Interim is almost universally acknowledged as one of the highlights of the year for students. Whether going backcountry skiing or rafting down the Green River or staying close to home and learning blacksmithing, woodworking or aerial dance, the benefits of experiential education have come to light once again this past week, as CA celebrates more than three decades of Interim programming.

 

Forbes Cone, the Director of Experiential Education at Colorado Academy, asserts that “the heart of this program is designed to transform a student’s perception that failure is something to be avoided at all cost, into an opportunity to become a determined and resilient individual.” We take students out of their usual routines and environments and challenge them in appropriate ways. Usually working in collaboration with their peers (who may or may not be well known to them), they are tested in new ways and generally emerge from these experiences feeling more confident and with their horizons expanded. Truly, these Interim experiences get our kids out of the CA “bubble” and allow them to encounter the natural world or a new activity in a meaningful way.

 

Because so much of our usual academic, arts and athletics programs are so precisely planned, students really value the sense of spontaneity and surprise that comes with an Interim trip. Whether here on campus or 500 miles from home, students appreciate the fact that they don’t always know what’s coming next. They have a blast simply being open to the surprise and wonder.

 

This year we faced some new logistical challenges that we must solve, especially in regards to the conflict between away Interims and the several athletics championships that take place in the same week. We loved having three of our girls’ teams (golf, soccer and lacrosse) competing for state titles this week but were disappointed that the athletes had to make limited Interim choices based on their sports commitments. It was also too bad that we couldn’t have more students out cheering for the teams, as many students and faculty were out of state. CHSAA sets their championship dates and are not going to move them for us, so we must work around them; similarly, we cannot move Interim earlier into May or we bump into Advanced Placement tests, and College Board is even less flexible than CHSAA! So we are going to spend some time figuring out this calendar dilemma and do better in the years ahead.

 

Interim matters as a quality experiential education opportunity. As we hear more of the stories from students and teachers upon their return Friday, we will be reminded of the value.