Hello Osprey Community,

Many thanks to all who attended last Saturday's Back-to-School Social, where Sean delivered his annual   State of the School Address, sharing strides we've made in faculty retention, organizational stability, foreign language instruction and substance awareness programming.  Sean also highlighted two areas of focus for this year--creating stronger interdisciplinary projects, supported by our new daily schedule, and further developing our college and career counseling program.  We are grateful to former AHS Board member Melissa Youssef and her husband Jim for generously donating the beautiful venue for the event, the Rochester Hotel's secret garden.  (By the way, c heck out Melissa's newest project--Your Front Row Seat, a blog where she dives into community issues impacting Durango.)

Last Sunday, The Durango Herald published an opinion piece by Kyle Edmondson in which he articulates his belief hat the goal of math instruction should be to engage students in critical thinking and problem-solving while sharing the intrinsic beauty of math and its adult-world relevance.  Kyle is a seasoned educator with over twenty years of teaching experience and we're lucky to have him at AHS.  Read Kyle's column here.

	Jenna Brooks, AHS Class of 2013, back in the nest alongside her Fort Lewis College classmates in the teacher education program, visiting earlier this week to observe our teachers

Speaking of Kyle, he will host an information session on Tuesday of next week at 5:30 in his classroom to let families know more about the trip to Thailand that he'll offer during  Osprey Week and Spring Break this year, March 18 through April 2.  If you'd like to know more but cannot attend, please contact him directly at kyle.edmondson@animashighschool.com.

Next Wednesday during advisory we will have a look at last year's data from the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey (HKCS), which our students took.  The statewide survey is designed to help us understand what factors support teens making healthy choices.  For parents who would like to learn more about the survey and what we can learn from it as a school community, we are hosting an Osprey Parent Talk on October 11 in the AHS Commons, where our school counselor Arava Geva and Spanish teacher/Osprey parent Susy Raleigh will be joined by Lauren Patterson from the Celebrating Healthy Communities Coalition for a dialogue about how families can talk in open and productive ways about high risk behaviors.  Lauren met with our staff last week to help us analyze the HKCS data as well, and we appreciate her ongoing support as we all work together to build developmental assets for our students.

junior Brianna Garcia in the lab

Our juniors had their first Chemistry Lab of the year at Fort Lewis College today.  They were engaged in a mystery substance investigation, using FLC's state-of-the-art chemistry lab facilities, thanks to our partnership with the college.  Doing monthly chemistry labs at FLC helps our students get a taste of the college experience.  Next  Wednesday evening, AHS college counselor Jess Adams will host Junior College Night in the AHS Commons from 5:00 to 7:00.  Juniors and their families are strongly encouraged to attend, as Jess will present valuable information about college entrance exams (ACTs and SATs), how to build the best fitting college list and the process and timeline for college applications.

We hope you can get outside to enjoy some peak fall color this weekend.   Thanks for all you do to help the Ospreys soar!