A Bird's Eye View is a monthly newsletter designed to keep our community updated on the progress of our most exciting project to date--building Animas High School's permanent campus at Fort Lewis College.
Building Our New Nest: Project Updates

Our Campus Construction Project has made exciting progress in the past month!

  • With Ballot Measure 4A passing by a wide margin, Durango voters expressed their overwhelming support for schools and brought us $2.5 million closer to funding our new campus. We are just $1.9 million from fully funding our project. If we can raise just $4.4 million more, we can move into our new building in the fall of 2022 debt-free. Thank you, Durango voters, for passing this measure with over 70% of the vote!

  • We are interviewing 4 finalists next week in our search for the Architect who will design our building. Interest in our project was high, with 9 firms submitting proposals.

  • The Request for Qualifications/Proposal for our General Contractor will be released in the next few weeks.

  • In partnership with Fort Lewis College, we have identified the specific 3-4 acre building site where our future home will be constructed.

For more information about the AHS Campus Construction project timeline and process, please visit http://animashighschool.com/new-building-information/

We seek full transparency and equity in our hiring and awarding of contracts, and therefore will not meet with potential vendors outside of our Request for Proposals and interview processes.
How to Get Involved

  • Join the Design Advisory Board now! The DAG will consist of roughly 12-14 students, staff, parents and community members who will meet regularly to provide advice on the construction of our new facility project during concept design, schematic design, and design development. They will review designs and master plan for alignment with AHS’ mission, vision, and values. Feedback will also be sought on schedules, budgets, materials, phasing, site layout, risk mitigation, construction, value engineering and project delivery methods. To learn more or express your interest in joining, email our Head of School at sean.woytek@animashighschool.com.


  • Help with a capital campaign to help raise additional funding; stay tuned for more details and reach out to Jeff or Sean if you'd like to get involved on the ground floor.
Osprey Voices
Each month, we interview an AHS community member to hear their thoughts about plans for our future home. This month, we visited with Wyllow Hildner, AHS Class of 2020. During her 4 years at Animas, along with participation in Student Council, she was involved in the planning process for the creation of the new campus, serving as the Student Representative in AHS Building Corporation meetings. Wyllow is currently attending Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona, studying business marketing, with a plan to graduate in 2024.


What do you love most about being an Osprey?
Now that I have “left the Nest,” I am finding that my favorite part of being an Osprey is the community that it creates for you while attending and after graduation. I was able to find “my people” in both the teachers and the students, and it created supportive relationships that have lasted beyond high school.
 
What brought you to AHS?
I attended Animas High School simply because my older brother was attending, but I stayed because I felt like it was going to set me up for success. Between the student-teacher relationships, small-community feel, and academic freedom, I was engaged in my education and excited to be an Osprey on a daily basis.

How did your AHS education set you up for success in college?
After having just one semester of university classes under my belt, I can easily say that Animas excels at preparing students in the humanities department. I found that I was exceptionally more confident and able than my peers to write thoughtful, compelling thesis papers and give polished, professional presentations. Additionally, in my experience, I have noticed how the classes at Animas either match or were even more rigorous than similar classes I have taken at NAU, particularly in the mathematics department.
 
How do you see AHS positively impacting our community?
I think Animas greatly contributes to our community just by helping to shape students into thoughtful, engaged members of society. On campus and off, they give each individual student an empathetic support system, encouragement to be themselves, a place to bring their interests into their education and pretty much anything else that particular student may need. And when you are surrounded by this environment daily, you can’t help but become more of an asset to every community you are a part of.
 
What's most exciting to you about AHS receiving the BEST Grant and moving forward with plans to build at Fort Lewis College?
When I heard the news that AHS had finally received the BEST Grant after multiple attempts, I was thrilled. It was a particularly special victory for me after having spent some of my Junior year at AHS envisioning the ideal future campus alongside members of the AHS Building Corp. When working with stakeholders, such as students, parents, and other community members, they all consistently valued a campus built for creative freedom and exploration without barriers. And I could not imagine a better location than neighboring Fort Lewis College for prioritizing these values. With a partnership between AHS and FLC, the resources and opportunities available to Animas students will increase tenfold. It’s the perfect environment for Animas’ physical expansion, as well as for the expansion of students’ academic possibilities.
 
Where do you envision AHS in 10 years?
In 10 years, I see Animas thriving in their new building with a team of dedicated and passionate teachers and staff. I see Animas as the most respected and preferred high school in the area and beyond, with a reputation built on their community of happy, knowledgeable, engaged students. I see the projects being pushed steps further due to the expansion of resources, and I see every students’ needs continuing to be met. I hope to walk onto the new campus for the Class of 2020’s 10-year reunion in 20230 and be so excited for (and just a tad jealous of) the students that get to learn in this environment.