Park Hill Educator Bringing Governor’s School to Colorado
Residential Program Aims to Prepare Students For Life
By Lynn Kalinauskas
Park Hill resident and longtime educator Celeste Archer has been working tirelessly from her home office on Hudson Street to bring the Governor’s School to Colorado. The school is set to launch as a pilot project with an initial group of high school students who will partake in the making of the course.
The Colorado Governor’s School is part of a national association that seeks to empower young and talented students by immersing them in academic and intellectual work in a summer residential program, aimed at preparing them for college and life.
The first Governor’s School was established by North Carolina’s governor in 1963. Today, 23 states host Governor’s Schools for motivated high school students.
Archer has been a secondary educator for 20 years, and has taught at urban schools in Houston, Arkansas and Denver. Growing up in Arkansas, Archer said that the world opened up for her on the many camps she attended as a youth. In particular, she recalls a Colorado winter camp in which she took part.
“My mind just opened up,” she said. Growing up in the 70s, she also had the opportunity to take a six-month traveling high school class with five college professors. She and the group toured the United States and Mexico. Though there are parts of that trip that still make her cringe, she said, she is certain of its impact: “It simply changed my life.”
It is this experience of being exposed to greater things, different points of view, new challenges and experiences that will define the Colorado Governor’s School mission, she said. The school will be fully implemented in summer 2015 with the cohort of students who are participating in the pilot, along with additional students to move toward the eventual goal of 400 students per summer.
Representative of all the state’s districts, students will bring their own perspectives to share with fellow students. These particular students will have a big role to play in the success of the school. They will meet for the first time in April and within a year will create the legislation or executive order needed to fully implement the Colorado Governor’s School. They will meet representatives of the governor’s office and state legislators to discuss the school’s planning, coursework and budget.
“Learning all the facets of how you create and fund an education program, makes the Governor’s School in Colorado truly unique,” Archer said.
The cost per-pupil is expected to be approximately $2,500, she said. Some states with the programs fully fund their Governor’s School with a budget line item. In Colorado, Archer is working towards a collaboration of private and public funds to finance the project. The Kiely Family Foundation has approved funding for the pilot, and Archer said she will soon embark on a campaign to raise $5 million for the school.
“The goal is to raise enough money to have the program fully-funded so that students can attend at no cost to them or their families,” she said.
A unique feature of the Colorado program is that at least 50 percent of attendees will come from low-income families and/or will be the first generation in their families to attend college. “I hope other Governor’s Schools pick that up,” Archer said.
Believing that art should be part of the educational process, Archer is collaborating with Park Hill’s Art Garage. Students will visit the art studio and engage in creating a multi-faceted curriculum that incorporates art. They will also spend time at the Museum of Nature and Science, eat and volunteer at SAME Café on East Colfax Avenue – a restaurant where patrons pay what they can – and engage in other experiences unique to Denver.
Colorado’s history, economics and politics will feature prominently in the students’ course of study, with the History Colorado Center providing multiple valuable resources via its staff and exhibits.
Students attending the Colorado Governor’s School will be asked to fulfill a public service practicum for which they will need to research, plan, discuss and submit possible solutions to real world issues such as water rights, immigration, employment and mental health. Their results and recommendations will be presented to community members, political leaders and others. The experience, Archer noted, will also give these students lifelong friends and connections.
The Colorado Governor’s website is currently under construction but you can visit its Facebook page at facebook.com/ColoradoGovernorsSchoolor or email cogovschool@gmail.com for more information. The website for the national Governors School is http://ncogs.org/.
Lynn Kalinauskas is Chair of the Education Committee for the Greater Park Hill Community.