Month: January 2024

There’s really no doubt that Los Alamos has definitive “eras” that apply to the concept of “Life in Los Alamos”. This isn’t unusual. Any town or city across the globe could say the same. But there are a few things about our “eras” that are quite unique! As I dig a little more into the ranch school, I become more and more fascinated by the amazing learning opportunities those boys had at their Ranch Boarding School.

Everyone Got the Same Start

We travel a lot these days, perhaps less since Covid, but still a lot compared to different periods in history. You might take your kid to catch a plane in Santa Fe or Albuquerque so they can go off to school. Maybe you travel with them. Even traveling by road to drop your college kid at NMSU is a day’s travel, but still not bad.

Can you imagine the trek up the mountain to the Los Alamos Ranch School? Train to Santa Fe, followed by a wagon ride in the early years, or perhaps a truck in later times. The road wasn’t paved. Those boys probably felt as though their teeth had been knocked loose from that journey.

When they first arrived at the school they were immediately met by Bences Gonzales, (you can read more about Bences HERE). The friendly, almost uncle like Bences would take the new students to the Trading Post where they were fitted with a uniform and issued their school gear, which was fairly extensive. New student were assigned a Scout Patrol, given a room at the Big House, and introduced to their roommate.

The next critical step was the naming. Yes. The naming. According to John D. Wirth and Linda Harvey Aldrich’s history of our Ranch School, AJ Connell felt strongly that every young man was an individual. As such, no two boys had the same name. If you were John or Daniel or Robert and there were other Johns, Daniels, and Roberts, you were going to become “Jack” or “Juan” or maybe something completely different such as “Red” (should your hair be red) or “Lefty” (maybe you were left handed?).

This isn’t an unusual concept. In fact, you find this culture still going strong in military units, Scout camps, and other clubs. Sororities and fraternities do similar things as well. This even reminds me of the current trend of our kiddos in choosing new names and trying them on for a period of time. It’s a normal part of developing identity and AJ Connell seemed to understand this necessary piece of growing up. He also knew that if kids were given names reflecting their individuality and strengths, they were much less likely to be assigned a hurtful or negative nickname.

The Daily Schedule

Days at the Ranch School began at 6:30AM. Students rolled out of bed, drank a glass of water, dressed in their uniforms, and headed out the door to PT. This morning physical training was done in all weather. In keeping up with the most “modern” of healthful routines, Connell required the boys to be shirtless in all but the coldest and snowiest weather. In warmer weather they were expected to exercise “in the buff”. Can you imagine? When I head out for a run in the mornings I generally wear layers even in summer! It can be downright chilly up here all year round and this was over a hundred years ago when the region had far larger snowfalls and cooler temperatures in general.

Breakfast and room inspection happened between PT and the start of class at precisely 7:45AM. Class went until 12:55PM with a single break for milk and cookies. At 1:00PM the largest meal of the day was served, not an uncommon thing in ranching and farming cultures since you needed the calorie intake in order to have enough energy to get the manual labor done. This big meal was followed by a short “rest period” and the afternoons were filled with “recreation”, which was really just more education disguised by fun.

Ashley Pond’s vision for the school suggested, “it is our aim to fill every minute of the boys’ time with some profitable work made as interesting as play.” That is most certainly what ranch school life provided. Supper was served at 6:00PM and younger boys were in bed by 8:15PM and the oldest boys by 9:00PM. I think I would’ve been begging to go to bed by 8:00 after a day like that!

Classwork

Classes like mathematics, grammar, and reading were important at the Los Alamos Ranch School, but that wasn’t the only thing Ashley Pond’s progressive educational plan included. Once afternoon rest was over, the boys helped out on the ranch. Twice a week they rode out on horseback with their Scout Patrols. Other afternoons they worked in the barn, hiked in the mountains and were instructed by the staff in botany, geology, forestry, mineralogy, orthnology, wood crafts, topographical mapping, and surveying.

Ranch activities were called Industrial Training in the first two or three years of the school. After that it was referred to as “Community Work” and boys got school credit for these tasks. They often built and maintained trails, were responsible for the upkeep of the garden and grounds, and sometimes worked with the horses as much as they helped with office work.

The goal was to provide hands on training in real life skills. I can’t help but think about how many activities we have in town that mirror this philosophy. We have outdoor oriented pre-schools and programs for all ages at PEEC focused on nature. Our YMCA promotes camps for older students that focus on trail maintenance and forestry, and our Sportsman’s Club offers hunter safety, skeet shooting, and archery for youth and adults alike.

Student Health

Boys were weighed and measured when they first arrived at school. They were also weighed and measured weekly by the nurse. Connell was always present at these appointments. The idea was to send a weekly report to the parents of each student. The school’s big promise was to increase the health of the boys. Considering the rigorous and outdoor focused schedule, sending health reports home on a weekly basis would be a great way to brag to parents about how robust their sons were growing to be.

One Big Family

Another big draw of Ranch School life was the family atmosphere. All meals were served family style with either a school master or staff member at the head of each table in the dining hall. Good manners were emphasized and conversation was focused on topics related to what the boys were learning or doing around the ranch.

Evenings between supper and bedtime involved a gathering of boys around the Big House fireplace as a master read aloud. The boys enjoyed stories like Tarzan, or perhaps a book by Jack London. The atmosphere was intended to feel like a family gathering.

In the twenties, academic study time was instituted for boys struggling with their regular classes. They would gather together under the watchful eye of a master or an older boy and help each other as they completed or corrected assignments much in the same way modern students ask parents or older siblings and friends for help with their homework.

The Ranch School may be gone, but the spirit of Ashley Pond’s desire to educate kids in an outdoor environment with an emphasis on hands on learning is still alive and well here in Los Alamos! As always, I’d like to give credit where it’s due. Most of my information and photos for this post came from John D. Wirth and Linda Harvey Aldrich’s book, Los Alamos: The Ranch School Years. Please check it out for yourself! And when you’re ready to be part of our amazing community, give me a call! I’d love to chat Los Alamos real estate with you!

If I told you that the “motto” of Los Alamos was “At Los Alamos, everything is done for a reason.”, you probably wouldn’t be surprised. It might surprise you however, to learn that it was AJ Connell, director or “boss” of the Los Alamos Ranch School from it’s inception in 1917 until the Manhattan Project took over in 1943.

As the focus in our community seems entirely centered on the Manhattan Project and Oppenheimer, I’ve begun to get more and more curious about the Los Alamos Ranch School. Folks tell me so frequently that they’re in Los Alamos “for the schools”, or perhaps “for the amazing outdoor life”. Turns out, these two things in particular have always gone hand in hand here in Los Alamos.

Why a Ranch School?

Today we don’t think much about traveling from one coast to the other beyond groaning about a 3-4 hour plane ride and waiting around in airports. Children often travel for educational purposes. Some of those opportunities even involve heading off to a foreign country for an exchange program.

Would it surprise you know that it was quite the thing for families on the East Coast to send their sons to “Ranch Schools” in the West? One of the most famous Ranch Schools is The Evans School on the outskirts of Mesa, Arizona. The Evans School boasted names like Roosevelt, Vanderbilt, Pulitzer, and DuPont. You might imagine how other families would be itching to send their sons to the American West to be educated like these scions of American industry.

When Ashley Pond purchased the Brook’s ranch in 1917, his initial vision for the school was a place where boys could be accepted year round and stay at the school only long enough to achieve an increased level of good health before heading back home to their families. With that goal in mind, families paid $150 per month for their sons to come to the Los Alamos Ranch School.

That number is probably a bit misleading these days, don’t you think? I know I didn’t bat an eye when I first read it in John D Wirth and Linda Harvey Aldrich’s book about the Los Alamos Ranch School Years. $150 a month sounds like a bargain these days. You can’t even hire someone to watch your toddler for that sort of money.

Here’s a reality check. According to amoritization.org, $150.00 in 1917 is the equivalent of $3837.89 in 2023. While it sounds astronomical, it’s really not that far off what a lot of preparatory schools charge for monthly tuition these days.

A brochure for the Los Alamos Ranch School dated in the 1920s states, “Our school is necessarily limited to boys whose parents are able and willing to pay for the best.”

Why did the Los Alamos Ranch School have to be so expensive? It might be better to dig a bit more into what tuition included. For their tuition cost, students would receive lodging, food, “medical attendance”, and use of a horse and necessary tack. It was a popular saying that tuition covered “everything but your personal laundry”.

A boy would arrive at school and be immediately taken in by a friendly face who would match him up with a sort of big brother or mentor from the older boys. He’d be taken to the Trading Post where he would purchase his gear (leather jacket, shorts, boots, hat, knife, matches, and other survival items). This gear was expected to last him the duration of his stay at the school whether it be months or years. I found it so very similar to sending my kiddo off to college only to realize she’d created a big balance at the school book store buying school supplies, books, and spirit wear.

In Wirth and Aldrich’s book, they tell the story of one young man who caused quite an issue with his folks back home by running up a $600 bill at the Trading Post. While that would be a shocker considering that’s about $15K in modern currency, it was pointed out to the disgruntled parent that their son made the decision to purchase English riding boots, his own .22 caliber rifle, and had also managed to regularly lose or misplace his survival gear, requiring him to replace knives, matches and other necessities before being allowed out on patrol.

From the beginning, the boys were being taught responsibility. How they took those lessons to heart is as unique as any modern student you might know today! After all, at Los Alamos everything is done for a reason.

In the next few posts, we’ll be exploring some of these rather amazing reasons why Los Alamos is the way that it is. And when you’re ready to be a part of this fantastic community, give me a call! I’d love to chat real estate in Los Alamos with you!