With the end of the school year comes one of CA’s oldest and proudest traditions: Interim. Every year all Upper School students spend a week at the end of May participating in some sort of experiential education opportunity. Many students go away from home, traveling to various parts of Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico to spend time in the great outdoors. This year some went as far as Cuba, as part of our global travel offerings. (Each year we have one international trip in the Interim catalog. This year students are in Cuba; next year they will travel to Belize as part of a science/research writing class.)

 

The trips in which students spend five days, four nights, away from home provide powerful and even transformational educational experiences not found during the regular school year. Doing everything from backcountry skiing to kayaking to rock climbing to marble sculpting, students and teachers push themselves to learn new skills or to expand their horizons in ways they may never have thought possible. They also get to interact with a small group of peers, one or two CA faculty members, and frequently an expert vendor or guide; together, the human dynamic provides one of the most vital and fulfilling aspects of Interim.

 

About 30 percent of our students stay in town and take part in local Interims. Among the students’ annual favorite activities: glassblowing, cooking, ukulele making, woodworking, hiking in the Front Range, and blacksmithing. All of these are unique experiences not found in our usual academic or arts catalogs, and all of them provide students with an opportunity to hone a budding interest or to learn a brand new skill.

 

We pride ourselves in providing the safest experiences possible, while also challenging students to get out of their comfort zones. Whether a student is an avid outdoorsperson or sees him or herself as a future artist, there is something for everyone. Despite the many logistical challenges involved, we nevertheless find these Interims speak to our mission of providing a “dynamic liberal arts and sciences program that challenges students ethically, academically, artistically, and athletically.”

 

On Friday, May 31, most students will complete their experiences, and I look forward, as always, to hearing about their adventures and looking through the many amazing photos from their away trips and their local experiences. We hope Interim 2019 provides them with memories that will last a lifetime!