Saturday, December 05, 2009
Bob Yearout looks over essays and artwork by Animas High School students during a fundraiser for the school Wednesday evening at the Strater Hotel. “They’re incredible. It’s college level stuff,” Yearout said of the essays. At right is artwork accompanying an essay entitled “Socialization and Liberation: Blinded By the Light … Or Not,” by AHS student Cori Gianniny.
It's not often - in fact this is the first time in my experience - I receive an invitation quoting Maya Angelou.
That was consistent, however, with the unique approach Animas High School is taking toward education and life.
Every student has a unique learning style and topics that engage his or her enthusiasm. In a school system working with 1,500 students, teachers don't always have time to figure those needs out and meet them.
Enter AHS, the new charter school with a curriculum based on technology and projects. Every student and parent involved with the school is passionate about the new approach, which is a tremendous recommendation in and of itself.
But I also believe that our society needs every student to reach his or her individual level of excellence to be competitive in the world, and for them to live rich and productive lives.
So when I attended the school's “friendraiser" Wednesday at the Strater Hotel, I was delighted to learn more about how the school works. The event was sponsored by Steve Setka and Hollie Dowd.
On display around the room were pieces from the school's first-ever Exhibition, an event that will be held each semester, where students share what they have learned. Projects about self-identity included powerful and beautiful masks accompanied by essays in which students took a thoughtful look at who they are to the world versus who they are inside. There were powerful philosophical statements on stereotypes, dreams and societal influences on how we think about ourselves.
The first assignment for the students - who began the project thinking they are who they are, all on their own - was to watch videos about feral children on YouTube and write an essay. Needless to say, it was an eye-opener.
Students whose masks were on display include Carly Pierson, Bryan Bauer, Dalton Norris, Cori Gianniny, Daniel Fallon-Cyr, Eli Dickinson, Alicia Whiteman, Hannah Quick, Kinjah Monroe and Jenna Brooks.
Graphic novels exploring ancient Greek motifs, such as Jason and the Golden Fleece and Medea, were also exhibited. In addition to some of the above students, Zachary Marqua's and Tucker Leavitt's work was included.
Ian Bowers and Lily Oswald were far more poised than I was as a freshman in high school. They addressed the room full of adults and shared what they like about AHS so far - which is pretty much everything. Bowers said something that is profoundly necessary for becoming a lifelong learner: He has learned to be proactive in his own education; he is learning to use his time valuably; and most powerfully, he thinks the experience is helping him become who he wants to be.
Oswald likes the smallness of the school - only about 75 students right now - and how the projects relate to real life.
Maureen Fallon-Cyr called herself a “very satisfied customer" because the school is teaching her son, Daniel, in the way he learns most naturally - using the Socratic method. He told her one day that because he was being held to a high standard, he was working on the fourth draft of a project, where in the past he would have turned in his first draft and received an 'A' on it. (He eventually did five drafts.) Fallon-Cyr was impressed by one young man at Exhibition who created an electro-magnetic pendulum that didn't work. (He said he could have done it if he had two more weeks - this one could only be on for 20 seconds or it would start a fire.) The idea of showing an attempt and what was learned instead of only focusing on success stories is an important lesson as well.
Dr. Jim Youssef perhaps expressed the way parents felt about the school before it started.
“We vacillated," he said about himself and his wife, former Durango School District 9-R School Board member Melissa Youssef, “because experiments are concerning, especially when it comes to your children."
The couple's son, Nathan, transferred to AHS after spending the first week of school at Durango High School. Youseff said his son told him, “Dad, the work that I'm doing there is relevant."
The budget for the first year of AHS was predicated on having 100 freshmen enrolled this year, and the school fell a little short of the goal, perhaps because of concerns such as the Youssefs had. In Colorado, the money follows the student, and that means there is a shortfall of about $50,000 for the school to finish the year.
Different committed parents have issued one $8,000 matching grant and two $10,000 challenge grants, so the school is more than half way there. (And if parents are willing to put their money into it, that is a terrific endorsement.) If you would like to support the work of the school, send your tax-deductible contributions to Animas High School, P.O. Box 4414, Durango, CO 81302.
