What a great first week of school!  Orientation highlights include a beautiful Senior Sunrise ceremony and the Advisory Pitch Ascent--a fun costumed competition where advisees transported advisors up the hill.  We are so grateful for the amazing cultural leadership we're seeing from our seniors, who are doing beautiful work modeling what engaged citizenship looks like at Animas High School.

Academic classes are now fully underway and we are hearing lots of positive feedback from students.  We ask for everyone's patience and flexibility as we work towards finalizing individual schedules.  Our registrar, Laurel Rodd, has been working hard to accommodate all schedule change requests as they come her way and everything should settle into place next week.  Students received the XBlock sign up form via email today and we will assign XBlock classes early next week.  For a reminder of XBlock choices and costs, please refer to this letter we sent to families yesterday.  XBlock begins next Wednesday afternoon--please be sure students have any necessary gear with them.

	Summer Sanford's 9th grade advisory prepares for the Advisory Pitch Ascent

We have decided to cancel tomorrow's Feathering the Nest work day.  Our campus is looking so fantastic, thanks to the hard work our staff put in before the students arrived, and we felt that we wouldn't have enough meaningful projects to fill three hours on a Saturday afternoon.  We apologize for the late notice!  There are a small handful of campus projects that we could use help tackling, including a bit more painting and some landscaping work.  If you have a bit of extra time and would like to help, please contact our assistant head of school at libby.cowles@animashighschool.com.

seniors Dylan King and Morgan Voorhees share their musical talent at all-school meeting

Looking ahead to next week, we'd like to invite all parents to celebrate back-to-school in true Durango style with a hike on the Twin Buttes trails Wednesday morning.  Meet at the trail head in the lower AHS parking lot at 8:30 and hike as short or as far as your schedule allows.  Thanks to Leigh Bright, parent of Cady (class or 2019) and Quinn (class or 2021) for organizing this fun and casual way for AHS parents to meet up!

Next Wednesday evening from 5:00 to 7:00, AHS college counselor Jess Adams will host a Senior College Night for seniors and their families where she will provide information and advice about the college application process, financial aid, scholarships and more.  All seniors and their families are strongly encouraged to attend.

The junior class will go to Haviland Lake next Thursday after school for an overnight camping trip; please refer to this letter for all the details.  Sophomores head out on a camping trip the following week--Wednesday, September 6 through Friday, September 8.  For details about that trip, refer to the letter that went home with sophomores here.

	th grader Ainsley Haggart shows her Osprey pride in preparation for this weekend's race

For those of you who might be shopping for school supplies this weekend, please consider doing your shopping at the Durango Office Depot.  When you check out at the register, mention that you'd like part of your purchase to go to Animas High School and they will make a donation to our school.  Also, if you use Amazon for any kind of shopping, please consider signing up for the Amazon Smile program.  If you choose AHS as your designated charitable organization, the school receives 0.5% of all eligible purchases.  It's easy to sign up, costs you nothing and every dollar helps us ensure we continue to offer the best education possible.  If you have questions or ideas about how to support our school, please reach out to Ashley Hein at development@animashighschool.com.

Finally, we want to wish good luck to the AHS mountain biking team, who has their first race of the season this Sunday in Frisco.  Fly fast, Ospreys!