WELCOME
The Paonia Experiential Leadership Academy is a private secondary school (7th-12th) in a small agricultural valley in Colorado. We are a student centered school; we collaborate with students and parents to facilitate meaningful experiential learning field trips that develop the head, heart, and hands of the student. We integrate the 7 realms of wellbeing with core academic content to create relevant learning opportunities. We focus on process, accountability, and quality.
MISSION
We humanize the educational experience and increase long-term wellbeing for our students, community, and world by integrating wellbeing science and core academic content to create relevant and experiential learning opportunities.
VISION
To increase student capacity and confidence in reading, writing, and speaking, mathematics, history, civics, literature, and science using exploration, time in nature, service work within the community, focus on skills that foster wellbeing, personal projects, and group collaborative projects and actions.
What have we been doing?
We surveyed the community, designed a mural, proposed the mural to the city, calculated area and cost, cleaned and painted the Park shelter, and painted a mural for the town park.
We participated in the Delta Library Health Passport program, and we worked for weeks with the Health and Vitality Council learning sexual education.
We studied persuasive speeches, and wrote speeches that we presented to county commissioners about improving our community by addressing the root problems of climate change.
Students worked on improving their health, happiness, knowledge, skills, social relationships, safety, and awareness of their environment.
Students created podcasts for the NPR student podcast challenge.
Students went biking, hiking, skiing, swimming, and spent time in nature in all seasons.