High Mountain Institute Semester

The HMI Semester is an academic and wilderness semester school for motivated college-bound juniors. HMI is akin to a college study abroad program, but for high school students. Our students return to their home schools invigorated about education, experienced in leadership, and more aware of the world around them.

Students who attend the HMI Semester complete a full course-load of honors and AP-level classes in order to reintegrate smoothly into their home academic environments. They live on campus surrounded by curious and ambitious peers in sustainable, off-the-grid cabins. Unique to HMI, students spend a full third of their semester backpacking and skiing through the mountains of Colorado and the canyons of Utah with their teachers and classmates. In their remaining years of high school and beyond, our alumni continue to consider their semester away at HMI one of the most important and formative periods of their lives.