling process helped them become more organized, confident, and selfaware—which is, not coincidentally, what employers and universities say they need from graduates. The onus to land the best-suited university experience isn’t just on students and families, however. Dawson’s College Counseling office hosts over 150 university representatives from around the world on campus throughout the year. This is no giant college fair; rather, it’s a targeted recruitment effort from the world’s elite institutions who seek out Dawson’s juniors and seniors because they know they will find high-caliber candidates and because of the relationships they have made with Dawson’s college counselors. These visits help students build meaningful connections with their intended universities and give them access to an inhouse resource for questions about culture, activities, and programs. Regular contact with a rep not only builds a student’s confidence as they prepare an application. It also greatly increases acceptance rates since the same reps are often admissions officers. Esposito recalls one student who met with the representative from Davidson College in both her junior and senior year. That last visit was capped off with a hug as they parted. “It was clear that they had built a connection that was meaningful.” Not long after, the Dawson senior’s application to Davidson was accepted. As American universities are being flooded with applications from around the world, U.S. high school seniors are finding it harder to gain acceptance. Esposito reports that Dawson students outpace the national average acceptance rates even as application rates continue to rise at private research institutions. That is due, in part, to the connections Esposito’s office can facilitate through events like those campus visits, or even just relationships developed with people at the target institution who can offer advice about application strategy or fit. Those advantages are certainly a factor in Dawson’s 100 percent college acceptance numbers, meaning that all Dawson students are accepted to at least one accredited four-year institution.
Esposito says the larger share of the credit goes to the students themselves. “Dawson graduates are able to present themselves really well. Besides having the grades and test scores, they are really interesting, whole people.” “Dawson graduates are able to present themselves really well. Besides having the grades and test scores, they are really interesting, whole people.”
-DIRECTOR OF COLLEGESTEFANIECOUNSELINGESPOSITO
The range of opportunities available on campus leaves myriad different roles to explore. She says all of those contribute to the ultimate goal of helping students find success in college. That includes classroom learning under the tutelage of expert teachers who look for sparks of passion to nurture as well as all the extracurriculars that are unique to Dawson—like the ability to play a varsity sport even if the teen didn’t start that sport in the first grade or the varied Winterim experiences that immerse students in expert-led learning in the field. “Those are all super powerful,” says Esposito. “Those experiences help when students apply to college. They know what talents they possess and have seen ways that the skill might be applicable in their college career.” Purpose
The world that today’s graduates will inherit is nowhere close to the one their teachers have known. That means that the approach to education must be different than it was in the 1980s and ’90s. Education, in many ways, has come back around to skills-based learning; only, instead of auto shop and home ec, innovative schools like Dawson now teach prototype design, 3D printing, and CNC use. Undergirding those proficiencies is the knowledge that workers of tomorrow must be ready and able to
Dawson’s
Be Prepared
62 63 In a way, Esposito works at the epicenter of Dawson School’s true purpose: to create a springboard for graduates to launch into exciting futures. She is passionate about helping students discover where their futures will lead. “I think that our purpose is to expose students to new opportunities and nurture them along as they are figuring out who they are and what they love, then helping them see how that might lead into a future.”
The fact that Dawson equips its graduates with such a broad set of knowledge and abilities is paramount for a few reasons. The environment today’s young adults must confront has changed drastically through the decades. Once in the job market, modern-day workers change jobs on average every four to five years; non-linear career paths are the norm now. These days, professionals are engaged in the sorts of enterprises that only existed in science fiction when Dawson’s first class graduated. Thus, agility is a curricular emphasis.Also, consider the growing trend among high school graduates to go directly into the job market due to the high cost of college and the devaluation of a bachelor’s degree. Bearing that reality in mind, Dawson administrators are keeping an eye on the job-market skills with which their Upper School graduates depart. Head of School George P. Moore says that is one reason that creating challenging and relevant learning is emphasized. “In a way, it’s not that different from the days we were the Colorado Junior Republic. Our current approach to help kids become creative and resilient problem-solvers is not inconsistent with the priorities Mr. Henderson set in 1970.”
ALUMNI VOICES NATHAN FEY, CLASS OF 1995 accommodate evolving environments. “Flexibility, adaptability, and comfort with change are characteristics of the school in 2020 that may not have been there ten or twenty years ago,” Moore says, then adds, “We have been intentional about working toward that goal.” Moore knows that change is just as hard for adults as it is for youngsters. Adjusting to a changing education landscape isn’t easy, but he is just as supportive to his faculty as he is to those students he connects with daily. “We are working to be better as adults and at the same time trying to teach that quality to our students. Sometimes efforts work out, sometimes they fail, but we continue to move forward. It is all part of the process of developing adaptability and resilience.”
The specifics of Dawson School’s curriculum have changed in its 50 years of existence; however, students who go on to innovate solutions—as Dawson students do—must know their “why,” their reason for following a path, their purpose. Altogether, Dawson graduates have a complete package of skills upon graduation. Often, they do have a purpose and know ways they can put it into action. It is certain that they have brought and continue to bring their best to the world.
“As you pursue what comes next, out beyond the Dawson gate, make sure that what you do every day is guided by your passion and connected with your personal story of who you are and why you do what you do. Let your passion drive your curiosity and be your compass. Be curious. Curiosity will keep you asking questions and exploring the limits of what you think you believe or believe you know. That’s where the best of you emerges”.
*** Beyond the Dawson gate lies the road graduates must take to discover their collective futures. Fortunately for them, they have spent years honing talents and passions. They have developed an individual sense of self and of purpose that will help them focus. These young adults know how to follow curiosity, spin it into a passion, and bring a new idea to life. For Dawson graduates are special people, ones who are especially well equipped to solve problems and to create beauty in their community and in the world.
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•
•
• Ms. Maria Aweida, 2001-02
DAWSON
• Mr. Alex Gury, 2018Ms. Michelle Johnson, 2019-
66 67 APPENDIX A VIPs
• Mr. Frank H. Ricketson, Jr.
•
•
Mr. G.B. “Jerry” Henderson
•
•
• Ms. Susan Borst, 2004-05, 2007-08, 2009-15
• Ms. Erin Klau, 2019TRUSTEES Board of Trustees, school, the budget, that the school’s OF TRUSTEES: Mr. Oswald “Oz” Gutsche, Chairman and Treasurer Ms. Kimberley Johnston, Vice-Chairman Mr. W. Hunter Campbell, General Counsel Ms. Lisa Albright Ms. Susan Borst Ms. Lisa Eyler Ms. Pearl Gallagher Mr. Alex Gury (‘97) Ms. Michelle Johnson Ms. Erin Klau
• Mr. Roy Hollingsworth
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• Mr. Harley E. Harmon Mr. John Hartley
•
•
• Mr. Carlos Sala, 2014-19
•
•
• Ms. Winston Berry, 2015-17 Ms. Marianne Castano, 2015-19 Ms. Lisa Albright, 2017-21
approving
•
The Head of School is the person responsible for implementing an educational program that fulfills the school’s mission. As chief administrators, Dawson’s heads of school (formerly known as headmasters) run the school’s day-to-day operations. They hire and supervise faculty and staff, prepare the budget for board approval, oversee the development of curriculum, and set the tone for the school’s culture and momentum. SCHOOL HEADS OF SCHOOL:
•
• Mr. Steve Courso
• Ms. Christina Hinton, 2007-08 Mr. Dan Sullivan, 2009-14 Ms. Dana Thompson, 2009-17
• Mr. William D. “Bill” Falconer
•
• Mr. John Harmon, 1970-1980 Mr. Barry Grove, 1981 Ms. Orpha Delaney, Mr. Jack Turner, and Mr. Kurt Grinnel (interim team), 1981-1982 Dr. Robert McKay, 1982-1983 Mr. Tom Grayson, 1984-1987 Mr. Harold Whitman, 1987-1988 (interim) Mr. Chris Taylor, 1988-1999 Mr. Andy Bryant, 1999-2000 (interim) Mr. Greg Foster, 2000-2005 Dr. Anthony Kandel, 2005-2006 (interim)
•
•
•
•
which is responsible for setting strategic policy, hiring the head of
• Ms. Karen Joiner, 2000-01
• Mr. Larry Becker, 2001-02
•
•
•
• Mr. Steve Hughes, 2004-05, 2007-08
HEADS OF SCHOOL
•
educational mission is met. 2020-2021 BOARD
• Dr. Mario P. Borini
• Mr. Richard Barnett
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•
Mr. Brian Johnson, 2006-2012 Mr. George P. Moore, 2012-
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• Mr. John D. O’Brien Mr. Farrow J. Smith
•
•
PARENT/ALUMNI TRUSTEES
and ensuring
•
•
• Mr. Howard Bruggeman Mr. William Coulthard
Mr. Jack Lawrence Mr. Larry Moran Mr. C. Donald Brown Mr. Thomas J. Collins
•
Dawson School is governed by a
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FORMER FOUNDATION TRUSTEES
• Mr. Walter J. Sarad
Mr. John Cohagen, 2000-01
• Mr. Joseph C. Borini
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•
•
•
68 69 ENROLLMENT GROWTH SCHOOL YEAR ENROLLMENT GRADES PROGRAM 1970-71 8 9-12 Boarding 1971-72 18 9-12 Boarding 1972-72 44 7-12 Boarding 1973-74 34 7-12 Boarding 1974-75 54 6-12 Boarding 1975-76 26 7-12 Boarding 1976-77 31 7-12 Boarding 1977-78 23 7-12 Boarding 1978-79 19 9-12 Boarding 1979-80 30 9-12 Boarding 1980-81 52 9-12 Boarding 1981-82 51 9-12 Boarding 1982-83 51 9-12 Boarding 1983-84 45 9-12 Boarding 1984-85 33 9-12 Boarding 1985-86 36 9-12 Boarding 1986-87 55 7-12 Boarding 1987-88 53 7-12 Boarding 1988-89 84 7-12 Day, 9-12 Boarding 1989-90 111 7-12 Day, 9-12 Boarding 1990-91 122 6-12 Day, 9-12 Boarding 1991-92 144 6-12 Day, 9-12 Boarding 1992-93 183 6-12 Day, 9-12 Boarding 1993-94 211 6-12 Day, 9-12 Boarding 1994-95 220 6-12 Day, 9-12 Boarding 1995-96 247 6-12 Day, 9-12 Boarding 1996-97 278 6-12 Day 1997-98 285 5-12 Day 1998-99 386 K-12 Day 1999-00 420 K-12 Day 2000-01 420 K-12 Day 2001-02 416 K-12 Day 2002-03 400 K-12 Day 2003-04 391 K-12 Day 2004-05 409 K-12 Day SCHOOL YEAR ENROLLMENT GRADES PROGRAM 2005-06 418 K-12 Day 2006-07 420 K-12 Day 2007-08 420 K-12 Day 2008-09 420 K-12 Day 2009-10 420 K-12 Day 2010-11 452 K-12 Day 2011-12 452 K-12 Day 2012-13 451 K-12 Day 2013-14 467 K-12 Day 2014-15 497 K-12 Day 2015-16 516 K-12 Day 2016-17 529 K-12 Day 2017-18 519 K-12 Day 2018-19 526 K-12 Day 2019-20 520 K-12 Day 2020-21 523 K-12 Day
