Nationally recognized school districts such as Durango School District 9-R, Bayfield School District and Ignacio School Districts. Durango is also home to project based charter schools, Animas High School and Mountain Middle School. Fort Lewis College, a leading four-year public liberal arts institution with programs in Arts and Sciences, Education, and Business Administration. Southwest Colorado Community College is a fully accredited two-year college that provides a premier teaching institution to assure successful pathways for students and adults alike.
Regional Educational News
“Best in the West” – Fort Lewis College got a boost among regional colleges in 2011 that it was named one of Princeton Review’s “Best in the West” colleges. The list recommends the best places for undergraduates to earn a degree in four regions of the United States. The “bests” were determined using institutional data, school visits, employee recommendations and student feedback. The 629 institutions across the country that make up the Princeton Review’s 2012 best colleges list represent about 25 percent of all four-year colleges in the United States, according to the news release.
Colorado Professor of the Year – Fort Lewis College touts the fact that five of its professors have been named Colorado Professor of the Year by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, a number second only to the U.S. Air Force Academy.
2011 International Space Settlement Design Winner – Durango High School July 2011, Durango High School Aerospace Design Team won the 2011 International Space Settlement Design competition in Houston, Texas. During the competition, the team had 42 hours to design a hypothetical human settlement on Mars, complete with water-treatment options, new building materials using Martian dust and a plan to create an atmosphere.
ANIMAS HIGH RECEIVES JOHN IRWIN SCHOOLS OF EXCELLENCE AWARD Durango, Colorado – December 13, 2011 – Animas High School, a free, public charter school, received a John Irwin Schools of Excellence Award. Award recipients are recognized for their high achievement on statewide assessments. Only the top 8% of Colorado public schools receive the John Irwin Award. Animas is one of only five high schools on the Western Slope to be recognized in 2011 – the other high schools are in Telluride, Ridgeway, Aspen and Grand Junction.
Addressing Unemployment and Under-Employment in the Region – Southwest Colorado Community College just received a large boost toward providing focused workforce training in the Four Corners by way of a $2.4 million federal grant designed to address unemployment and underemployment in Colorado. The local school’s windfall is part of a $17.2 million grant awarded to the Colorado Online Energy Training Consortium from the U.S. Department of Labor. The consortium is comprised of 14 schools in the Colorado Community College System, plus two other community colleges in the state. SCCC’s parent college, Pueblo Community College, is part of the consortium. The grant awarded to SCCC was the largest share of any college in the state.
