BILLINGS — Apogee Yellowstone, a new Billings private school, will be welcoming its first class of students this fall.
This comes after Mallory Bunz and her family were on the hunt for something new in education.
“My husband and I were looking for something a little different for our son, and we didn't exactly find it,” Bunz said in a recent interview.
Watch Mallory Bunz talk about Apogee Yellowstone:
Bunz said that Apogee is a growing network of schools, but Billings will be the first campus in Montana.
She expressed her excitement about the unique environment offered with this program.
“We get to have the community. We get to have a place that looks like kind of like school but is really run differently,” Bunz said.
Bunz said the public school system wasn’t the right fit for her kids.
“Everybody (is) going at the same pace at the same time with people your same age, which is not really a true reflection of what real life is like,” Bunz said.
Apogee claims to offer a different approach to education.
“We like to give some freedom and choice, and again for them to follow their interests and also to have some guidance to find new things and explore,” Bunz said.
The goal is to allow students to discover and create their own paths.
“With this freedom, we get freedom within structure and the kids all get to learn how they want to learn, learn what they want to learn with some guidance and some structure,” Bunz said.
Matt Torix, superintendent of Laurel Public Schools, said the district has seen a slight decline in public education enrollment in recent years, a trend that mirrors nationwide drops.
He also understands why some families choose alternative educational routes.
“It just depends on really what you want as a parent. If you want their focus to be something that's very specific and you can deliver that in a homeschool and we don't offer it, then I certainly understand that,” Torix said Tuesday.
Bunz is enthusiastic about this new program.
“These kids are just going to change the world. I can't wait to watch,” Bunz said.
Bunz wants to see all of the students in the program thrive.
“That's the part that I'm most excited about, is having that community for my family and being able to open it up to other families who want the same kind of thing for their kids,” Bunz said.
