Celebrating the 50th Year of Interim Expeditions!

This year marks Fountain Valley School’s 50th Interim. That’s 50 years of experiential learning: students and faculty venturing together into the Rocky Mountain wilderness, the hidden canyons of Utah and the art districts of New Mexico; setting sail on the Pacific and Caribbean seas, eating their way across the deep South while visiting locations significant to the civil rights movement, and immersing themselves nationally and globally into historical sites given new context by thoughtful curriculums designed by teachers who have taken the time to ask questions and investigate their answers in innovative ways. Interim, from its inception, was always intended to embody much more than a simple vacation or travel experience—and to this day, Interims often incorporate community service and center around applied education and relationshipbuilding. The Interim experience was created as an immersive educational opportunity in which students develop new skills, gain a new perspective and cultivate social relationships— sometimes across continents or even oceans— in ways that simply aren’t available in a traditional classroom setting. The concept of the FVS Interim Program was based on a similar, experimental program hosted by the Colorado Springs School. In fact, Fountain Valley’s first Interim Week in 1973 was hosted in partnership with CSS at a time when both schools shared some coeducational programming. Interim classes were hosted on both campuses, intermingling students from both schools.

While modern Interim trips nearly always involve off-campus travel, the initial program offered a number of on-campus options that today might be thought of as elective classes, such as driver’s education, baking, woodshop and calligraphy. Larger trips involving statewide, national and international travel were offered as well, but were less prevalent. To this day, Interim is a defining feature of the FVS curriculum and one of the programs that is most anticipated by students and faculty alike. Interim trips give faculty the opportunity to apply their lessons in real-world circumstances, often offering a definitive answer to the age-old question echoed by generations of students: “When will I even use this?”

Although the Interim program began as progressive and experimental, it has become an essential and cherished element of an FVS education— and a cornerstone of the FVS experience.