Animas High School prepares all students for college and postsecondary success by creating critical thinkers and engaged citizens through an innovative, student-centered, project-based curriculum.

AHS Values: Engagement, Challenge, Shared Intellectual Work, Responsibility to Others and Self-Awareness

Greetings Ospreys,

This morning's TWIGS Parent/Caregiver Coffee gave us a chance to hear reflections from families about the first three weeks of the 25/26 school year. Themes we heard included a deep appreciation for the thoughtful, nontraditional approaches faculty take in designing curriculum and gratitude for experiencing kids coming home excited about what they are learning. Thank you to Karen Weidner (mom to sophomore Maison) for providing delicious treats from Antlers on the Creek, her beautiful bed and breakfast along Lightner Creek.

Erin Cummins-Roper had a full house for Wednesday's Senior Career and College Night, and our seniors have wrapped College Essay Boot Camp in Humanities 12. Look for stellar examples of the class of 2026's college application essays in the upstairs hall after Osprey Blocks!

The AHS Mountain Biking Team took off to Eagle early this morning for their second race of the season, which will take place tomorrow. They're heading into the weekend in first place in their division after a strong showing in race #1 two weeks ago in Frisco. Senior Jake Sandau took first for Boys Varsity, Fielder LeCompte took 2nd for 9th Grade Boys and Junior Delyla Kroenung landed in first for Girls Varsity with a seriously incredible 5.5 minute lead over the second place finisher! Training, traveling and camping with the Durango High School team, our Ospreys get great coaching from Durango Devo, including Humanities 11 teacher Alec Johnson. Follow their progress and results on the Colorado High School Mountain Biking League webpage. We hope they ride fast and have fun this weekend!

Three quick requests for our families:

• We have several containers/dishes from last week's Open House in the main office; please remember to pick yours up next week!
• We are seeking a volunteer to help serve lunch on Fridays from 11:30 to 12:30.
• We could use a couple more microwaves for students to heat lunches.

Contact Heather at registrar@animashighschool.com if you can help with lunch or have a microwave to donate.

Coming Up Next at the Nest

Osprey Blocks start on Monday!

These three-week, interdisciplinary, immersive classes include lots of off-campus excursions to connect classroom learning to the outside world, and students will be heading off to a wide range of locations next week, including sailing at Lake Nighthorse with Sail Durango, pack rafting on the Colorado River with boats donated by Alpacka Raft, rock climbing at Gravity Lab and local spots XRock and Sailing Hawks, going on retreat to explore the art and writing of the desert at Deer Hill Expeditions basecamp in Mancos and flying to Baja California for Spanish language and culture immersion.

We love Osprey Blocks for the way they forge strong relationships and allow students to do a deep dive into a subject in a world or fragmented attention. We're looking forward to three weeks of out-of-the-box teaching and learning!

Our Advancement Committee meets Tuesday at 9am. This committee supports the long term viability and sustainability of the school through strategic planning and the implementation of best practices in fundraising, enrollment management, and marketing and communication. Interested in learning more or possibly joining the committee? The meeting is open to all, or reach out to libby.cowles@animashighschool.com.

Spanish 4 Students Connect with Columbian "Sister School"

Wave G. Frazer '27, Animas Quill Media

Animas High School’s Spanish 4 students have recently begun a cross-cultural connection with a small public school in Colombia. Profe Kat Jackson, one of our two Spanish teachers, affectionately refers to it as our “unofficial sister school.”

Each year, the Tomás Carrasquilla Technical Industrial Educational Institution, in Santo Domingo, Colombia (located 1.5 hours from Medellin), hosts a special celebration known as “English Day,” dedicated to promoting English language learning among students. In honor of this year’s celebration, the school’s English Teacher, Carlos Gonzales-Gomez, reached out to Animas High School with a special request: a video greeting from our students to help commemorate the occasion. In response, the Spanish 4 class enthusiastically collaborated to create a video message—spoken entirely in Spanish—wishing their peers in Colombia a joyful and successful English Day.

Profe Kat shared, “I am so thrilled to have this opportunity for students. It gives real value to language learning. We can share about ourselves and learn about others from another country in both languages.”She intends to continue the collaboration by doing video chats or pen pals with the Colombian students to practice more real-life situations, practicing speaking English and Spanish.

Senior Kenna Howe reflected on the experience: “It was cool to make a connection with students from another country who are learning similar things as us. I hope we get to continue this relationship!”

Juniors Consider Faulty Scientific Methodology

Addysen Gallup '27, Animas Quill Media

Last week in Madi Lloyd’s Chemistry class, the juniors created PSAs evaluating scientific case studies for their faulty methodology. The juniors’ job was to take a scientific case study that could be junk science and make a public service announcement informing the public in a creative way.

The students had to analyze the facts of the case, explain why the methodology was flawed, and design a message to communicate it to a public audience. 

The essential questions for this project were: How do we evaluate scientific claims for validity? How do we know what is true? 

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Madi shared her goal and outcomes for this project: “My goals were for the students to learn the difference between really high quality scientific methods and things that may sound scientific, but are not particularly scientific when you dig into the details?” 

Juniors expressed what they took away from this project and how examining the case studies helped them develop more understanding of the idea. Junior Zoe Boespflug shared their learning from this project: “I now know how to check sources in a way that isn’t just what we have learned in Humanities.“ 

Students got creative with their projects, creating a variety of products from infographics to rap songs to parody videos. Check out the videos on the Quill’s Instagram and YouTube channels!

Beyond the Bell

Zoë Boespflug '27, Animas Quill Media

Over the summer of ‘25, Animas High School collaborated with several local figures on the new 7-episode podcast Beyond the Bell. 

Interim Director of Enrollment & Community Outreach Libby Cowles says, “The podcast is a series of community conversations with educators, community leaders, parents, students, people who are concerned with supporting youth in the world that exists today.” 

Beyond the Bell consists of multiple discussions that focus not only on students' education, but prioritizes how students can grow as involved people in the world, outside of academics. 

Drew Semel was really instrumental in producing the podcast, as well as Greg Phillips on the board of directors and former AHS student Aspen Machicek, who works with Drew at Illuminarts. 

Some of the individuals included in the podcast are: Former state representative Barb McLachlin, CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of the Southern Ute Reservation Bruce LeClair, Lori Fisher, Elliot Baglini, Erin Cummins-Roper, Shane Voss executive director of Mountain Middle School. The podcast is co-hosted by Phillips and Michael Rendon, Fort Lewis College professor of Political Science and Sociology.

“The beginning of each episode starts with a conversation with a young person, so you’ll hear some familiar voices--Asia Autrey, Cassidy Hayden, and some alumni that have graduated a few years ago have also been interviewed. All of the episodes are linked on the AHS website, and there's a space to comment on each episode. In a perfect world, people would be listening to this and then writing a little bit about what they thought.” 

North College Drive Closure Starting Septemeber 15

Starting September 15, North College Drive will be closed 8am to 6pm for paving operations on the road. The road will remain open on weekends. The recommended alternate route to access AHS during the road closure is East College Drive or Goeglein Gulch Road.Weekly updates on construction are available through the City of Durango's Orange Cone Report and general construction information can be found on the Engage Durango website.

Enjoy the weekend and thanks for all you do to help the Ospreys soar!

Upcoming Events

Osprey Blocks: Mon. 9/8 through Thurs. 9/25

Advancement Committee Meeting: Tues. 9/9, 9am

School Excellence Committee Meeting: Tues. 9/16, 12pm

AHS Board Meeting: Wed. 9/17, 5:30pm

AHS Class of 2015 Reunion Weekend: Fri. 9/19 through Sat. 9/20

Professional Development Day (no classes): Fri. 9/26

Fall Break (no classes): Fri. 10/3 through Mon. 10/6

Student-Led Conferences: Thurs. 10/16, 4-6pm

Educational programs, activities, and employment opportunities at AHS are offered without regard to disability, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, family composition, marital status, national origin, religion, ancestry or need for special education services.