Dr. Alex Oliver, Headmaster for Wyoming Classical Academy-Alpine, stepped into the SVI Radio studio on Tuesday, June 16 to promote next week’s ribbon cutting ceremony scheduled for June 25.

(0:00) Joining me live in studio today is Dr. (0:02) Alex Oliver, the headmaster of Wyoming Classical Academy, and another update on (0:07) what’s coming up with WCA Alpine as we get closer and closer to their inaugural school year. (0:13) Dr. (0:13) Oliver, good morning. (0:14) Thanks for swinging by as always today.

(0:16) Duke, thank you for having me today. (0:17) Again, it’s always exciting coming down to Afton. (0:19) Appreciate your time.

(0:20) Really exciting news for Wyoming Classical Academy Alpine because (0:24) you have a ribbon cutting coming up. (0:26) This thing is just about ready to be wrapped up and open the doors for the school year. (0:31) Indeed.

(0:31) It has been a process from what I’ve heard from the community. (0:35) It’s been about 10 years in the works trying to get this school up and running (0:39) in the town of Alpine, and we finally have it coming together. (0:42) We have our ribbon cutting ceremony happening on the 25th.

(0:45) That will be next Thursday. (0:47) We will begin the ceremony about six o’clock, and then we will have our official ribbon (0:51) cutting ceremony at 630. (0:53) But again, the excitement has been building.

(0:55) We’ve been hearing from the community. (0:57) Everybody’s talking about it, wanting to come see the school, wanting to get some (1:00) tours, wanting to see what’s on the agenda for next year. (1:03) So that excitement is building.

(1:04) This ribbon cutting is fantastic. (1:06) You talk about people wanting to come see the school. (1:08) It’s a great opportunity to walk through it.

(1:10) You gave me a tour a couple of weeks ago, and I tell you, we talked about the mobile (1:16) buildings and everything like that. (1:18) You guys have done a fantastic job tying that all together. (1:21) You walk into that, you would never guess that that’s how it was all built.

(1:24) Absolutely. (1:25) That’s been the reaction from every single person that’s walked in that building. (1:29) They have these preconceptions when you’re walking up because you do see the modular (1:33) buildings, but the minute you walk through those doors, you truly embrace that you are (1:37) walking into a school building.

(1:38) Once you start walking around, you see the classrooms, you see the desks set up for (1:43) the children. (1:44) We have our faculty desks all coming in this upcoming week. (1:47) So it’s all truly coming together, and like I said, it’s been the same reaction from (1:51) every single person as they walk in and they say, wow, this looks like a school.

(1:56) And that excitement just starts building from there. (1:58) You talk about the ribbon cutting on June 25th against 6 o’clock p.m. (2:01) at Wyoming Classical Academy. (2:03) Tell us what’s going to happen with the ceremony and what might take place there.

(2:07) Absolutely. (2:07) We’ll have a couple of speeches going on. (2:09) So we’re going to have the mayor, Eric Green, speak for the town of Alpine, as well (2:14) as Dave Jenkins.

(2:15) He is the chair of the Wyoming Classical School Board. (2:18) And then I’ll also be giving a little speech. (2:21) So we’ll have a couple of speeches going on.

(2:23) We’re going to have some outdoor barbecue happening, so some hamburgers, some hot dogs, (2:28) and just have a nice little community event. (2:29) We’ll have a bounce house for the kids and just let everybody come see the school and (2:33) just embrace the community and have a little bit of fun. (2:35) Absolutely love it.

(2:36) Now, one thing I wanted to bring up, and you touched on it just there, the school board, (2:40) and that’s been officially formed and organized, and they’re holding meetings, correct? (2:43) Absolutely. (2:44) So every month we hold our school board meetings. (2:46) You can go on the Alpine WCA website and under our governance section, you can see when our (2:53) school boards are happening.

(2:54) So we invite the community to come in to see what we are doing, what we’re planning. (2:59) And again, we want to embrace the community as much as possible to have their voice and (3:03) all the ideas that they would like to see about the school heard and valued. (3:08) Dr. Alex Oliver in studio this morning, headmaster for Wyoming Classical Academy Alpine.

(3:12) Ribbon cutting next week on Thursday, June 25th, 6 o’clock p.m. (3:15) Let’s talk more about what’s going to take place in the schools when things open. (3:19) So it’s K-6 right now and still open for registration, correct? (3:23) Correct. (3:24) It will be K-6 to start.

(3:26) Again, it is open for any student that would like to be a part of that process, our founding (3:31) scholars for this initial inaugural year. (3:34) Again, we will be introducing a variety of different subjects. (3:38) We’ll be using the Hillsdale curriculum as well as they’ll have the opportunity to be (3:43) involved in all the different specials from art, PE, music, all the different aspects (3:47) every single day.

(3:48) We want to bring in those Socratic conversations, allow students to engage in those conversations (3:53) that’s only going to deepen their knowledge and embrace that critical thinking that we (3:56) want to see from every kid that walks through our doors. (3:59) You mentioned Hillsdale curriculum. (4:01) Expound on that for those who aren’t familiar with it.

(4:03) So for the younger students, they’ll be using the literacy essentials. (4:06) Again, this is really working with those phonics-based instructions to understand how (4:12) words are formed and then really building up and truly understanding how to put sentences (4:17) together and beginning that process for reading. (4:19) We’ll also move in with the upper grade starting in fourth grade with well-ordered (4:23) language.

(4:24) So again, now that they have that foundational piece, they can start working to really structure (4:28) their grammatical sense and putting all that understanding together to truly understand (4:32) how to incorporate that literacy piece. (4:34) Dr. Oliver, I’m sure you get a lot of questions about potential afterschool programs and those (4:39) types of things. (4:40) What is Wyoming Classical Academy going to offer? (4:42) So at this moment in time, we are currently working with two different organizations.

(4:45) We’re working with Jumping Jaybird Studios, which will be offering a arts program that (4:50) will be run at the Civic Center. (4:52) And we’re also in communication with the Run Twist Flip organization. (4:56) So doing a little gymnastics.

(4:57) So those are two organizations that we’re working with right now. (5:00) We’re completely on board to invite other communities to come in and be a part of the (5:05) Wyoming Classical Academy family. (5:07) Perfect.

(5:07) Now, along with the ribbon-cutting for the building, I mean, this is K-6, so we’re (5:12) talking elementary age children. (5:14) A playground in the works for that as well, right? (5:16) Absolutely. (5:17) So we’ve ordered our playground.

(5:18) It is coming out. (5:19) We are currently laying the concrete for our basketball court area that we will have. (5:26) So we’ll have basketball.

(5:27) If the kids want to play foursquare again, just some little sports elements. (5:30) But we’ll also have a giant playground playset for the students to play on as well. (5:34) The big thing is we want to make sure to keep our field open, because one of the big things (5:38) that our kids love to do the most is just run around.

(5:40) We want them to get those wiggles out. (5:42) We want them to get that energy out. (5:43) I was speaking to a second grade student the other day, and I asked him, what are some (5:47) of the fun things you’re looking forward to? (5:48) And they said, getting chased by girls.

(5:51) I couldn’t help but laugh. (5:52) It was a funny moment. (5:54) But again, these kids just want to have a little bit of fun.

(5:56) And any time that we can give them outside those classrooms to get that energy out and (6:00) move around a little bit, we want to make sure to provide that. (6:03) Perfect. (6:03) So again, the ribbon cutting on Thursday, June 25th, 6 o’clock p.m. (6:06) at Wyoming Classical Academy in Alpine.

(6:09) Dr. Alex Oliver, the headmaster for Wyoming Classical Academy Alpine Campus. (6:13) Anything we missed, Dr. Oliver, that you’d like to touch on? (6:16) Again, we are going to start K-6 next year, but the intention is to move on forward and (6:21) every year in the future at an additional grade level. (6:24) So for the 26-27 will be K-6, 27-28 K-7, and then so on and so forth until we have a full (6:31) K-12 institution in the town of Alpine.

(6:34) Again, just giving another option here in the Star Valley area. (6:38) Now, speaking of the future, I know you have a lot of work to do to get the wheels off (6:43) the ground here in your inaugural school year. (6:45) But looking forward, you mentioned adding the years, but that means more expansion with (6:50) infrastructure and the building and everything like that.

(6:52) So what are some of the discussions that have happened so far there? (6:55) The idea right now is to work with our current building for the next couple of years, and (6:59) then we want to push to have a brick and mortar building actually installed. (7:03) So by the time we are really venturing into the high school era of WCA, that’s at the (7:08) point that we really want to start seeing that brick and mortar building start being (7:11) built. (7:12) We’re still looking for a location in the town of Alpine, but it’s on our agenda and (7:16) that’s one thing that we’re looking forward to in the coming years.

(7:18) Another question I was going to ask that I forgot something completely new to this (7:23) area is the idea of school uniforms. (7:26) What has been the response when parents and students talk about uniforms? (7:30) Honestly, they’re all about it. (7:32) The parents are pretty excited.

(7:34) Again, it provides an opportunity for a little bit of structure, some rigidity that we want (7:38) to see in the community. (7:39) And while the kids are a little iffy on the idea of having to wear a pillow with the little (7:44) emblem on it every day, we still, the parents are very embracing of the idea and we just (7:50) want to provide that extra little element to make sure students feel confident in themselves (7:54) every single day that they walk into the school building. (7:57) All right, so registration continues.

(7:59) What’s the best way for people to register and learn and find out more details? (8:02) So the best way is to contact me through email. (8:05) Again, it’s alex.oliver at wyoclassical.org, or you can reach out through the phone number (8:12) 423-762-2986. (8:15) We’ll get a tour scheduled and you can come by, check out the school.

(8:19) If you are already ready to go and you want to enroll in the school today, just hop on (8:24) the school website, alpine.wca.org. (8:28) And again, you will see the little enrollment tab right there and you can get enrolled for (8:32) your student for the 26-27 school year. (8:35) Perfect. (8:35) Now, worth mentioning, it is tuition-free, right? (8:39) Public charter school.

(8:39) So remind us the funding model and how that works for you guys being a tuition-free charter (8:43) school. (8:44) Again, it works just like the Lincoln County School District. (8:46) While we’re working with the state, we have to follow all state guidelines and then they (8:51) provide us with assistance when it comes to funding.

(8:53) We’re always looking for donations. (8:55) So if there’s anybody in the community that wants to come by, check out the school and (8:59) they just love what we’re doing and they want to contribute in some way, you can do it (9:02) through the website or you can reach out to us directly and then we can have that conversation (9:07) there. (9:07) Again, it’s through state funding as well as private donors that would like to help (9:12) out provide our school with assistance.

(9:14) Wyoming Classical Academy Alpine getting ready for the inaugural school year with a (9:17) ribbon-cutting on Thursday of next week, June 25th, 6 o’clock p.m. (9:21) in Alpine. (9:22) Headmaster Dr. Alex Oliver in the studio. (9:24) Dr. Oliver, thank you so much.

(9:26) We appreciate your time. (9:26) We’ll see you on the 25th. (9:27) Thank you, sir.

(9:28) It’s all part of the weekday wake-up this morning. (9:30) It is the SVI Radio Network.