ASPEN — “School on the Mountain” committee, composed of teachers, parents, students, and administrators recently flew to California. As they stepped off the plane onto the lush sand beach, they immediately felt the joy of not being in school. Pit stops in warm San Diego, the San Diego Zoo, the USS Midway Museum and Mission Beach were included.

Despite being the number one school on the mountain, preppy over-achieving Aspen High School is spending thousands to jet set around the US, trying to perfect the ideal climate and location to administer classes. However, the recently formed “School on the Mountain” committee, known for using its own ski lift to access Aspen Highlands, is still on a quest climb higher.

The week after they came back from school they held a meeting in which they told everyone they had found a solution. They told faculty to stop coming to school. Instead of requiring English, math, and foreign language, the new course offerings would include hiking, skiing, and shopping.

“To become more of a school on the mountain we will just have school on the mountain,” Cemena Thorsen, committee member and English teacher said.

To start this initiative, teachers have decreased the amount of time spent in school and meetings to start the process of moving to the mountain are underway. With the new initiative, AHS has been inundated with new teachers dying to “teach” in Aspen.   

“Who needs walls when you have trees?” Him Kammond, science teacher, pointed out.

When committee members were asked why they decided that this was what they wanted to do with our school, most of them replied talking about their experience and not about the schools they visited.

“I was riding the waves in Cali when it struck me,” Thorsen said.  “A school with walls just doesn’t work in today’s fluid world.  Moving to the mountain is really the only solution.”

Starting at the beginning of next year the School on the Mountain committee will roll out their new schedule.