Ranch Turned School

View towards La Junta from the back of the ranch

Recently the school I work for bought a former ranch that housed troubled youth and provided them with rehabilitation in various forms. The ranch opened in 1959 and provided training in careers such as mechanics, printing, basic veterinary services, general ranching, and many others. In 2012 the ranch lost its funding and had to be shut down. GOAL Academy, my school, bought the ranch with TABOR funds. These funds were set aside as required by law to help with maintenance of school buildings, but since we are an online school there was no where to spend the money. By accident the sale of the ranch came to the attention of the CEO of GOAL. After much discussion and negotiating the ranch became school property.

I had the privilege of attending a recent conference at the new site. We were given a tour and short history of the ranch by the manager. The brain child of several Colorado judges, seeing a need to help the growing population of troubled teens, for 52 years the ranch provided rehab and training for thousands of young men. It is located near La Junta, Colorado (which mean The Junction), which lies along the Santa Fe trail; cows would be herded over the land toward Pueblo, Colorado or New Mexico to be shipped east. There are approximately 37 buildings on the small 30 acre corner of the 317 acre land mass.

Sign near the small animal pens

A view of my room

Many of the buildings are fitted as classrooms, others are set up specifically to meet the needs to the training occurring in that building. There is a gym with an attached weight and game room. Greenhouses, horse stables, animals pens, dorms, and many others.

Print shop, maintenance, etc.

The library was built by former attendees of the ranch. The students would study plumbing, wiring, structure support (basic architecture) and other aspects for building. Then work together to make a plan for the library. Eventually, they worked together to actually build it. Master plumbers, electricians, etc. were brought in to ensure the integrity of the work. The building is now a standing tribute to the work these students were willing to put in to achieve a common goal.

The library and meeting rooms

The chapel on the grounds was donated by the town of Arlington, Colorado. Built in 1916 it represents the common architecture for that era. In May 1967, it was moved 27 miles to rest at the southwest corner of the ranch.

Arlington Chapel

GOAL will use the ranch to supply Career & Technical Education (CTE) to our students. It will allow us to provide the "high touch" part of our online program. As the ranch is brought back up to meet fire codes and safety codes it will be available for outside entities to rent the space.

Sculpture near horse stables