Pikes Peak Academy is a private alternative high school that sees its mission as providing a quality education within a faith-based environment. Our desire is to see all of our students grow academically and emotionally while being presented with the opportunity to consider a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and to grow in that relationship.

Pikes Peak Academy (PPA) began in 1993 when Mark Becker, then a teacher at Widefield High School in Colorado Springs, was contacted by Tom Tillapaugh from the Denver Street School (DSS). Tom founded the DSS in 1985, as he had a vision for creating a Christian inner-city high school designed to meet the needs of students who had not succeeded in traditional school settings and were considered “at risk” of not graduating.

Initially, Mark began the school with 8 students and 2 volunteers in Widefield. In only a few short months, however, the school moved to a more centrally located Colorado Springs neighborhood and has operated there since 1993. For the first 8 years of its existence, PPA was under the leadership and organizational structure of the DSS. In 2001, Pikes Peak Academy became its own legal entity and is now fully operational as a 501(c) 3 non-profit ministry.