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Hello 9th Grade Families,
The class of 2026 is preparing for their first major AHS exhibition and will soon embark upon their first high school Presentations of Learning. These end-of-semester events are important milestones for our freshies and we're excited to see what they'll produce to demonstrate their learning!
As the 9th grade team, we wanted to share a few reflections on the first semester of high school with you as we also provide some details about events coming up.
Humanities 9
Cameron's Digital Portfolio
cameron.elder@animashighschool.com
It is time for the 9th grade humanities fall exhibition! This semester we have been learning about the process of socialization and factors that influence our identities. Our learning has centered around these essential questions:
- What is your identity?
- How has your identity been shaped by family, friends, schools, sports, religion, and the media? How much personal choice really goes into shaping our identities?
- How does your vision of your identity match with what the external world sees?
- How can an individual break the harmful cycles of socialization and reinforce the positive cycles of liberation?
This has been an important starting point for our class as it allows students to understand who they are and how to be themselves in our world. To demonstrate and reflect on this learning in personal ways, students have constructed masks and written essays about their identity and what has shaped that in their lives. There are some deep thinkers in this class! It has been so fun to watch them coming to know themselves more and be willing to share who they are with other people. We invite you to join us to appreciate the hard work these young humans have put in for this project and to learn more about who we are as a class of 2026. We hope to also share with you about what we have learned along the way and provide a chance for you to get a bit creative as well!
When: Wednesday November 30 from 5-7pm
Where: Animas High School
Want to help? We are looking for some help with food and drinks. If you can bring some items, please fill out this Google Form and we will be in touch.
Biology
Mike's Digital Portfolio
mike.bienkowski@animashighschool.com
This fall, we have been diving into the question of “What does it mean to belong?” through the lens of biology. We have been exploring ecosystem dynamics through important processes on the land, especially wildfire, and unpacking the idea of “ecological niche” as a scientific exploration of belonging. In their fall projects, students have been profiling an ecologically-important local species and creating an educational resources on the local factors affecting its ongoing presence on the land. We have incorporated interviews with experts from CPW and local nonprofits, technical scientific papers, and field experiences into our projects. Stay tuned for information about our exhibition, coming in the 2nd week of 2nd semester!
A note from Genevieve Buzan-Dansereau...
I am working towards gaining a dual teaching license in secondary science and math through the PEBC Teacher Residency Program, funded through the Boettcher Foundation and have been working alongside Mike in biology this fall. I’ve enjoyed learning from our students as they explore the complex relationships within our local ecosystems and address the question “who belongs on the land?” Every day our students teach me how to speak less and listen more, how to champion student strengths, and how to ask deeper questions. I’m grateful to get to work with such capable young people, and I’m looking forward to continuing that work next semester in Lauren’s math classroom!
Math 9
Lauren's Digital Portfolio
lauren.lucky@animashighschool.com
In Math 9 we are finishing up our unit on laws of exponents, logarithms and scientific notation this week. Students will have 2 days of review after Thanksgiving before taking a final Unit Exam on these topics. I have seen so much growth this semester and all my students are working hard, asking questions and producing beautiful work! Our big accomplishment this semester is completing 8 Problems of the week, a new record at AHS. If you’re in the east building look for some exemplary POW work outside my classroom.
Digital Art
Drew's Digital Portfolio
drew.semel@animashighschool.com
This semester, I've seen our 9th graders transform from chaos to calm, shedding their 8th grade selves and becoming more mature as they learned important digital arts skills through the Teacher Creature and Magazine Cover projects, which you can view in the hallway of the west building during the Humanities exhibition. The class of 2026 has built their digital portfolios and learned digital skills that will help them in the next 3.5 years of high school, including PhotoShop, Illustrator and graphic design. I will miss having them next semester as they head off to different electives in the afternoon, and hope to be able to work with many of them in the future in other digital arts classes!
Thank you for entrusting your students' education with us. We are grateful for them all and for the support you provide for them on the homefront.
With gratitude,
Cameron, Mike, Genevieve, Lauren and Drew
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