Tucked into a pocket off of Main Street and Colorado Highway 145, SWOS was started in 1986 as an alternative for students on the fringes of the high school.
At its inception, the SWOS campus was essentially 20 students, three staff members and two modular buildings on a near-empty lot. Those two buildings are still on campus, but are joined by nine other classrooms and office buildings, the new School Based Health Clinic, a brand-new permaculture garden and art projects installed by current and former students.
SWOS enrollment has also grown over the past 30 years to about 160 students and 24 staff members.
A reason behind the growth, leaders say, is changing public perception about what SWOS is and a growing awareness about the benefits of hands-on, experiential learning and character building.
While many students go to SWOS as a last resort before dropping out, many others are in need of school and curriculum that accommodate their learning style.
“We’ve done a lot of work to dispel the myth that we’re the school for druggies and dropouts, and we’ve done a ton of PR about what we offer as a school of choice as well as a second-chance school,” said SWOS director Jennifer Chappell.
Education at SWOS centers on the philosophy of hands-on learning. Students are not asked to memorize what’s in their text books and regurgitate facts, Chappell says, but are encouraged to test principles through hands-on experiments, trips and projects that ensures a mastery of the curriculum.
“It’s a learning model that is built on the idea of depth over breadth,” she emphasized.
Current SWOS board president Uriah Hubbard graduated from SWOS in 2001 and says he is incredibly grateful his parents took a chance and allowed him to make the switch from traditional public school to the alternative school.
“I wasn’t what you’d call at-risk, but I wasn’t getting along in school. I was ready to drop out after ninth grade. SWOS was here as a choice, and I had a couple friends that went here and loved it. There was resistance from my parents at first – they had heard things but didn’t know much about it. But I came here and knew the first day that this is where I belonged,” said Hubbard. “There’s been a change in the last decade, and I think public perception has really shifted.”
While the growth is a sign that the community embraces what SWOS has to offer, Chappell says the plan looking forward is to stabilize what the school currently has and work to improve.
“Growth looks to us like improving what we have and creating spaces that are more conducive to experiential learning,” said Chappell.
SWOS is ready to upgrade its campus from modular classrooms to something a little more permanent, without losing its “village community” feel, she says, and the school will kick off a capital campaign for newer, modernized buildings.
The school is also hosting a series of alumni events this year, starting off with its Fall Fair on Oct. 15 from 3 to 7 p.m.
The family-friendly event will feature games, crafts, and activities, live music, a chili cook-off and the grand opening of the SWOS permaculture garden.