The History of Horizon High School
In March 2004, six Dane County residents, including Shelly Dutch, a local AODA counselor, got together for coffee to discuss the concept of starting a recovery school in Madison. The group, which also included educators and parents of teens affected by addiction, wanted a safe place where teens could go to school after getting out of substance use treatment. They researched what options were available and found that there were about 20 recovery schools around the country, most being in Minnesota, but none in the Dane County area.
In November of 2004, a $10,000 donation from a family was made to start up Horizon High School as a private non-profit school (upon advice that chartering would not succeed). In December the founders of the school got all the paperwork together, incorporated, and hired a young teacher to run the school. And in late January 2005, Horizon High School opened with 6 students in a church basement on Old Sauk Road. By the end of that semester, there were nine total students attending Horizon.
In 2006, Horizon moved into the Neighborhood House Community Center in downtown Madison.
Horizon continued to grow and in August of 2011, a new partnership with the Madison Metropolitan School District was formed, thanks to Superintendent Dan Nerad. This partnership allowed Horizon to remain an independent school with Madison Metropolitan School District contracting with Horizon to cover some of the expenses of attending MMSD students. Horizon had also moved to a new location on the near west side of Madison, at 5005 University.
2012 marked the first year that Horizon was able to host a summer school. Year-round support for students in recovery is key in helping them maintain their recovery and work on their mental health. Summer school also allows students who may be credit-deficient to get caught up in high school in order to earn their high school diploma on time.
In March of 2013, Horizon needed to expand its space due to the increase in student numbers. Horizon moved to 5001 University Avenue #50. However, in June of 2014, a flood forced Horizon to move yet again, to 5003 University Avenue, which was just right across the parking lot from our previous location.
After nearly 15 years of temporary locations and lots of moving, Horizon found a new home. In 2019, Horizon was awarded CG Schmidt’s 100th Year Anniversary Community Grant which included a complete renovation of a new space for Horizon located at 659 N. Whitney Way, below the old Taco Bell on University. CG Schmidt made the decision to support Horizon through financial, material, and in-kind donations to further enable the school to remodel a much more expansive location with four bathrooms, individual staff offices, a kitchen area, a food pantry, and ample room to educate 15 -20 students. This expanded footprint also allows Horizon to serve more students, with the ability to segment students into smaller groups for more individualized learning and therapy. This new location offers Horizon students a larger, positive learning environment, comfortable room for therapy, a place to cook meals, do laundry, and a safe place to grow into successful young adults. Horizon is so grateful for this new space provided to us by CG Schmidt and the many other local businesses in our community who donated supplies, labor and appliances to make the renovation possible.
Main Entrance
Classroom at Horizon High School
Reading nook at Horizon High School
Independent workspace for students
Testimonials from Horizon High School Parents
“Horizon has played a HUGE part in helping me get my son back. I truly cannot adequately express how thankful I am for having found Horizon High. ”
“If it hadn't been for Horizon High School, we believe we would have lost our son to the continuing haze of drug and alcohol abuse, which would have led to his dropping out of school and increasing the danger to his health and safety. Instead, Horizon provided him with a caring, constructive environment that helped him move into recovery, graduate from high school, and move onto college. We believe that the small size, personalized education, and therapeutic treatment available at Horizon were directly responsible for his success. The large, impersonal high school he attended prior to coming to Horizon was unable to provide him with the consistent, daily connection with a nurturing adult that he desperately needed. Furthermore, they appeared to be unable to provide him with the accommodations that his learning style demanded. Consequently, he was lost in the masses, in a deepening downward spiral that brought only failure and punishment rather than treatment and hope. The staff at Horizon helped to reverse that spiral and gave him a renewed sense of hope, seeing the future as full of possibilities”.