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C.H.I.P.S.
As I'm not a resident of Colorado, it took me a couple of years to figure out what CHIPS was. I knew from my research that Dylan was involved in this program but that's about it. More research and a little help from a student who went to Columbine finally shed light on the mystery. I'd received an email from the student about another matter and thought it couldn't hurt to ask. Here's what they told me:
It stands for "Challenging High Intellectual Potential Students". I think it's primarily for late grade school and middle school ages. One of my best friends, [name removed*] sat next to him in that class. He had the same description for him [Dylan] as most I've heard, "real nice guy, a little bit dorky". There's very little information on the web about the program. I suspect that after the press it recieved from the Columbine incident they either discontinued it or changed it's name.
Knowing [name of student's friend removed*], I'd say you have to be pretty gifted to get into the program. He was a [child prodigy*] when he was 14 when I met him, and probably younger. I'm not sure what the requirements were exactly to get in, but it's a safe bet that Dylan was extremely intelligent.
Well, there's still very little about the program on the web but they haven't discontinued or changed the name of the program. You can find mention of it in Colorado School Guides glossary and I found the following description on the web as well, from someone who attended the program (all spelling errors are as they appeared in the original author's entry):
..I got transferred to an experimental program for gifted and talented students. Of course diagnosing who's really creative and who's just an ADD psycho at that age is impossible, so my class had a little of both. It was called CHIPS (for Challenging High Intellectual Potential Students). And it was great. If you wanted to go to the bathroom, you didn't have to raise your hand, you just went. If you got all your work done by Thursday, you could whatever you wanted all day on Friday (legally we still had to come to school - or at least arrange our own field trips). We could go as fast and as far we wanted. I had licked Algebra and Trig by the time I finished 6th grade. Teachers didn't make the rules as much as they were agreed on in open committees. It was crazy. The only real drawback - it only lasted thru 6th grade.**
I wonder what the transition for Dylan was like, from the CHIPS program into regular junior high. It must've been real hard. The fellow who wrote the above went on to say:
Suddenly I was in junior high. Having to pretend to be re-learning all this crap. Knowing none of this people who all grew up together. Bored. Scared. I pissed my pants a couple of times in seventh grade, simply because I was too embarrassed to ask for a hall pass. Didn't exactly gain a great reputation.**
This fellow never knew Dylan; he didn't even attend the same school. But I would guess his experiences weren't all that different from Dylan's. The major difference is that the fellow above is alive today and making music based on his experiences, and having a good time to judge from the rest of his bio. Dylan.. is dead.
* edited to protect the uninvolved individual's privacy
** excerpted from RockyMountainNews.com (link no longer works)
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