David Fowler became headmaster in desperate times. By 1971, Lyle Farrell’s administration—highly successful in earlier years--was poorly positioned for the social turmoil reflected in the school’s student population. The revolution stimulated by David’s leadership spawned a community that flourishes today. Flipping Proctor’s management style on its ear, “Chopper” turned responsibility for policy decisions over to the full faculty, creating an entrepreneurial and highly creative work environment. The first order of business was to “humanize” (DF’s term) and democratize the community through informal relationships. And, from the beginning, Chopper called for creative applications of experiential education to a college prep curriculum. Wilderness Orientation, Project Period, and Mountain Classroom were in place within two years. Here is a member of this term’s Mountain Classroom group on belay at Mt. Lemmon, AZ:

As additional programs in France and Spain matured, the benefits of adventure learning demanded even greater innovation, and Ocean Classroom came to replace the fall Mountain Classroom experience:

At the same time, in more subtle fashion, the notion of hands-on activity as a teaching/learning method gained favor in otherwise traditional courses. In place of final exams, pre-calc students present independent projects employing advanced mathematic functions.