Osprey Voices
What attracted your family to AHS? Ce guided much of her educational path and as parents we were comfortable with her instincts and with the ultimate direction she wanted to take. She had attended Durango Montessori and the early days of Mountain Middle. Every year Ce's drive in school increased and her desire to continue with a project-based education was what attracted us to AHS.
How did AHS prepare Ce for life after high school? AHS provided Ce with many valuable tools for her educational toolbelt (had to tie in the pre-construction terminology!) for preparation after high school. In our mind the one tool that has had the most impact on her post high school success was self-advocacy. Ce stepped into college life and “real world” Covid life with a strong capacity for self-advocacy. She understands what she needs and is not afraid to go after it. Ce was also well prepared in high school to present work clearly and succinctly not only in college but in her internship last summer with a solar start up.
Another critical item that AHS excels at is producing excellent writers that are prepared for the next step. Ted's sister, Lee Ann Harbison, is a biology professor at Fort Lewis College and she is always able to pick out the AHS students by the quality of their written work!
How do you see AHS positively impacting our community? AHS provides a choice for our area's high school students.This is important because there are many different types of learning styles and learners in any population. But this is even more important because it allows different schools to excel at different areas of focus. One school does not have to try to be the best at everything. Each school can excel in a different way, and in this way AHS makes all of the high schools better thus having an overall positive impact on our community. Student involvement in the community either through service projects, LINK internships, Sophomore Inspire Week or presentations allows students to interact with community members which has a lasting and meaningful impact with our community and for AHS students.
What's most exciting to you about AHS building our permanent campus at Fort Lewis College? We feel that every class that has graduated was hopeful that they would be graduating from AHS's permanent home. The road has been long and dotted with large obstacles. The most exciting chapter for AHS is the unlimited possibilities that a permanent home and the close proximity to FLC can unlock! For example, Steve Smith can have extra lab time, longer labs = longer reports = even more preparation for college-level classes and labs--now that is exciting to us! Joking aside, there is not just one thing that is the most exciting to us, there will be hundreds of amazing experiences and ideas that will pop up with a permanent AHS campus.
Where do you envision AHS in 10 years? We envision that AHS will be nationally recognized for not only academic achievement and local and national college placement, but also for continually charting a positive path for students to engage with the community that surrounds and prepares them to take flight from the Nest. From teacher involvement, community interaction, unique learning experiences with Osprey Week, AHS students will continue to be presented with what is stimulating about our region and our community. We envision AHS students will have great stories to take with them and share at colleges across the country.