News from the Nest

Dear Osprey Community,

We hope to see you at Steamworks next Tuesday, November 13, for our Ospreys Dining Out fundraiser! Stop by for a meal any time that day and AHS will receive a donation to support our school. This is just one of 10 Ways to Give Back to AHS--please consider supporting a great local business while supporting our school.

It's an exciting time at AHS, with the recent release of information about our Master Planning Process. We have hired Humphries Poli Architects to guide us through the process and the Design Advisory Group will have their first meeting next Wednesday afternoon at 3:30. We are inviting all parents, alumni and community supporters to a Community Meeting next Thursday at 5:00, with a goal of gathering input from key stakeholders as we envision our permanent campus and facility. Our goal is to design a campus that embodies and supports our unique mission, vision and values and we welcome your input. Please read below for more details about how you can get involved.


juniors Clara Wolf, Calvin Chase, August Gates and Gretta Stahl, illustrating stories written by Animas Valley Elementary School 4th graders; Britt's Drawing students will read the stories at AVE once they are complete

The AHS Board of Directors meets next Wednesday evening from 5:30 to 8:00 at AHS. The Board will be participating in the Master Planning Process at next week's meeting. As always, Board Meetings are open to all.

Please join us for Tina Hott's Physics exhibition next Thursday at 4:00 in Twin Buttes. The Trebuchet Tournament is bound to be an entertaining showcase of 9th graders' understanding of projectile kinematics as they compete to see who's handcrafted siege machine uses counterweights to propel an object the furthest. All are welcome!

We posted Osprey Week groups today, and they can be viewed here. Scholarship applications are due next Wednesday, November 14. Osprey Week group leaders will email families next week with more details about meeting times, payment due dates and more.


	seniors Owen Hickerson and Corbin Reinhardt with the Aloe Book created by the Creating Cultural Capital elective students--check it out in the Main Office next week after it's unveiled at Wednesday's NEST Meeting

The Center for Teaching Quality published a piece our Head of School wrote this week, entitled Leading with the why: The importance of a mission-driven school. Sean is steadfast in his ability to root all decisions and conversations in our school's mission. As he says in the article, " Most educators get into the profession to make a difference. Our why is what compels us to enter a profession that has a 50 percent turnover rate within the first five years. We persist because of those lightbulb moments that our students have. Our former students write us letters, stop in for a visit, or run into us at the grocery store and tell us how impactful we were. These are the moments that keep us going. What I have seen is that these moments increase exponentially when educators find their fit in a mission-driven school." Read the whole piece here.

Finally, look for students to bring home order forms next week for our Desert Sun Coffee Fundraiser. We're partnering with this generous locally-owned business, which roasts organic and ethically-traded coffee right here in Durango, to help close our school funding gap. We'll provide prizes for students and advisory groups who sell the most coffee November 14 through December 7, with deliveries on December 12--in time for holiday gift giving! Please consider purchasing this delicious coffee from our students as an easy way to support our school.

Have a good weekend and thanks for all you do to help the Ospreys soar!

Seeking Community Input in Designing Our Permanent Campus and Facility

As we shared in an email earlier this week, we are very excited to be beginning the Master Planning process for a new permanent home for Animas High School! Over the next three months we will be working with a design team from

Humphries Poli architects to help us turn our needs and dreams for a new campus into a realistic plan. It is our aspiration that this new campus will be a model for schools throughout the region and that it will further support all other aspects of what we do as we strive to prepare all students

for college and postsecondary success by creating critical thinkers and engaged citizens through an innovative, student-centered, project-based curriculum.

Next week, the first in a series of several stakeholder community meetings will take place. These initial meetings, dubbed "Mind-breaking" meetings, are intended to be a structured brainstorming process to identify our collective vision and values. A separate meeting will take place for each of the following four stakeholder groups: students, staff, the AHS Board of Directors and parents/alumni/community members. The
parent, alumni and community member meeting will be on Thursday November 15th from 5:00-6:30
in Stephen Sellers' room in the Michael Ackerman Wing . If you are interested in attending please bring four photographs with you that do the following:

1. Represent the Community--what makes Durango/AHS special to you

2. Represent your Vision for the school

3. Best depicts Durango/AHS culture

4. Represents your view of a perfect school

We are also still looking for 1-2 parents interested in participating on the Design Advisory Group (DAG). This group is comprised of approximately 13 individuals representing each of the key stakeholder groups: students, staff, administration, the school board, parents and community members. The DAG will act as a recommending body to the Board and serve as an intermediary between stakeholder groups and the design team.

DAG members will be expected to attend stakeholder meetings as well as separate DAG meetings 3-4 times throughout the master planning process. DAG members may also hold listening sessions with community members in a variety of contexts such as Exhibitions, parent coffees etc. Their first DAG meeting has been rescheduled for

Wednesday November 14th from 3:30-4:30 in Stephen Sellers' room. If you are interested or would like more information please email steve.smith@animashighschool.com. In your email please share why you are interested in participating on the DAG and what you envision contributing to the DAG. The current members of the DAG will review all submissions and notify applicants by Monday, November 12

Career and College Corner

Jess Adams was recently interviewed for a story on DurangoTV about how colleges are looking beyond test scores and GPA in their admissions decisions. Check it out here.

Colleges Looking Beyond GPAs, Test Scores

Giving Back to AHS

There are no shortage of ways to give back to AHS--please pick the way that fits best for you!

ENJOY A MEAL: OSPREYS DINING OUT FUNDRAISER

Next Tuesday at Steamworks!

Support local business and support our school!

We are collaborating with 10 local restaurants for Ospreys Dining Out events. Eat at the designated restaurant on the day of the fundraiser and AHS gets a percentage of your bill.