The Headmaster’s Perspective

Mr. Anderson, Headmaster of Ridgeview Classical

Welcome to Ridgeview

Ridgeview Classical Schools, above all else, offers an experience as much as an education. We are fortunate to be situated along the Front Range in Fort Collins, Colorado, and we have endeavored to make the most of our location and the talented people it attracts. We take pride in cultivating curious minds and resilient spirits through a classical liberal arts education and the Socratic method. Our mission is to develop students holistically, fostering intellectual rigor, moral character, and a deep appreciation for the adventures to be found in the great books and in our native state.

At the heart of our approach is a commitment to timeless principles and texts. Our curriculum emphasizes critical thinking, articulate communication, and an unparalleled engagement with literature, history, mathematics, and the sciences. We believe that an appeal to wonder and curiosity inspires students to ask profound questions and seek Truth, Goodness, and Beauty with honesty, courage, and humility.

The school harnesses the breathtaking Colorado landscape to enrich our students’ experiences. Our rigorous outdoor program challenges students physically and mentally, develops lifelong friendships, perseverance, and an enduring connection to nature. From hiking in the Rockies to studying ecology in our backyard, students discover the joys of adventuring together and the value of stewardship.

We nurture the whole person—mind, body, and spirit. Our dedicated faculty guide students to grow not only as intelligent citizens but also as compassionate, principled individuals ready to lead and serve. By blending classicism with alpinism and combining it with a virtue-based character education, we prepare students to thrive in and adapt to an ever-changing world while remaining grounded in enduring values.

I invite you to explore our website, visit our campus, and join our community. Together, with family and school aligned, every student can be empowered to reach his or her fullest potential.

Warm regards,

Mr. Derek Anderson, Headmaster


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Parent Reading Groups

While considerable time might be spent examining the merits of classroom observations, the benefits of outdoor education, or the advantages of numerous extracurricular activities that involve a substantial proportion of our student body, the activity most integral to Ridgeview is reading, and one is unlikely to find any school at which reading is taken more seriously than Ridgeview.  

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A New Year

Now begins a new year, though before proceeding to what will be, we should review briefly what has been, as this past summer has not been without event. Many of us have had the opportunity to spend time getting to know our students in some fairly unconventional settings. We have learned to orienteer using a compass and map, watched students prepare camp meals together, hike fourteeners, and explore caves. There is a lot of conversation along the way. Some of it is perfunctory, some of it is more considered and erudite, all of it is revelatory in some way.

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Dedicated to Truth and Virtue

Ridgeview’s unabridged Latin credo is neque popularitati neque utilitati at veritati virtutique dedicatum. Translated into English, this means, “Dedicated not to popularity or utility, but to truth and virtue.” Herein, ‘dedicated’ does not have a commemorative sense. Instead, it expresses what individuals working and studying at Ridgeview are dedicating their lives to.

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Commencement Address 2019

If we have done our work rightly, you have been supported and challenged. More to the point, you will not have all experienced the same journey.

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The Spring Musical

Those fortunate enough to attend a performance of Guys and Dolls this past weekend will have some sense of how much work goes into a show of this kind.

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The Hoplite Hoedown

We would like to thank everyone who helped to make this year’s Hoplite Hoedown a success.

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Valborgsmässoafton

Our recent break gave us thunderstorms, the last of the year's super moons, and the spring equinox. Ridgeview endeavors to welcome each of the seasons, and we welcome spring with our unique rendition of the Swedish holiday Valborgsmässoafton on Saturday, March 30 at Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch in Loveland.

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Valentine's Day

It is lamentable that schools say so little about what this day celebrates, but when one considers what they do say, it is easy to conclude that it would have been better had they instead said nothing.

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On Educational Rights

Educationally, the nations of the world seem to either count the children within their borders as if they were serfs, or where the state is destitute, as burdens for which no educational remedies can be provided. It is a curiosity as to which of these is the worse scenario: the one in which a great deal happens that is passed off as education and a preparation for citizenship, or the one in which the citizens hardly recognize themselves as such so great is their freedom and their deprivation.

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