Prospect Ridge Academy

When the U.S. Board on Geographic Names voted to change the name of Colorado’s 14th highest 14er to Mount Blue Sky in September 2023, a piece of Prospect Ridge Academy’s history would change as well. PRA’s house system, called Peaks, was established when the high school opened in the fall of 2014 with each house represented by a Colorado mountain with an elevation of 14,000 feet or higher. 

The original four Peaks were: Longs, Capitol, Evans, and Pikes, respectively named after Longs Peak, Capitol Peak, Mount Evans, and Pikes Peak. The shields for each Peak incorporate the outline of the actual summit of each mountain in a unique color. In the fall of 2023, Mount Evans became Mount Blue Sky after five years of formal proposals and discussions between tribal governments of the Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes, the U.S. Department of Interior, and state and county governments.

PRA administrators had been following the conversation and knew once the name change was approved, the name of PRA’s correlating peak would also need to change. After careful consideration of various options, PRA decided to keep the summit as its fourth Peak and change the name to Blue Sky Peak. The color of Blue Sky Peak will remain red. The school is currently working to revise the visuals for Blue Sky Peak with the new shield being revealed soon. 

Adam DiGiacomo, high school principal, said that last summer he made a trip to the top of Mount Blue Sky and it was a powerful experience. It’s an experience he encouraged PRA students to have since Mount Blue Sky is the closest 14er to the Denver metropolitan area. 

“You have a truly amazing view from the summit and as I stood there I thought about how the name Blue Sky feels appropriate,” he said. 

In January, PRA invited Denver muralist Sarah Ortegon HighWalking with the Eastern Shoshone/Northern Arapaho to speak with high school students about the name change. She explained that the Arapaho were called the Blue Sky People and the Cheyenne hold a ceremony of renewal called the Blue Sky Ceremony. Thus the name Mount Blue Sky holds deep meaning for the Arapaho and Cheyenne people. Instead of honoring one man, the name honors multiple tribes. In 2022, HighWalking painted a mural titled, “What’s in a Name” on the side of the Patagonia store in the River North area of Denver. The mural shows the summit with the sign Mount Evans with Evans crossed out and Blue Sky written below it.

“When you name something, it tells a story,” she said. “When scientists do experiments on animals, they don’t name the animal because when you name something, you attach a story to it. Seeing the name Mount Evans, I saw it ridding the history of our people that existed before colonization.”

The summit was originally named for John Evans, the territorial governor of Colorado from 1862 to 1865. In August 1864, Evans, also the superintendent of Indian Affairs in the Colorado territory, issued a proclamation that authorized citizens of the state to “kill and destroy, as enemies of the country…all hostile Indians.” This proclamation led to the Sand Creek Massacre, which occurred on Nov. 29, 1864. That day US soldiers attacked an encampment of Native people killing hundreds; more than half of those killed were women and children.

HighWalking told PRA students about Evans, the proclamation, massacre, and how Evans’ involvement was denied for decades. In August 2021, Colorado Governor Jared Polis rescinded the proclamation. With the mountain now renamed, HighWalking said the state is starting a new path by telling the story of the name Blue Sky. 

“The day that the Blue Sky name change happened, it snowed a lot on Mount Blue Sky,” she said. “Snow is a type of renewal and winter is a time that you sit back and reflect back on the year you’ve had. Snow covers footsteps, which is also a type of renewal, and water replenishes; it brings back the green to the Earth around us.”

DiGiacomo told the PRA students that he hoped after hearing HighWalking’s presentation they had a deeper understanding of the name change and why PRA wanted to honor the history by keeping the summit and renaming the Peak. The school considered changing the color of the Peak to match the new name, but decided keeping the color red for Mount Blue Sky would be symbolic of both the state’s history and the school’s history.

“We’re keeping the color red as a way of honoring the blood shed that occurred. It’s a reminder for us to reflect on the losses that happened,” he said. “I hope students see the impact that this name change has and feel pride in what we’re doing at PRA. We get to recognize this change and the remarkable place that Mount Blue Sky is.”

The PRA community will begin to see the new logo around campus in the next few weeks.