Thanks to everyone who participated in our first Ospreys Dining Out event of the year by eating at Grassburger this week! We love encouraging folks to support local businesses who support our community and we're grateful to Grassburger owners Jessie and Ed Killeen (parents to Perrin, AHS class of 2017) for partnering with us on this fundraiser. Please stay tuned for upcoming Ospreys Dining Out events throughout the year--we hope to host ten to celebrate our tenth year as a school! 

Our Board of Directors will meet next Tuesday evening, 5:30 to 7:30; all are welcome to attend.  

We are excited to welcome three exciting guest speakers to campus next week. On Wednesday afternoon during Advisory period, national speaker Nathan Harmon will speak with our students during NEST Meeting. Many thanks to local child and family psychologist Dr. Doug Miller, who invited Nathan to Durango to speak at several schools our community as a way of doing his part to address mental health and suicide prevention. Nathan's message-- Your Life Speaks--is based on his personal experiences overcoming addiction, self-harm and suicidal thoughts and the changes he make after a drunk driving accident resulted in the death of his friend and his incarceration. We anticipate that this will be a powerful presentation and we're grateful for the opportunity to share it with our school community.

Acacia Bryson has lunch with her mentees Adrian Griffith and Jack Tescher at this week's kick off of the Bridge Program, which pairs all 9th graders with a senior mentor

Thursday, two historian-actors, Hank Fincken and Doug Mishler will speak with students in character as Thomas Edison and Teddy Roosevelt, respectively, thanks to our partnership with the Chautauqua program through the Colorado Humanities. We've welcomed Chautauquan scholars to Animas in the past, and it's a really fun andengaging way to interact with history. Advanced Physics, Advanced Chemistry and Scientific Research elective students will speak with Edison during 1st period and all juniors will meet Roosevelt after lunch during 5th period. 

Next Friday, juniors will head up to Fort Lewis College with Steve Smith for their first Chemistry Lab of the year. We are grateful for our ongoing partnership with the college and the FLC Chemistry Department, providing our students with valuable collegiate experiences at state-of-the-art lab facilities.

Please save the date for our Back-to-School Picnic, which is the weekend after this one, Saturday September 22, from 5:30 to 7:00 at Rotary Park. We'd love to see current families, alumni and friends for an evening of food and fun. Please plan to bring something to contribute to the pot-luck meal. Sean will use this gathering to share his annual State of the School Address, reflecting on where we are thriving and goals for moving forward as a school celebrating our tenth year in our community.

	Bliss Bruen, in blue on left, with AHS founders and early leaders Barbara Heinrich, Jim Judge, Jesse Hutt, Holly Jobson, Holly Sure, Phil Bryson, Gisele Pansze and Amy Hewitt

Finally, we want to share our deep sadness about the news that Bliss Bruen, who along with her husband Jim Judge played a key leadership role in founding Animas High School, passed away earlier this week. As co-founder Gisele Pansze puts it, "Bliss contributed so much to our community. She was a force to be reckoned with! When she believed in something, she pursued it with her whole heart. The founders of Animas are grateful for her and Jim's experience and positivity. Animas High School is a better school because of her involvement." Founding teacher and current Board Member Colleen Dunning expressed her appreciation for "her supportive and allied approach to assisting AHS teachers in making the school a success." Our thoughts are with Jim and all of Bliss' family and friends at this difficult time.

We hope you all have a restful weekend. Thanks for all you do to help the Ospreys soar!