May 9

As it’s been getting warmer, more students are engaging in outside activities. There are knock-out games (shooting free-throws with pressure to get the ball in the basket before the person behind you does) most nights before dinner, and “washers” (much like horseshoes) has been uncovered from under the snow. The shoveling girls are hoping to dig out our soccer field soon during their morning chore, so we may be able to use that instead of the parking lot. There is a “slack line” hung between two trees near the path to the East building, on which we can perfect our balancing skills and learn snazzy tricks.

For our Saturday night activity this past weekend we went to the hot springs. We drove for about an hour to get there, passing through a ghost town that seemed to have many more deer than people, and we finally arrived, just as it was getting dark. There were four different pools at the hot springs, each of which was a different temperature, so students would run and jump into the freezing-cold pool before returning to the warmest one. And the warm one was oh-so-warm. It successfully thawed out the last of our frozen cells from first expedition. Some of the students created a whirlpool in the lukewarm circular pool. We got it going so fast that the water would pull you. We sang songs and spun in circles. It was so fast that you could run on the walls of the pool and launch yourself. When it was time to leave nobody wanted to get out of the warm pool. It was a very fun night.  

Satisfactorily soaked, on Sunday the majority of us visited Colorado College in Colorado Springs to tour the school. After a three-hour drive, we were welcomed with warmer, sunnier weather! Upon arrival, we were met by a representative from the admissions office, and we proceeded to a lecture hall where we were all given the lowdown on classes at Colorado College. A lot of us asked questions and we are now greatly informed on the ins and outs of aspects of the school including the block system. Following this information session we all went to lunch in the dining halls where there was, to all of our liking, a soft serve ice cream machine! This excitement carried over to a tour that was led by students. During this tour, we were able to hear more about campus life as well as see some buildings and dorm rooms. Many of us were able to imagine ourselves there in the future.

After a relaxing weekend, lots of exciting and semi-stressful academic activities occurred!  Our workload began to increase, but the assignments were important and fulfilling. Advanced Placement exams also began, which increased stress for some students. Fortunately, the weather was great, which provided good breaks for students to go outside and play!!  

This weekend also added to our academic experience when we took the SAT test. We took the exams in Salida, which is an awesome town south of here that we were able to explore later in the day. Salida also was very warm, which provided some more fun in the sun, but not without sunscreen!! Overall, this week was full of learning intertwined with some standardized testing! Hopefully the sun will continue to shine and we can all have some fun outside!

RMS 26 is pretty excited to finally see spring coming to Leadville! 

By: Sophie Gibson, David Glicklich, & Erinn Geyer

To see more photos of RMS 26, please click here.