poster designed by sophomore Hailey Voss

Greetings Osprey Community,

All School Exhibition is next Thursday from 4:00 to 8:00 here at AHS, and the buildings are buzzing as students finalize their plans for this annual celebration of learning.  In many ways, All School Exhibition takes the place of more traditional final exams; through this culminating event, students are asked to present their learning across academic disciplines by sharing refined, polished work--in professional dress--with an authentic audience.  The entire community is welcome to attend this all-ages event, which will include mural unveilings, live music, socratic seminars, a poetry slam, cooking classes, student-designed physics experiments, a showcase of Senior Projects, dance lessons, nature writing, a talent show from 7:00 to 8:00 and much, much more.  We'll have food and drink available for purchase and live radio coverage from Cody Kopp of 99X.  We are grateful for the generous support of Alpine Bank, our lead sponsor for this event!  You won't want to miss it.

juniors Dana, Emily and Julianne shared their beautiful music with Ospreys at a lunchtime concert today

You may have seen AHS in the news recently with a great article about the AHS Escape Room and an update about enrollment and funding in the Durango Herald,   as well as a letter to the editor in the Durango Telegraph from parent Jessie Kileen expressing her appreciation for LINK internships and a letter from senior Ellen Campbell in the Herald.   We particularly loved reading these words from Ellen: "At Animas, I have grown into my own skin and have found that whoever I am and whoever I want to be is possible."  

Next week is the final week of regularly scheduled classes and we are definitely in the final stretch of the school year.  Osprey Week takes place May 16 through 20; the following week all 9th through 11th grade students will prepare for Transitional Presentations of Learning , which will be individually scheduled for students on May 31 through June 3.  Advisory Olympics and AHS Graduation are on Friday, May 27.  It's a busy month ahead!

	junior Travis Von Tersch preps for his All School Exhibition Chemistry taste test, experimenting with  the scientific properties of two versions of an omelette

Our final Parent Advisory Committee meeting of the year is next Tuesday morning, 8:30 to 10:00 at Carver's.  All current  AHS parents are welcome, and we'd like to extend an invitation to our new Osprey families to join us as well.

Finally, we want to share exciting news about professional development opportunities our staff is pursuing. Carlin Mallman, our outstanding Exceptional Student Services Coordinator, will be on sabbatical next year as she has decided to accept a fellowship at High Tech High's Graduate School of Education, where she will explore the deeply important issue of working with diverse learners in heterogeneously grouped, project-based classrooms under the mentorship of Emilio Torres, HTH's Director of Special Education.  Read Carlin's letter to the community here to learn more.  We are also thrilled that three members of our faculty will attend High Tech High's Summer Institute in June; 9th grade Physics teacher Brian Morgan, 10th grade Humanities teacher Ally Johnson and 11th grade math instructor Hannah Starbuck will travel to San Diego to network with educators, build their practice and learn more about how our model school approaches their respective academic disciplines.  We are lucky to have a staff that continuously embraces and models professional growth.

Many thanks for all you do to help the Ospreys soar!