The Rockies

west generation

West High School (circa 1920) boasts a beautiful campus that looks somewhat like a castle in the heart of Denver. It is situated within walking distance of a robust business community, Generation School’s new Colorado headquarters, and major transportation thoroughfares. Unfortunately not unlike South Shore, the location of our pilot school in Brooklyn, educational results at West have been dismal for the majority of its students with graduation rates hovering around 50%.

Support for bringing in the Generation Schools model has come from the community via the West Denver Equitable Education Collaborative, the Denver Public Schools Office of School Reform & Innovation and Denver Public Schools Board of Education who approved West Generation Academy (WGA) with a 6-0 vote as one of the two new options to be placed at West High School for fall 2012.

Students interested in athletics will have the opportunity to play on one of the historic “West Cowboy” teams. That’s because West Generation Academy, in partnership with the other academic programs at the West Campus, is keeping the West Cowboy tradition alive through a unified campus sports program.

Dr. Robert Villarreal, an award-winning principal named by President Clinton as one of the Six Outstanding Principals in America— was chosen as West Generation’s principal. We will serve 1,050 students from 6^th to 12^th grade by 2015.

Given our extended day and year, a student who begins middle school at WGA in fall 2012, and graduates in 2019 will receive the equivalent of two additional years of education. In 2012-13 we anticipate enrolling 450 students in grades 6, 8 and 9.

We are also collaborating to supporting the development and implementation of the West Leadership Academy (WLA) operated by the College Board in our shared West campus. It is designed to serve 875 middle and high-school students when fully enrolled. The principal recognized that only by changing its structural model, could it offer the breadth and depth of the College & Career Intensive Courses integral to our whole-school model. As a result, all students in both schools will spend 40 days each year intentionally linking learning to life.

With Rose Community Foundation’s leadership and gift of a $200,000 challenge grant, we have begun to raise visibility and financial support in Colorado, and have set a goal of securing over one million in earned revenues and institutional support. All of these innovations are the result of the strong, promising results realized to date at our pilot school, Brooklyn Generation.