Vail Christian High School Alumni Feature: Sebastian Joly '14: Building a Career Through Curiosity While studying engineering at the Colorado School of Mines, Sebastian Joly ('14) rebuilt a 1984 motorcycle as part of a class project. What started as another assignment became a turning point. Although he had initially planned to pursue chemical engineering, the project confirmed that his true passion was designing, building, and solving real-world mechanical challenges. Today,

Vail Christian High School Alumni Feature: Ryan Downey '20: Aerospace Innovator From Tornado Research to Autonomous Space Systems For Ryan Downey ('20), one opportunity has continually led to the next. What began as a passion for engineering grew into groundbreaking research with autonomous drones studying tornadoes, which opened the door to advanced graduate studies and ultimately a career developing cutting-edge aerospace technologies. Today, Ryan is a Guidance, Navigation

Vail Christian High School Alumni Feature: Finding Purpose Through Compassion: Mia Cooper '20 Pursues a Career in Mental Health For Mia Cooper ('20), a single high school class helped shape the course of her future. While attending Vail Christian High School, Mia discovered a passion for psychology in Mr. Pat Phelan's classroom. What began as an interest in understanding human behavior soon became a calling to help individuals and families navigate life's challenges. After gr

Vail Christian High School Alumni Feature: Finding the Courage to Create: Jonathan Armstead '06 If you knew Jonathan Armstead during his years at Vail Christian High School, you probably remember him as the class clown. "My goal every day was to not just get my friends laughing, but to get the teachers laughing, as well," Today, he's still making people laugh, but now his audience numbers in the millions. Jonathan ('06) is the creator behind Jon the Dad, one of social media's

Vail Christian High School Alumni Feature: Izzy Richie '20: Initiative, Perseverance, and a Passion for Serving Others For Isabelle ‘Izzy” Richie ('20), engineering has always been about more than solving technical problems; it's about improving people's lives. From designing affordable housing solutions in the Vail Valley to helping modernize one of New York City's oldest utility systems, Izzy has built a career inspired by curiosity, collaboration, and service. That journey