The High Mountain Institute (HMI) is an independent school and gap year provider that focuses on experiential education and wilderness expeditions. HMI's academic program, the HMI Semester, is akin to a college study abroad program, but for high school students. HMI students, primarily high school juniors from public and private schools across the country, spend a full academic semester at HMI and return to their home schools invigorated about education, experienced in leadership, and more aware of the natural world around them. Students who attend the HMI Semester live on HMI’s campus surrounded by curious and ambitious peers in sustainable, off-the-grid cabins. Unique to HMI, students spend five weeks of the semester on extended backpacking and skiing expeditions in the mountains of Colorado and the canyons of Utah with their teachers and classmates. These wilderness expeditions–where students are challenged to push themselves, support their peers, and strive to reach their full potential–are the core of the HMI Semester experience. Over the course of the semester, students also complete a full course load of honors and AP-level classes that allow them to reintegrate smoothly into their home academic environments. In their remaining years of high school and beyond, alumni consider their semester at HMI one of the most important and formative periods of their lives.

Historically, outdoor programs like HMI have attracted largely white and privileged populations. At times, this has made it challenging for all at our school to feel fully part of our community. We seek to address these challenges at HMI by increasing the diversity of our students, faculty, staff, trustees, and advisers; by creating classes and activities that explore and reflect students’ identities; by expanding the cultural competence of faculty and staff; and by continually challenging the assumptions we hold. 

We engage with this challenging work because we are committed to building an exceptional learning environment rooted in community—not just for some, but for all who seek to be inspired by the natural world.