Altona Middle School provides an innovative and rigorous standards-based education for students while developing characteristics in each student to become future leaders. Based on the school structure, students are allowed to excel at their own pace and explore a variety of interests in the comprehensive elective program. Altona has received numerous honors as a high achieving school, including six Governor’s Distinguished Improvement Awards, eleven John Irwin Awards of Excellence, the Colorado Middle School to Watch Award, and Best in the Nation for the Verizon App Challenge.
Academic Highlights
- Next Gen Learning Challenge Canopy School National recognition for Innovation
- Eleven John Irwin Awards of Excellence
- Six Governor’s Distinguished Improvement Awards
- Superintendent’s Award for Excellence in Education
- 2021 Colorado Trailblazer School to Watch
- 2019 finalist for the Colorado Succeed Prize for Transformative Middle School Program
- Home to Altona’s very own IDEALab – a makerspace filled with advanced technology tools, focused on developing authentic, relevant, and complex learning across all content areas
- A virtual reality pilot school for St. Vrain Valley Schools
- Over 70 percent of students are enrolled in one or more music programs consisting of choir, band, and orchestra; many students are accepted into district and state honor programs
- Both band and orchestra programs were selected to play at the Colorado Music Educators Association (CMEA) conference
- Home to a cybersecurity program along with a CyberPatriots club
- Over 25 percent of students take beginning, intermediate, or advanced Computer Science classes
- High School Algebra and Geometry offered along with advanced classes in language arts, music, art, computer science, and robotics
- Students take on leadership roles through the partnership programs River Watch and Critter Cam, which are student-led programs through Boulder County Parks and Open Space
- Students are empowered to be leaders through grade-level philanthropic and cross-curricular endeavors
- Official Green Star School with student-led Green Team, Community Garden, and Zero Waste practices