AHS Weekly Update- Week of January 30th, 2012

Happy Snowdown!

Once Upon a Weekly Update…

American Mathematics Competition
Power Lunch
PAC Meeting
Upcoming Exhibition Events
The College Chronicle- An Upperclassmen Update for 2013
2012-2013 Enrollment


American Mathematics Competition

On Tuesday February 7, 2012, twenty AHS students will participate in the American Mathematics Competition AMC-10 for 9th & 10th grade students and the AMC-12 for 11th & 12th grade students.

The AMC is an annual competition, offering students the opportunity to compete among their peers on a national level by answering 25 math questions involving algebra,geometry, probability and trigonometry in 75 minutes.

Students earning a qualifying AMC score advance to the American Mathematics Examination (AIME). The top students from the AIME may be invited to the USA Mathematical Olympiad.

Power Lunch

Next PowerLunch will be Tuesday Feb. 7th at 11:30 AM in the AHS Physics room with Engineers Without Borders. The Engineers Without Borders (EWB) program at Fort Lewis College travels each summer to Laos and Ecuador to construct simple water systems in poor, rural villages. Beyond construction of the water systems, projects also include community development, education, sanitationprojects, and water quality testing. The Power Lunch Presentation will include an overview of the EWB FLC program and projects, along with colorful pictures from rural villages such as Ganquis, Ecuador and Songhak, Loas. Refreshments will be served!


PAC Meeting

Please join us for the next PAC Meeting, February 6th at 12:30 PM at AHS. The meeting agenda will include discussions on:
Parent Survey Results
STAC update
ALL School Cleaning Day-Feb 10
Sports Equipment Fundraising Sale
Flower Power Fundraising Sale

Upcoming Exhibition Events

9th Grade Rube Goldberg Physics Exhibition
Join our 9th grade physics students for Animas High School's most popular exhibition of the year! Physics students will be presenting their Rube Goldberg projects to the community this Thursday, February 2nd, 2012 from 5:30 to 7:30 at the Durango Discovery Museum!

Model United Nations
Come join us for the 3rd Annual Animas High School Model United Nations Conference. We welcome students, their families and the greater Durango community to AHS to observe 9th graders tackling the world's problems from the perspective of a country they are representing. We will be running two separate simulations this year, one daytime conference on the Palestinian refugee crisis, and an evening conference on Iran and nuclear weapons. We would love you to attend either or both.

Conference #1: Monday, February 6 from 8:15 AM - 11:15 AM Topic: Palestinian Refugees. Location: AHS

Conference #2: Monday, February 27 from 4:30 PM - 7:30 PM Topic: Nuclear Iran. Location: AHS


The College Chronicle- An Upperclassmen Update for 2013

Animas High School is excited to release the College Chronicle Newsletter. The Chronicle has been created to assist the Class of 2013 as they get ready for the college admissions process. Inside the newsletter, students and parents will find a College Admissions Timeline, an update on the AHS College Counseling Dept., an overview of the upcoming LINK program, an extensive listing of Standardized Testing logistics and test prep opportunities. We are excited to provide our Juniors this guiding document and look forward to supporting the Class of 2013 as they work towards post-secondary success! Find the College Chronicle here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/79241341/2013-College-Chronicle

2012-2013 Enrollment

Enrollment for the 2012-13 school year continues at Animas High School. Students and families looking to enroll at AHS should visit www.animashighschool.com and complete an online intent to enroll form. Animas High will hold an enrollment lottery on March 1st, 2012 if the number of interested, in-coming 9th grade students exceeds the school’s enrollment capacity. AHS is also accepting enrollments for a limited number of openings in our 10th and 11th grade classes.

AHS continues to host numerous opportunities for students and their families to learn more about Animas High School.

Thursday Info Night Sessions continue on February 2nd from 5 to 6:30 at campus. Campus Tours run Wednesday afternoons at 1:30.

Student Shadow Experiences are available for prospective students on Fridays throughout the month. Shadow space is limited-
SIGN UP NOW! Please contact the AHS Main Office at 247-2474 to schedule or with questions.




Animas High School Values:

Rigorous academics, where all students are prepared for college success
Culture of excellence, where students are held to high expectations
Strong faculty-student relationships, where students are well known
Engaging learning, where students see the relevance of their education

AHS Weekly Update- Week of January 23rd, 2012

Please take a moment to review the following updates:

National School Choice Week
Upcoming Exhibition Events
The College Chronicle- An Upperclassmen Update for 2013
2012-2013 Enrollment

National School Choice Week

January 22nd through January 28th is National School Choice Week! Please take a moment to visit the School Choice Week homepage and please consider participating in one of the many hundreds of events and advocacy opportunities. Go to http://www.schoolchoiceweek.com/home to show your support for school choice!

Upcoming Exhibition Events

Model United Nations
Come join us for the 3rd Annual Animas High School Model United Nations Conference. We welcome students, their families and the greater Durango community to AHS to observe 9th graders tackling the world's problems from the perspective of a country they are representing. We will be running two separate simulations this year, one daytime conference on the Palestinian refugee crisis, and an evening conference on Iran and nuclear weapons. We would love you to attend either or both.

Conference #1: Monday, February 6 from 8:15 AM - 11:15 AM Topic: Palestinian Refugees. Location: AHS

Conference #2: Monday, February 27 from 4:30 PM - 7:30 PM Topic: Nuclear Iran. Location: AHS

9th Grade Rube Goldberg Physics Exhibition
Join our 9th grade physics students for Animas High School's most popular exhibition of the year! Physics students will be presenting their Rube Goldberg projects to the community on Thursday, February 2nd, 2012 from 5:30 to 7:30 at the Durango Discovery Museum.

The College Chronicle- An Upperclassmen Update for 2013

Animas High School is excited to release the College Chronicle Newsletter. The Chronicle has been created to assist the Class of 2013 as they get ready for the college admissions process. Inside the newsletter, students and parents will find a College Admissions Timeline, an update on the AHS College Counseling Dept., an overview of the upcoming LINK program, an extensive listing of Standardized Testing logistics and test prep opportunities. We are excited to provide our Juniors this guiding document and look forward to supporting the Class of 2013 as they work towards post-secondary success! Find the College Chronicle here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/79241341/2013-College-Chronicle

2012-2013 Enrollment

Enrollment for the 2012-13 school year continues at Animas High School. Students and families looking to enroll at AHS should visit www.animashighschool.com and complete an online intent to enroll form. Animas High will hold an enrollment lottery on March 1st, 2012 if the number of interested, in-coming 9th grade students exceeds the school’s enrollment capacity. AHS is also accepting enrollments for a limited number of openings in our 10th and 11th grade classes.

AHS continues to host numerous opportunities for students and their families to learn more about Animas High School.

Thursday Info Night Sessions continue on January 26th from 5 to 6:30 at campus. Campus Tours run Wednesday afternoons at 1:30.

Student Shadow Experiences are available for prospective students on Fridays throughout the month. Shadow space is limited-
SIGN UP NOW! Please contact the AHS Main Office at 247-2474 to schedule or with questions.




Animas High School Values:

Rigorous academics, where all students are prepared for college success
Culture of excellence, where students are held to high expectations
Strong faculty-student relationships, where students are well known
Engaging learning, where students see the relevance of their education

AHS College Chronicle- An Upperclassmen Update for 2013

2013 College Chronicle

AHS Weekly Updatep Week of January 16th, 2012

We've had an excellent start to semester two here at school! Please take a moment to review the following updates:

AHS Student Happenings & Events

Power Lunch

2012 Project Week Postponed

Animas High on the Airwaves

AHS Enrollment Continues

AHS Student Happenings & Events

Model United Nations Conference I- The first of three 9^th grade MUN conferences will take place Monday, January 30^th

9^th Grade Rube Goldberg Physics Exhibition- Join our 9^th grade physics students at the Durango Discovery Museum on Thursday, February 2^nd.

AHS Student Art Exhibit- Showing Now at Raider Ridge Café in Durango

AHS Student Digital Portfolios are up! See them here:

9^th grade: http://faculty.animashighschool.com/~rmcknight/Mastered/2011%202012%20Freshmen.html

10^th grade: http://faculty.animashighschool.com/~rmcknight/NewHorizon1-0/digitalportfolios.html

11^th grade: http://faculty.animashighschool.com/~rmcknight/purpleseries/purpleseries/digitalportfolios10th.html

11^th Grade Chemistry Students will be participating in field work on Wednesday, January 18, 2012 as part of their work with the Riverwatch program monitoring Junction Creek. Chemistry students will also be participating in labs this Friday, January 20^th at FLC.

Power Lunch

Our next Power Lunch is scheduled for Wednesday, January 18th at 11:30 in the Physics Room. Our guest speaker is avalanche guru, Andy Gleason, who will give a presentation on local snow science and the basics of avalanche awareness. And yes….refreshments will be served. See you there!

2012 Project Week Postponed

Due to the incredible amount of constructive feedback from students, staff and families, Animas High School is postponing 2012 Project Week. The school received much input concerning our inaugural Project Week in 2011 and there is much work to be done to refine this week-long program. Animas High School staff and directors are considering substantive changes to the Project Week model and we will share these modifications and enhancements with the community later this year. The week that was formerly scheduled for 2012 Project Week in April (April 2-6, 2012), will be a normal week of instruction and classes here at campus. Spring Break remains unchanged by these developments and will take place the following week. (April 9-13, 2012)

Animas High on the Airwaves

Listen to Head of School Michael Ackerman talk about Animas High School, CO education reform and the US charter school movement on Achieving Your Dreams in a Crazy World; A national talk show airing each week on WebTalk Radio with Dr. Murray Nabors. Listen to the episode here:

http://webtalkradio.net/2012/01/16/achieving-your-dreams-in-our-crazy-world-%E2%80%93-charter-schools-a-format-for-educational-success/

And be sure to listen to Michael on K P T E Durango 99.7-99.3 FM tomorrow afternoon (1/19) from 4 to 5 pm.

AHS Enrollment Continues

Pot shops near schools in hot seat

California-style crackdowns come to Colorado dispensaries

By P. SOLOMON BANDA
Associated Press

Article Last Updated: Thursday, January 12, 2012 9:15pm

DENVER – Federal officials on Thursday began a California-style crackdown on medical marijuana businesses in Colorado – targeting those located near schools.

U.S. Attorney John Walsh said 23 dispensaries within 1,000 feet of schools have until Feb. 27 to shut down or face federal penalties, which can include asset seizure or forfeiture of property. The warning letters dated Thursday were being sent to dispensary owners and their landlords.

He said the letters were a first step and prosecutors were looking for medical marijuana businesses to target near schools. Walsh’s office declined to release a list of targeted businesses, saying they do not make public individuals under investigation.

State regulations prohibit medical marijuana businesses within 1,000 feet of schools, but grand-fathered in those businesses already in existence before regulations were passed last year.

The city of Durango has restricted marijuana medical businesses from being within 500 feet of schools. At least two local dispensaries, the Durango Healing Center, 473 E. College Drive, near Park Elementary School, and Rocky Mountain High, 129 E. 32nd St,, near Animas High School, appear to be close or within the 1,000 feet exclusion area.

A representative for Durango Healing Center said the store had not been informed of any violation as of Thursday. He believed the store to be far enough from Park but was uncertain of the distance.

A representative for Rocky Mountain High said the dispensary was safe for legal reasons because nearby Animas High School, a charter school, is located in a storefront and is not in a school zone.

Sixteen states have passed laws allowing medical marijuana, beginning with California in 1996. Unlike California, Washington and Montana, where federal officials have cracked down on businesses sanctioned by the state, Colorado’s industry is heavily state-regulated. A ballot measure is pending to make it legal for recreational use, and state officials have asked the federal government to recognize the plant as a medicine.

“When the voters of Colorado passed the limited medical marijuana amendment in 2000, they could not have anticipated that their vote would be used to justify large marijuana stores located within blocks of our schools,” Walsh said.

Colorado’s medical marijuana industry began its boom after a September 2009 memo by then-Deputy Attorney General David Ogden that said federal prosecutors should not focus investigative resources on patients and caregivers complying with state laws. But faced with dispensaries and states passing laws regulating medical marijuana, Ogden’s replacement, James Cole, in June issued another memo that took a tougher stance and said state medical marijuana laws do not provide immunity from federal prosecution.

He said commercial enterprises that sell or profit from marijuana sales should be a priority. He reinforced that cancer patients and caregivers shouldn’t be targeted.

Colorado’s attorney general, John Suthers, who opposed regulations under the argument that they legitimize an illegal enterprise under federal law, said he long warned lawmakers of the clash between state and federal law.

“I would expect the federal government, having jurisdiction, to do what they think is necessary to limit drug problems in the state of Colorado,” Suthers said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “I’m not going to oppose it.”

Colorado has more than 600 retail shops, 900 cultivations and 230 infused-product manufacturers operating under state law, according to the state revenue department. A spokeswoman for the department’s Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division did not immediately return a call Thursday.

Samantha Beckmann manages a dispensary across from a high school, with the school’s baseball fields on the other side of a crosswalk of a busy street. She said the U.S. attorney’s action is discriminatory because it singles out certain dispensaries.

“We will move. We will make it happen,” she said. “If they’re going to do anything, they should shut everyone down. They shouldn’t discriminate.”

Outside the Colorado state Capitol, about three dozen marijuana activists rallied as Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper gave his annual State of the State address.

The governor did not mention pot, though he signed a marijuana regulation law last year and his administration recently joined other states in asking the Drug Enforcement Administration to reclassify marijuana so it could be considered a medical treatment.

A community organizer at the marijuana rally said he wasn’t surprised by the crackdown. He blamed state authorities and the state’s larger marijuana businesses for setting up elaborate rules for how medical marijuana can be bought and sold.

“They set up all these rules, and now they’re coming back to pinch them in the butt,” said Miguel Lopez of The Denver 4/20 rally, which attracted 20,000 people last year. Lopez favors full legalization for the drug, not Colorado’s system of dispensaries regulated by the state Department of Revenue.

Herald Staff Writer Jim Haug contributed to this report.

AHS Weekly Update- Week of January 9th, 2012

Please take a moment to review the following updates:

Parent Survey
Cleaning Campaign
PAC Meeting
MLK Day Holiday
2012-13 Enrollment Open
Student Ambassadors

Parent Survey

There is only one more week to complete your Animas High School Parent Surveys! We are targeting 100 percent participation from all of our families. Your participation and completion of the survey not only helps inform curricula and programatic decisions at AHS, it also demonstrates andhonors our school’s commitment to involving parents and the community in shaping the direction of Animas High. Please help us continue to make AHS the strongest possible program for all of our students! Take the survey now at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/animashighschoolparentsurvey2012

Cleaning Campaign

A HUGE THANK YOU to all the parents, grandparents, students and siblings that turned out for this past Saturday’s Cleaning Campaign. AHS was blessed to have over thirty volunteers show up and log over one hundredhours of volunteer time deep cleaning our campus and sprucing up our school for semester two. We’ll be cleaning each month so stay tuned for more opportunities to help out at AHS!
PAC Meeting

A reminder that our next PAC meeting is on Thursday, January 12 at 6:00 p.m. at AHS

MLK Day Holiday

Animas High School will be closed on Monday, January 16th in recognition of the Martin Luther King Holiday. Campus will re-open on Tuesday, January 17th at 7 AM.


2012-13 Enrollment Open

Animas High School is excited to announce the opening of enrollment for the 2012-13 school year. Students and families looking to enroll at AHS should visit www.animashighschool.com and complete an online intent to enroll form. Animas High will hold an enrollment lottery on March 1st, 2012 if the number of interested, in-coming 9th grade students exceeds the school’s enrollment capacity. AHS is also accepting enrollments for a limited number of openings in our 10th and 11th grade classes.

AHS continues to host a numerous opportunities for students and their families to learn more about Animas High School.

January Info Night Sessions will run from 5 to 6:30 on January 12th, 19th and 26th at campus. Campus Tours run on Wednesday afternoons at 1:30.

Student Shadow Experiences are available to interested students on Fridays throughout the month. Shadow space is limited! Please contact the AHS Main Office at 247-2474 to schedule or with questions.

Student Ambassadors

Congratulations to those chosen as AHS Student Ambassadors for the 2011-12 School Year. There was a tremendous amount of interest this year and the faculty was involved in many conversations, spirited debates and tough votes concerning these appointments.

Additionally, because interest in this year’s student ambassador program was so robust, staff strictly adhered to appointment criteria and application deadlines. (We only had room for 24 appointments and we had to turn away some students who did not submit applications on time! )

There will be a MANDATORY AHS Ambassador Training on WEDNESDAY, JAN 11th at 3:30 at AHS in the Commons Room. Appointees who do not attend the training cannot serve as Student Ambassadors. Our first info night is this Thursday and first shadow students attend this Friday.

Thanks to everyone who applied for this year’s student ambassador program!

2011-12 Animas High School Student Ambassadors

Aiyana
Nano
Molly
Hannah W.
Shannon E.
Jonathan
Clara
Jessie D.
Martina
Marley
Hunter
Riley W (10th)
Hannah Q.
Zach M.
Heidi W.
Sarah L.
Will E.
Ranier
Alicia A.
Jack H.
Jack S.
Avra
Tatum
Isabelle


Animas High School Values:

Rigorous academics, where all students are prepared for college success
Culture of excellence, where students are held to high expectations
Strong faculty-student relationships, where students are well known
Engaging learning, where students see the relevance of their education

Home Page » News » Local News » Do our schools make the grade? Do our schools make the grade?

Do our schools make the grade?

Group’s assessment gives 6 local schools a B; the rest get C or lower

By Emery Cowan Herald Staff Writer

Article Last Updated: Friday, January 06, 2012 6:19pm

Enlargephoto

JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald

What’s more reflective of schools’ performance? Durango School District 9-R official Christy Bloomquist, bathed in the projection of testing data, says the state’s system is best. A new, community-based group aims to clarify the evaluation process for noneducators.

A coalition of community groups has taken the A through F grading system so familiar to students and applied it to Colorado’s schools.

Enlargephoto

JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald

Cindy Keresey, left, who works in literary intervention at Park Elementary School, Kathleen Lau, center, interim principal, and Lindsay Neiman, instructional coach, look at testing data on Friday.

Enlargephoto

The grade most Durango schools received was merely passing. None received an A.

The website, Colorado School Grades, uses students’ standardized test scores to create a report card for each school that’s meant to decipher the somewhat cryptic school performance data published by the state.

The nearly $1 million project was launched last month by a coalition of community organizations.

In proposing an alternative, the grading website has shone a spotlight on the Colorado Department of Education’s current ranking system and questioned its effectiveness at informing parents, students and community members about school performance.

But administrators defended the state’s system and cited the potential of the new grading scheme to cause confusion about school performance.

“Why do you need another report card when all the data is right here?” said Christy Bloomquist, supervisor of federal programs and assessments with Durango School District 9-R.

The state’s system ranks schools from highest- to lowest-performing using the descriptors performance, improvement, priority improvement and turnaround. Its rating is based on schools’ absolute scores, while Colorado School Grades rates them based on how well they perform relative to others in the state.

Matching method to purpose

Some said the meaningfulness of the rating depends on the audience. The Colorado School Grades website is meant for parents, students and community members, so it simplifies the information into an easily understandable report, said Colorado Succeeds president Tim Taylor, a member of the Colorado School Grades coalition.

The Colorado Department of Education’s performance frameworks are aimed at educators, Bloomquist said. That data allow them to dissect where schools are excelling and where they need to improve.

The letter grades don’t drill down far enough for educators seeking to make improvements, she said.

The new grading website used the same standardized test results as the education department. The difference is that the grades website applied a curve that highlights the top performers. Only the top 10 percent of schools received an A, while schools in the 15th to 65th percentile range received a C. Meanwhile, CDE’s grading system gives the top ranking, performance, to the top 60 percent of schools.

The aim of Colorado School Grades is to help parents better distinguish between different schools’ performance.

“Nowhere else in our lives would we say 42nd percentile and 98th percentile would be called the same thing,” Taylor said.

Six of the 16 district schools in La Plata County that were ranked by Colorado School Grades received B grades and eight received C grades. One school received a D and another an F.

Bloomquist said the A through F grades can be misleading because they don’t match up to a school’s CDE percentage score and may not accurately reflect its actual performance. Sunnyside’s B-minus rating, for example, doesn’t reflect that the school received two awards last year from the Colorado Department of Education that put it in the top 8 percent of schools in the state and named it one of state’s top 10 highly effective Title I schools.

It also would be impossible to compare schools between the two ratings because they use different scales, said Rocco Fuschetto, superintendent of Ignacio School District.

“It’s like comparing apples and oranges,” Fuschetto said.

Despite some drawbacks, the grading system contributes to the overall effort to disseminate information about the schools, which is a good thing, said Bill Esterbrook, interim superintendent of Durango’s schools.

“I like anything that keeps how our schools are doing in front of the public eye,” he said. “The more transparent the better.”

Suzanne Carlson, a parent of three elementary school students, said that, from a parent’s perspective, the education department’s rankings aren’t published and publicized in a way that is understandable and accessible.

“I don’t know why the district doesn’t take information and make an easy-to-understand way for parents to see it,” Carlson said.

Esterbrook agreed that the state could be better.

“In some cases there’s way too much data,” he said.

Compared to years ago, when the information was a guarded secret, the state has done a good job making it transparent. But “it’s not the best process yet,” he said.

The monitoring challenge

The new grading system brings up the longstanding challenge for districts to analyze their progress. Most agree the once-a-year state standardized tests aren’t an effective measure by themselves.

The monitoring report Durango School District presents to its school board, for example, includes students’ grades, their standardized test scores and their performance on triannual tests that cover reading, writing, math and science.

It’s a more wholistic analysis than the state’s performance frameworks, Bloomquist said. The district continues to seek a more comprehensive means of accessing performance and has been working to add data about discipline and progress toward graduation.

Fuschetto said he has been preaching for years about the downfalls of evaluating schools only through standardized testing, which doesn’t measure the impact of programs like art, agriculture or welding that add to the learning experience.

And standardized testing has always been a struggle for charter schools, said Michael Ackerman, head of school at Animas High School. The high school received a B-minus by Colorado School Grades and was ranked a performance school with a score of 74 percent by the state Department of Education.

Animas takes a project-based approach to learning that doesn’t prioritize preparing students to meet standardized testing standards.

“It’s like we play basketball all year, and we show up one day for a baseball game,” Ackerman said.

The best way to judge a school?

Come inside and walk around, educators said.

ecowan@durangoherald.com

Animas High School rates among state’s best schools

Article Last Updated: Tuesday, January 03, 2012 9:35pm

Animas High School was the only Durango school to be named among the top 8 percent of Colorado public schools this year.

The charter school, now in its third year, received the John Irwin Schools of Excellence Award, which recognizes schools for high achievement on statewide assessments.

Four other high schools on the Western Slope also received the award.

Animas Head of School Michael Ackerman credited the school’s emphasis on project-based learning that allows students to “apply their learning in relevant, real-world ways.”

Sunnyside Elementary was a recipient of the John Irwin award last year.

A Letter to Mountain Middle School Families from AHS

January 6, 2012

Dear Mountain Middle School Families,

As many of you know, Animas High School is a Durango charter high school based on the High Tech schools, just like Mountain Middle School.

Animas enrollment for the 2012/2013 school year is now open! We invite MMS families to enroll at www.AnimasHighSchool.com (or stop in at 3206 North Main and complete an enrollment form.)

We are excited that Mountain Middle School students entering freshmen year will already have had an opportunity to be educated through such an engaging, meaningful model!

As MMS and AHS are separate schools, we have slightly different procedures.

Enrollment Process at AHS

Facts about Animas’ enrollment process that differ from MMS’ process:

- AHS has been able to accommodate all students interested in enrolling.

- AHS will enroll up to 81 students for the freshmen class in 2012, and has been authorized to enroll 100 students per grade.

- If there is a lottery, it will be held on March 1st, 2012.

- Enrollment forms must be submitted no later than 5 pm on February 29, 2012.

Learn About AHS and its Award-winning Academics

We encourage MMS families to learn about Animas High:

- Info Night for MMS at AHS– February 23 from 5:00 – 6:30 pm

- Info Nights at AHS – Thursdays throughout second semester. (Upcoming dates are Jan 12, 19, 26, Feb 2, 9, from 5:00 – 6:30 pm)

- Student Shadow opportunities – many Fridays through second semester. (Please call AHS at 247-2474 to reserve your Shadow date; these fill fast.)

- Tours on Wednesdays at 1:30

AHS Lottery Exemption – Past and Present

Due to requirements of the Colorado Department of Education, the AHS lottery exemption policy is different than the MMS lottery exemption policy.

At AHS:

- Families could volunteer 100 hours for exemption status UNTIL the school opened.

- After the school opened in 2009, Animas could no longer accept volunteer hours for lottery exemption.

- This limitation to earn lottery exemption status was lifted the summer of 2011. Now, there are again opportunities to volunteer 75 hours to earn lottery exemption.

- For more details about this option and the Animas requirements for lottery exemption please visit our website (www.AnimasHighSchool.com).

Warm regards,

Michael Ackerman,

Head of School, Animas High School

AHS Weekly Update- Week of January 2nd, 2012

Happy New Year and Welcome Back to School! Please take a moment to review the following updates:

2012-13 Enrollment Opens AHS Student Ambassadors Test Prep at AHS MLK Holiday 2012-13 Enrollment Opens

Animas High School is excited to announce the opening of enrollment for the 2012-13 school year. Students and families looking to enroll at AHS should visit www.animashighschool.com and complete an online intent to enroll form. Animas High will hold an enrollment lottery on March 1st, 2012 if the number of interested, in-coming students exceeds the school’s enrollment capacity. AHS will host a number of opportunities for students and their families to learn more about Animas High School.

January Info Night Sessions will run from 5 to 6:30 on January 12th, 19th and 26th at campus.

Student Shadow Experiences are available to interested students on Fridays throughout the month. Shadow space is limited! Please contact the AHS Main Office at 247-2474 to schedule or with questions.


AHS Student Ambassadors

Student Ambassadors are the face of our school during second semester at Animas High. In addition to their responsibilities at SLCs, POLs and Exhibitions, AHS Student Ambassadors are selected to represent our school at all outreach, service and public information events. Ambassadors are chosen by the AHS faculty and include students who embody Animas High’s commitment to academic, cultural and community excellence.

In 2012 AHS Student Ambassadors will participate in campus centered outreach efforts as well ascommunity based presentations, service opportunities and youth events. Serving as an Animas High Student Ambassador is an honor bestowed to a limited number of students. Students must re-apply each year and faculty select appointment to the program based upon a student’s application and prior performance in semester one of the 2011-12 school year.

Applications for this year’s Student Ambassador program are available now in the AHS Main Office or online at: http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/3379371/2012-student-ambassador-app-docx-december-24-2011-8-59-am-277k?da=y

Test Prep at AHS

In conjunction with our programming partners at Animas Academics, Animas High School is sponsoring our second test prep course of the 2011-12 school year. The test prep courses are open to a limited number of participants and the classes fill quickly with a waiting list . In response to the demand for additional test prep opportunities, Animas Academics will be sponsoring a Saturday morning ACT practice test onJanuary 28th, 2012. This opportunity has been designed to provide additonal exam practice and offers students a simulated, four hour exam sitting. This ACT practice test experience is being offered for 10.00 and is open to any and all AHS students. Interested in participating- email krisit@animasacademics.com

MLK Holiday

Animas High School will be closed on Monday, January 16th in recognition of the Martin Luther King Holiday. Campus will re-open on Tuesday, January 17th at 7 AM.



"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically...intelligence plus character-that is the goal of a true education." -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.


Animas High School Values:

Rigorous academics, where all students are prepared for college success

Culture of excellence, where students are held to high expectations

Strong faculty-student relationships, where students are well known

Engaging learning, where students see the relevance of their education