At Denver Academy, our greatest assets are our faculty and staff. They give so much of themselves to help our students achieve their highest potential. It's no wonder that these extraordinary people lead extraordinary lives outside the classroom. 

We invite you to learn a bit more about our faculty and staff through Faculty Features, a series on our amazing teachers. 

This month, please take a few minutes to read the following Faculty Feature on Kris Fritzsche, Arts and Media Coordinator, written by parent volunteer Jennifer Reeve.

There is no typical day for Denver Academy Arts and Media Coordinator Kris Fritzsche, and that's just the way he likes it.

He may start by collaborating with a literature teacher to help high school seniors create life-journey topographical maps to reflect their study of The Odyssey. At the end of the day, he could be coaching a junior who is in the school's new sound studio recording an album. (See the picture that tops this month's Dateline.) In between, there are meetings, teaching his own classes and checking in on teachers.

It all feeds his passion for collaboration and infusing the arts into students' everyday lives.

"One thing I love about my job is...there is always something fun and creative going on," he says. "And our kids are so creative! We get to work with a specialized group of kids who may not always excel at book studies, but they express themselves in so many ways through the arts."

While he has always been in an artistic field��--first as a sculptor then as the education coordinator for the Museum of Outdoor Arts--Fritzsche appears to have found his home at DA. He is in his 11th year after being hired to fill the position of a teacher who had decided not to return after having a baby.

"DA is the model fit for who I am," Fritzsche notes. "I like the teacher autonomy here-the ability to take a program and grow it. And, I have always been compelled to serve a unique population of artistically gifted kids."  

The kids, he says, teach this "big kid at heart" a lot. 

Some years back, Fritzsche says, he was covering an elementary school class for a teacher who was ill.  She had promised the class they would get to finish a big tree they were making out of cardboard, paper and found objects. But as the end of the week neared and the teacher was still sick, the tree wasn't getting done.  When the kids asked Mr. Fritzsche if they could finish the tree and he expressed concern about having enough time to do it, he was reminded by one youngster: "We certainly won't finish it with an attitude like that, Mr. F!"

While he may credit the students for teaching him to be flexible, Fritzsche seems to be quite adept at taking challenges in stride. Three years ago, DA's arts building burned down due to faulty wiring. The good news about the fire, he says, is that the arts team had a lot of input into designing a new building to fit what and how they teach. 

And Fritzsche had a vision: a sound studio to accompany a film studio so students could do voiceovers and sound effects. Donations to the DA Building Fund kick-started funding, he obtained additional grants, and the sound studio became a reality last summer.

Students and teachers are using the new sound studio for podcasts, readers' theatre, voiceovers, sound effects and multi-track recording, and it can be used for just about anything auditory our faculty or students come up with, Fritzsche says.

And while he is now the go-to guy for the sound studio, Fritzche's plan is that it will not remain single-teacher dependent. He is currently training a pool of "sponsor teachers" who will soon be able to help students and other teachers use the studio.

"The faculty at DA are just genuine, wonderful people who are multi-talented. We have so many people here who participate in creative arts on their own time!" he says.

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