Mr. Rob Underwood, Indian Lake High School assistant principal, recently visited Eagle Rock, which is a year-round residential high school for students ages 15 to 17. The purpose of his trip was to study how to re-engage students in learning. Eagle Rock works to keep teens in school and on track to graduate. The school also strives to help students make a difference in the world after graduation. Eagle Rock is located in Estes Park, Colorado, and opened in 1993. The school operates year round utilizing trimesters for 96 full scholarship students. Eagle Rock promotes community, integrity and citizenship among its students.
“Eagle Rock is on the cutting edge when it comes to new educational methodology,” said Mr. Underwood. “I received training in the Workshop Instructional Model and hope to integrate it into our Indian Lake curriculum. I also am interested in exploring the possibilities of restorative justice, which is a discipline approach that allows students to repay the harm they have done to others through their corrosive behavior.”
Mr. Underwood attended the professional development center for educators. “I was most impressed with the ability of the school to bring together a diverse group of troubled adolescents and to help them live in harmony with one another and with the environment,” added Mr. Underwood. “Eagle Rock is helping potential dropouts grow both personally and academically and is giving them a chance to be productive members of society.”
Eagle Rock is an initiative of American Honda Education Corporation which is a non-profit subsidiary of the American Honda Motor Company. American Honda, located in California, contacted Honda of America branches in Marysville and in Alabama and offered to send one Honda representative and one educator from each region. The Logan County ESC provided Mr. Underwood’s name as an educator interested in reducing the dropout rate at Indian Lake and in all Logan County schools. The trip was fully funded through Honda.
“I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Honda, not only for giving me this wonderful opportunity to see a beautiful part of our country and to learn about successful educational approaches, but also for the generous educational philanthropy Honda provides for the youth of America,” concluded Mr. Underwood.