NEWS FROM THE NEST  
March 4, 2016
sending the juniors off to LINK at the end of the day today
Greetings Osprey Community,

And they're off!  All AHS juniors are spreading their wings and leaving the nest for  LINK Internships, where they'll work alongside a wide variety of professional mentors locally, across the country and even internationally for the next three weeks.  Ospreys will be getting hands-on professional experience with writers, graphic designers, musicians, doctors, lawyers, artists, scientists, engineers, architects, business entrepreneurs and more.  LINK is a unique student-driven opportunity to dive deeply into a full-time work experience, allowing our students to pursue passions, build professional skills and assess college and career goals.  Kudos to LINK program coordinator Janae Hunderman for all her excellent work helping our juniors land an amazing range of internships this year.   We can't wait to hear how they grow, what they learn and how LINK will impact future career and college paths.  

All 9th and 10th grade students will engage in some smaller scale college and career exploration of their own next Monday, when they attend the rescheduled PoWeR Career Fair at Fort Lewis College.  We will provide transportation to and from the college, and all students will receive individual schedules Monday morning from their advisors.

students in the iAM Music Exploratory performing in yesterday's lunchtime concert on campus
Monday evening, we hope to see a full house at the Animas City Theatre for a very special event.  AHS Founders are generously sponsoring a return engagement of Most Likely to Succeed, the film that kicked off the conversation this fall about revising our daily schedule to better support rigorous project-based learning.  Doors open at 6:00 for a mini-exhibition of student work.  The film begins at 6:30 and will be followed by a conversation among founders, students, staff and families about the future of education and what lies ahead for AHS.  We highly recommend this event for those who want to learn more about Animas High School; prospective families are encouraged to attend!  Please join us--and bring a friend!

Tuesday morning, the Parent Advisory Committee will meet from 8:30 to 10:00 at Carver's, where they will begin planning for the After Prom Party.  All are welcome!  That evening, seniors and their families should plan to attend the Graduation Meeting at Fort Lewis College's Noble Hall, room 130, from 5:30-6:30.

sophomore Avory France designed the logo Celebrating Healthy Communities has used in their latest campaign
Wednesday evening from 5:30 to 6:30, AHS parents are invited to attend "Know the Facts: Teen Vaping and E-Cigarette Use," a presentation from San Juan Basin Health Department and AHS school counselor Arava Geva, part of our ongoing work to provide substance awareness education opportunities for our students and families.

Finally, please plan to drop by the Powerhouse Science Center next Friday evening between 5:00 and 6:30 for "Why Books?" a student exhibition for Matt Dooely's 9th grade Humanities classes. In response to their study of Ray Bradbury's classic dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, students have created artwork in a variety of media--including theater performance--designed to provoke consideration about the role of literature in our society.  The evening will also feature an interactive presentation in which students share their favorite books of all time, the techniques and literary themes behind their artwork and the gifts that great literature can offer us in an increasingly distracted world.  Learn more here, via the student-created project website, and join us for the event.

Many thanks for all you do to help the Ospreys soar!
Upcoming AHS Events
  • View the 2015-16 AHS School Calendar here  



 
LINK Internship Spotlight: Festival Internacional de Cine
by Ellis McNichol and Janae Hunderman

LINK Internships begin on Monday for the Class of 2017 and some students have already left town to begin their adventures, including Dana Stahl. For her internship, she is venturing to Alamos, Mexico with John Sheedy, the director of the Festival Internacional de Cine.   For the first five days, Dana will be partaking in the film festival's enthusing environment, meeting filmmakers, learning in workshops and hopefully getting interviews. The rest of the time frame she will be living with an American who started a medical clinic. Every sunrise, Dana will horseback into small, remote villages and provide medical assistance. She may also create a garden and teach English. After coming back across the border, Dana hopes to create a video from her experience that showcases her polished camera skills. Dana is also very interested in the beautiful musical culture in Alamos. The community loves art, but doesn't have the money to fund it, thus Dana hopes to create some type of donation to send back musical love to Alamos, where she will evidently find another piece of her soul. That's what happens when you travel, folks!

Sophie Meiers has also begun her LINK adventure already, interning with a freelance artist, and she sent this email last night:
"WHOAH !!! I'M in NEW YORK as we speak and it is glorious. This has been one of the biggest days of my life and this LINK Internship has opened SO many opportunities for me I can't thank you enough. I am bursting with joy and creativity and energy this is an entirely different world and I am so in love!"  
Check out the LINK map here to see where students will be spending the next few weeks!

Graduation Meeting for Seniors and Families
by Lyle Bryson

Seniors and their families are invited to the Graduation Meeting on Tuesday, March 8 at Fort Lewis College from 5:30-6:30. This gathering will take place in Room 130 of Noble Hall.

Attendees of this event will gather to discuss all aspects of Animas High School's class of 2016 graduation. Agenda items include graduation week events, ordering announcements/invitations online, ordering caps and gowns, reserving tickets for graduation ceremony, ordering graduation photos, and speeches/music for graduation ceremony.

It is strongly encouraged that all seniors and their families try to make it to this event so that we can make this the most beautiful and extravagant graduation possible!


Most Likely to Succeed Screening
by Hannah Langford

Next Monday, March 7, the film Most Likely to Succeed will be screened at the Animas City Theater at 6:00pm. This documentary takes us through the minds behind our standard education system and compares it to more alternative education routes, such as High Tech High, to see which method can better prepare students for the real world
For a little background on the purpose of the film, the standard school system was designed in 1893 with the sole purpose of educating children to be more capable of industrial, blue-collar jobs, and create a more powerful military. That's it. Their purpose was not to develop children prepared to invent the newest form of renewable energy, or work with others to cure cancer; so why are we sticking to this same educational design when so much has changed? The definition of success in the world is vastly different now then it was 122 years ago, but our education system isn't.
High Tech High, which Animas High School is modeled after, offers a completely new way of education. A way that doesn't teach students to just memorize equations but become invested in their education. A way that shows students to learn by doing rather than listening and regurgitating. One persuading factor in the film is the eye-opening evidence. For example, one of the most prestigious, private high schools in the nation asked students, just three months after taking their finals, to re-take them. While the original average was a B+, the average the second time was an F. Not one student was able to recall the information they had "mastered" just a few months before. On the other side, High Tech High doesn't focus on test preparation, yet students consistently test 10% above the national average. Not only that, but since they are in a setting where they are completely immersed in their education, High Tech High students remember what they've learned because they see how it matters.
Animas High School felt the need to present Most Likely to Succeed to aid in starting a conversation in how AHS can use the findings in the film to improve our school, as well as gain input on the new schedule being introduced next year.
Make sure to check out the free film, as well as a small student exhibition beforehand!



For More Photos and Updates...
facebook icon
Contact Us
Phone: (970) 247-2474
Fax: (970) 247-2483
www.animashighschool.com