Summary
Organization name
Mountain Sage Community School
other names
MSCS
2010
Tax id (EIN)
27-4313751
Category
Education
Organization Size
Large Organization
Address
2310 E. Prospect Road Suite AFort Collins, CO 80525
Larimer County, CO, US
"Mountain Sage is a place to learn, a place to further your education, a place to ask questions and get them answered. It’s a school. But it’s also so much more than that. Mountain Sage is a place to talk and laugh and hang out with your friends. It’s a place to explore forests, conquer those forests, and fight epic battles in those forests. It’s a place to ford rivers, to create works of art, to get your hands dirty and have fun doing it."- Sarah Martin, Class of 2021
Support public education inspired by Waldorf education and sustainable living by donating to Mountain Sage Community School, today! Your donation will directly and positively impact the kindergarten through eighth grade students who attend our unique and diverse arts-integrated educational program.
Mission
Cultivating the Creative Mind
Mountain Sage Community School offers Waldorf-inspired, arts-integrated education, fully incorporating sustainable living practices into student learning. Each child is empowered to cultivate meaningful connections to their intellectual, physical, emotional, social and creative capacities in healthy, safe and beautiful learning environments. Through a supportive community of peers, parents and teachers, each child will become a confident, self-directed and engaged learner, invested in their own education.
VISION
Mountain Sage Community School is a highly sought after school providing a rigorous educational program where a whole-child approach to learning results in student curiosity and enthusiasm, allowing each child to reach the fullest expression of their individual potential. Children emerge from Mountain Sage as intelligent, compassionate, creative thinkers, who are engaged citizens with a strong work ethic, prepared to become stewards of the earth and its many diverse communities.
By integrating traditional Waldorf methods and curriculum into the Colorado Academic Standards, children will leave Mountain Sage with a life-long passion for learning, well prepared for the transition into other academic programs.
Mountain Sage embraces the key aspects of the local sustainability movement, providing students and their families with an increased connection to their local environment. By utilizing the rich community resources of Fort Collins, and through ongoing cultivation and development of the school's land with edible gardens, all children deepen their connection with the earth, self and community.
Background Statement
Mountain Sage Community School is the culmination of continuous grassroots community efforts to make education inspired by Waldorf and sustainable living a public school option, available to all.
Work to create Mountain Sage Community School began in 2008 when a small group of Fort Collins mothers began the local movement to create a public charter school option founded upon the principles of Waldorf education and sustainable living. Through years of effort by numerous dedicated volunteers, parents, and educators, Mountain Sage Community School was authorized by the Poudre School District in 2012.
Now in our 11th year of operations, Mountain Sage Community School proudly serves 300 students, including students in both our full-time K-8 program and our part-time K-3 Forest School homeschool enrichment program, with an amazing and talented staff of almost 50 educators and administrators.
At Mountain Sage art, music, movement, storytelling, and drama are woven throughout the academic day. Such activities awaken the imagination and creative powers, bringing vitality and wholeness to thinking and learning. The innate beauty and artistic elements of the subjects are honored through each encounter with the materials. Our intention is to present the world as a beautiful and wonder-filled place where anything is possible. Math IS music, science IS art, and the totality of the way the world works IS poetry. This powerful method provides all children, despite their differences, the opportunity to completely participate in their own education, cultivating compassion and respect for self, others, and the natural world. A deep connection to the earth is supported through applied seasonal studies and year-round outdoor activities including gardening, nature walks, use of natural materials, and practical, hands-on projects that integrate curricular subjects. The school day has a structured "rhythm" allowing for an "inhale and exhale" during the academic day. A play-based kindergarten and long outdoor recesses allow time for self-guided activity throughout the grades, providing space for this important aspect of learning.
We are proud of the strong positive relationships between staff, students, and families at Mountain Sage. Family involvement was the driving force in the creation of our school, and must remain for continued success. Through adult education offerings, we support family wellbeing. Mountain Sage gives young people a sense of belonging to a community grounded in respect for people and the natural world. As a result, children graduate possessing self-knowledge and knowledge of the world, while recognizing the interconnectedness of the two.
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Organization Data
Fort Collins, CO 80525