Who Chooses LWS and Why

As a college preparatory boarding and day school, The Lowell Whiteman School appeals to enthusiastic and motivated young people who are looking to have an adventurous education that prepares them for success in college and in life.  With our range of compelling programs--academic, outdoor, skiing, and global travel--LWS students need to be multi-dimensional and energetic, able to accept challenges in and out of the classroom.  LWS appeals to families who value the following things:

Connection--As a school of under 100 students and a faculty and staff of over 20, everyone at LWS is connected to each other.  This makes for a school community that is collaborative, and fosters the best in personal behavior.  When your teacher is also your camping leader, and when you have dish crew with a student for a week, you develop relationships that go well beyond student-to-teacher and student-to-student.

Accountability--Our small class sizes mean that there is no back row, and every class is only as strong as the students make it.  Students have daily chores that help maintain the school, from vacuuming the Lodge to shoveling the walkways during the winter.  Every aspect of our program demands accountability, and no student can simply take a day off from being an essential part of our school community.

Rigor--Our classes and workloads are demanding, though not to the point where a student has to forgo everything else on a daily basis just to get homework done.  Beyond the classroom, we ask a lot out of students through the outdoor program, testing their physical limits when hiking up a 14,000 or camping for four nights in the desert.  The month our student spend in a foreign country, living with local families, participating in service projects, and even eating food they're not accumstomed to provides its own type of rigor.  But all of this works towards creating resilient, competent, and confident young people.

Appreciation--LWS students are a spirited, rugged bunch.  We live at 7,000', in the middle of an aspen and pine forest.  We get to ski and snowboard one of the country's great mountains all winter.  While some of our students are competing in winter athletics, others get the chance to go abroad for a month EVERY SPRING.  LWS is as unique of a school as you'll find, and we work hard to make sure that students, faculty, families, and alums all take time to understand just what a special experience LWS offers.