The Lowell Whiteman School

About Us

Steamboat pioneer Lowell Whiteman dreamed of a school which would offer young people a rigorous college preparatory education coupled with "so much adventure for so long that they would have sufficient opportunity to grow and mature."  Today, The Lowell Whiteman School continues to strive to attain Whiteman's expectations, and we offer a one-of-a-kind, authentic academic and experiential education that puts student learning and doing at the center of everything we do.

This all starts with our faculty, our people.  Lowell Whiteman's faculty and staff are a dedicated, professional group of adults who have a tremendous passion for Whiteman's vision of learning by doing.  Teaching in small classes and relying on collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, and direct student involvement, a Lowell Whiteman teacher is adept at bringing out the very best in each and every student.  The average LWS tenure is 10 years, which means that students inherit a great wealth of academic and cultural tradition.  The faculty play multiple roles, serving as coaches, trainers, advisors, co-campers, fellow world travelers and explorers, mentors, ski partners, and stewards of the earth.  While our number one priority is offering students a rich and provocative academic experience, we are also committed to making sure that students feel connected to the wonderful adults who call Lowell Whiteman home. 

Our facilities, simple yet grand wooden buildings built in the tradition of mountain lodges, reflect a great deal about who Lowell Whiteman faculty and students are.  The buildings are sturdy and rugged, have tons of character, and serve many purposes.  The Charley Williams Lodge, our main building, houses most of the administrative offices, as well as a good portion of the classrooms.  So the separation between the adults and the students at Lowell Whiteman is small, which makes for a highly integrated community.  The three residence halls all have their own feel, yet each adheres to the idea of simple and cozy mountain living.  The Borden Center houses our dining hall as well as the beautiful Krautkramer Theater.  Finally, The Anderson Gymnasium has a basketball court, climbing wall, student lounge, weightroom, and ski-tuning room.  All of the pieces fit, and serve to make the students' lives comfortable but not too luxurious.

From a programmatic point of view, what sets Lowell Whiteman apart from other college preparatory boarding/day schools are the Ski/Ride and the Foreign Travel programs.  Where else can a student get a top-notch college preparatory boarding school education and still pursue his or her ambitions as a skier or rider?  Where else can a student say, "I earned a 4 on my AP Calc test, and spent four weeks in Austria training on a glacier with my ski coach"?  Where else boasts an alumni of 17 Olympic athletes, as well as a college placement lists that includes the US's most elite institutions?  Students who are not competitive winter athletes instead participate in the Foreign Travel program, which puts our students in remarkable and remarkably different countries for a month each spring.  Students do service learning projects, homestays with local families, and excursions into the given country's natural world.  For many Lowell Whiteman students, these trips become the defining moments of their adolescence, and open up whole new possibilities for our students' futures.

We invite you to come  to the Yampa Valley and Steamboat Springs to see our campus in action.  Meeting our students and faculty, and spending time in our classes, will help a family discover what is so exceptional about The Lowell Whiteman School.  We offer an education as large as the world, and are looking for students and families who believe that learning is more than four walls and a book.  We hope you enjoy learning about us through our website, and please don't hesitate contact us with questions or to arrange a visit to see us in person.