Highland Institute's Paideia

The Constitution Of Man (According to Fabre D’Olivet)

There is no handbook for launching an institute. While City Club exists to serve its members, Highland Institute strives to channel our members’ collective resources to serve others and, in our own small way, advance human evolution.

Since its founding in May 2020, the Institute has made steady progress. We have established a legal structure, secured nonprofit status, built a team, and attracted generous financial support to sustain our work for years to come. Now, we have begun shaping our identity through our brand, creating a more sophisticated digital presence, and carefully planting ideas we hope will take root over time.

These efforts include launching the Boulder Police Foundation, Highland Institute’s Security Forum, a successful Ukrainian sister-city initiative, positioning Boulder as a hub for quantum computing, and strengthening our culture through partnerships with numerous art and festival organizations. At the same time, we are planning to build a school—Paideia—to educate our teens in virtue.

Ronald Reagan warned, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” It is not inherited; it must be taught. Yet for decades, we have drifted from this responsibility.

Highland Institute looks beyond politics, security, and armament to a deeper question: what kind of citizens are we cultivating? The Greek idea of paideia speaks to a rigorous liberal education, rooted in dialogue, that forms individuals capable of both leading and being led. In pursuing Hamiltonian means to achieve our Jeffersonian ideals, we seek to embolden and restrain the power of our community.

Education can be outsourced. Values cannot. Paideia transcends schooling. It revives the cultural engine that shapes civic character—and, ultimately, the future of the polis.

From cultivating culture to shaping character, Highland Institute strives to form citizens worthy of a free society—and capable of sustaining it.

— Sina.