As a five-star, top ranked school, Dawson offers a varied extra-curricular and co-curricular independent school program that complements the rigorous college preparatory curriculum. With three student publications, frequent main stage theater productions, a Coffee House cabaret, a unique instrumental ensembles program, three choirs, and a dozen or so clubs, Upper School students will find a dizzying number of activities from which to choose.

Participation in student government begins in Lower School where teachers help students begin to learn about representative government through Town Council. Students are given greater responsibility in Middle School where elected representatives work with faculty supervisors who guide them in their decision making. In the Upper School, students elect class representatives and school officers to Town Council that deals with social and policy issues. Student representatives are also elected to conduct committee, a faculty advised peer disciplinary group.

At Dawson, the arts are almost every day and are as fundamental as science and language to the development of perception and communication. Dawson students develop skills in critical thinking, problem solving, expression, and creativity as they involve themselves in artistic pursuits. Visual arts, music, and theater are integral parts of the program beginning in kindergarten. The arts at Dawson are essential to the complete education of each student - not simply an "extra."

Music opportunities include chorus, instrumental ensembles and music theory. Performing arts opportunities are offered in dance, acting, theater production, and technical theater.

Winterim is a week long opportunity in March for Dawson students to try something completely different. On campus, throughout the state, across the nations, and around the world, students participate in hands-on activities that help them see themselves and others in a new light, in a larger context. Winterim trips embrace education, adventure, and travel, as close as next door, and as far as Japan. Winterim is integrated into the K-12 Dawson curriculum, but the goal is not just the academic knowledge gained: a key goal is the personal growth that happens when students and faculty explore a topic together outside the usual time-and-space boundaries of the classroom.

Physical activities and athletics play a role in the well-rounded education of Dawson students beginning in Lower School, developing balance, agility, coordination, a sense of fairness. Middle school students learn the skills for many sports, emphasizing teamwork and good sportsmanship. In Upper School, participation in team sports is an essential part of the Dawson experience, with 15 varsity sports ranging from soccer and lacrosse, to canoe and kayaking. Dawson plays in the Mile High League, mostly against teams from Boulder, Longmont, Lafayette, Louisville, Niwot, & Superior.

Upper School students publish “The Mirror”, the award winning student newspaper, regularly throughout the school year, the annual literary magazine “Fusion,” and the yearbook.

All students in grades K-12 have the opportunity to be a part of age-appropriate community service projects that are organized by individuals, groups or the Dawson community service program. Last year Dawson students volunteered over 5,000 hours on more than 100 community service projects, giving back to the community by lending a hand with the very young, the elderly, the homeless, and other needy populations in the Boulder County cities of Broomfield, Erie, Louisville, Longmont, Lafayette and beyond!