Treasure Mountain Middle School seventh-grader Lindsey Frear was giddy with glee when Principal Dr. Brian Schiller’s voice exulted out of a megaphone during recess in 1982. A giant inflatable Earthball globe — 6 feet in diameter — passed over the eager students in the open field between the middle and high schools.
Most were still under 60 inches tall, but they made up for what they lacked in height with enthusiasm and curiosity.
Schiller, now 77, subscribed to the philosophy that kids who are having fun in school are more likely to learn. So, that’s how he approached his job as the first principal of Treasure Mountain, a role he served in until 1992.
The students were participating in a new activity created by Schiller called GOOBAP. The silly name was enough to entice even the most blasé of preteens. Yet they didn’t actually know what the acronym meant until the day of the games: Get Off Our Butts And Play.
“It was an honor to help shape lives,” Schiller said.
Later known as Treasure Mountain International School, and now Treasure Mountain Junior High, generations of students and families have passed through the building’s front doors over the past 43 years, including Frear’s — now Jacobson’s — children.
The mother of two’s time at Treasure Mountain was among “the best years” of her life. Though she now lives in Midway and works as an English teacher at Wasatch High School, Jacobson returned to her alma mater, an old yearbook tucked into her purse, to bid farewell to the building and the educators who inspired her.
“It was such a magical, mountain town experience,” Jacobson said. “It was life-changing.”
Closing Treasure Mountain had been debated for more than a decade, but the approval of a $79 million general obligation bond in 2021 and a steady decline in enrollment led district officials to close the junior high at the end of the 2024-25 school year.
Park City community members gathered Wednesday afternoon, surrounded by brick and beige walls, green khaki floors and double-stacked lockers, to say goodbye to an institute beloved by many, one that holds living memories of lessons learned in and out of the classroom.
Schiller was the principal of Carl Winters Middle School in 1981 before Treasure Mountain Middle School opened. He moved there for the 1982-83 school year with 340 students. At first, only the southern portion of the building was open to students as construction finished.
Schiller wore a suit or sports coat with a different tie every day and strived to raise the caliber in the Park City School District. His former office is now used for attendance, but in the early years, there was a garage door that rolled up. Schiller said he liked to keep it open so he was a visible, friendly face for the kids to see. He certainly was for a young Frear.
He grew up in Michigan, but Schiller found himself looking for new job opportunities after earning his PhD and finalizing a divorce. There were five offers, mostly in the Midwest, but he was drawn to the Park City area.
Schiller visited the small town and was enthralled with the Kimball Art Center, which was on Main Street at the time. Then he stopped into the Alamo (now the No Name Saloon) for a beer, which easily became two as he chatted away with the bartenders.
“I felt something clicked,” Schiller said.
He recalled that schools in Utah were a mess in the 1970s, and Schiller felt he could bring a newfound sense of professionalism to the district through a progressive, humanistic approach and democratic leadership style. He implemented annual evaluations for faculty and provided professional development opportunities so teachers could become lifelong learners. He even allowed the staff to create a daycare for their kids to maximize the space in the building.
Schiller also emphasized the importance of the three main domains of education: cognitive, affective and psychomotor. These categorize what’s being learned, how it’s being learned, and what skills students are developing.
While cognitive addresses mental skills and knowledge acquisition, Schiller said he views the affective domain as the most important for middle school students because it involves learning empathy, working collaboratively and accepting diverse ideas. As preteens, the students are starting to learn how they feel about themselves and how to treat others — which sets the stage for their future development.
“There’s an interesting mix at that age. One minute you’d see an eighth grader trying to kiss a girl by his locker, and the next he’d be on all fours pushing a toy truck on the floor,” Schiller said with a smile.
Kerrie Meier, a past Treasure Mountain Middle School student, remembered her principal as an engaged leader who often participated in recess and taught outdoor education.
Schiller said he saw attending recess as part of his job. It’s a time when educators can see students’ true behavior because the kids aren’t under the same classroom structure. Teachers can get a better picture of who isn’t nice or who might be excluded by their peers.
The same is true for lunch. So Schiller stopped by the dining room every day.
He said he remembers that hamburgers were on the menu the second day the cafeteria was open, though he never actually ate a school lunch. A student filled a partition on the lunch tray to the brim with ketchup and managed to trip on the flat, carpeted floor — the students were a little awkward as they developed their psychomotor skills — and created a crimson red puddle on the brand-new carpet. Custodians tried everything to remove the stain, but it stayed as a memorial for at least the next decade.
“You never got in trouble,” Schiller said to Meier. She quipped, “At least not in middle school!”
Her husband, Sam Harris, the owner of Sammy’s Bistro, joked that he spent many a day in Schiller’s office. His most common offense: running and literally jumping off the school’s walls. Not an atypical behavior for a 13-year-old boy in hindsight.
Student enrollment grew dramatically during Schiller’s tenure. The middle school originally served fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grade classes but expanded to include kindergarten and fourth grade when the other buildings ran out of room. For a time, district offices were also housed there.
By the time Schiller left, Treasure Mountain was nearly at capacity with 880 students. The Park City School District has the opposite problem today.
Schiller sees that as the biggest challenge administrators face. He said many families with young children can’t afford to live in Park City anymore because of the high cost of living. The median price of a single-family home within the city limits was $3.9 million during the first quarter of 2025, according to the Park City Board of Realtors.
In turn, the declining enrollment has led district officials to impose cost-saving measures such as cutting positions and pulling $2.6 million from the district’s reserves to preserve programming.
As one of the oldest buildings in the district, Treasure Mountain’s closure also falls in line with the district’s strategic plan. Ecker Hill Middle School and Park City High School will be expanded to accommodate eighth graders and freshmen.
A new athletics facility with fields, called Treasure Mountain Sports Complex, will be built where the junior high currently stands as part of the district’s athletics master plan. Construction is scheduled to start this summer.
District officials are still finalizing the details, but they said they hope to incorporate some elements of Treasure Mountain, such as the mustang mosaic mural created by students, at the new athletics facility.