October 24th
Everybody is finally back on campus and with Parents' Weekend preparation, academics and activities, we have roared back to full swing. It has been getting chillier here in the mountains, but we’ve had a number of weekly activities to keep us warm and toasty. Some took dogs out for a crisp fall walk, while others made delicious autumn treats; a group of students covered their hands in dye during Dave's Tie-Dye madness, and on Wednesday night students were bustin' moves in the kitchen after study hall. Our student representatives made groups at random for our annual Halloween dance, for which everyone has to dress up in the same spontaneous costume as their partner! Of course, you can't forget pumpkin carving. Wacky faces, cats, villains and original jack-o-lanterns were all carve out of bright orange pumpkins that now line our main walkway, ready to greet parents this weekend!
But that is not the only preparation we have done! English has us writing poems for our parents, in History we are practicing a role-play and during activities we are working to make campus look its finest: making flower arrangements as centerpieces and a slideshow that will be shown Saturday night. We cannot wait to have our parents here at HMI and hope their travels go smoothly and their stay to be an enjoyable one!
Even with all the commotion for parent’s weekend, academics here have stayed tough. With five classes a day, a break for dinner and study hall in the evening, we are busy bees. Although never-ending, the beauty of our academics is that everything we learn here has to do with our surroundings: walking the Mineral Belt Trail in science to learn about riparian zones and Aspen trees, and staging a “wilderness” debate in Practice and Principles to discuss the idea of titling a piece of land. All in all, the academics at HMI may be quite rigorous, but they sure do keep us interested. And a big part of that is thanks to our teachers, who are involved not only in the academics here, but our student life as well.
Our math teacher, Karl, recently told us about Semester Projects and how each semester has an opportunity to make positive change in the community. We have begun to brainstorm ideas about what we can do to help, and recently spoke with Carrie, the apprentice supervisor, about creating a skate park in Leadville. We are planning to work with High Mountain Pies, a local pizza place, and hope to deliver pizzas and have the tips become donations for the project. We are in the process of writing a proposal to Tim, the manager of the store, in hopes that he will allow us to make some deliveries, make some money, and make Leadville a skate park! We’ll be sure to keep you updated on the Semester 27 Project as we continue to make it happen!
Written By: Leslie Dinkin, Andrew Obernesser, Kuba Chandler and Selene Muñoz