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The Colorado Springs School

Introduction

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The Colorado Springs School (CSS), on the estate formerly known as Claremont, is a private, nonprofit, college preparatory school serving pre-kindergarten to 12th grade in Colorado Springs. The 32-acre campus is located on the former Claremont Estate, built in 1907 as the home of Charles and Virginia Baldwin. The main building, known as the Trianon (formerly called "Claremont"), is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The school is set in a residential neighborhood at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. In 2012, the school celebrated its 50th anniversary and in 2015, the school graduated its 50th class.

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The Colorado Springs School

The Colorado Springs School

Backstory and Context

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The Colorado Springs Episcopal School for Girls was a college preparatory school that was established through a certificate of incorporation in July 1961. In March 1962 it was renamed the Colorado Springs School for Girls when it dropped its affiliation with the Episcopal church. The school opened in September 1962 with 23 students in the former home of Walter Drake and his wife on Pourtales Road. The school purchased the Trianon property at 21 Broadmoor Avenue from John W. Metzger in the spring of 1967 after the number of students increased four-fold. In addition, the school bought 12 acres of land, which is now Boddington Field.

The school purchased a home at 24 Pourtales for boarding of students in the fall of 1965. In 1970 the school opened its program to boys and in 1975 was renamed the Colorado Springs School when it became "fully coeducational" for grades 7 through 12. In 1976 the Children's School was founded for education from kindergarten through 12th grade, and merged with the Colorado Springs School. Experiential education was integrated into the school's educational program beginning in 1976. A pre-kindergarten program was established in 1994 and in 1998 a preschool was added to the school. The school's boarding program ended and a Homestay Program was established in 2000. The school currently has about 300 students.

The Colorado Springs School has a children's school building and an upper and a middle school building. The upper school building is called the El Pomar Building, as it was donated by the El Pomar Foundation. The middle school building is called the Trianon. The Trianon building is used for classrooms and administrative offices. A theatre, gallery and reception are located in the Louisa Performing Arts Center. The Louise Honnen Tutt Field House is the school's gymnasium. The school offers experiential education to its students, which allows students to learn in "real world" experiences outside of the classroom through activity, project, place, service and problem-based learning

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