FootPrints

The following are excerpts from the May edition of FootPrints, the monthly newsletter of Foothills Academy.

Headlines from Mary Lou

Dear Foothills Families,

In May, we believe the whole world has come alive. The air fills with sounds and drips with the smells of honeysuckle and lilac, moths fly against windows, pale pink butterflies plunge over the lawn. Every day is a May basket filled with the loveliness of this beautiful month. Suddenly, it is spring and we find ourselves in the thick of every single day.

Snow showers on one day and 80 degree temperatures the next make for great confusion when planning activities. These perplexing weather patterns of late remind me of separate conversations I had with three families earlier in the year. They voiced their confusion over all the school choices parents face when choosing the "right" school for their child. What are the advantages of one school over another? How can I tell what the right school is for my child? Why do we have so many choices? As the questions increase, uncertainty mounts.

I know all of our parents face these questions, not just these three families. I know each family wants the best for their child. I know each considers and assembles many puzzle pieces when setting priorities for their family and deciding which school is best for each of their children, especially in today’s complex world.

Let me take you back 25 years to a group of young parents, some of whom were educators, sitting in my living room discussing the importance of education and what we hoped to provide for our children. We made a list of the pieces of the education puzzle that were important to each of us. We put them together in a metaphoric tapestry, memorizing each piece and noting each when we saw it in practice. There was no wavering, only intense belief in what we knew children needed to thrive. Our devotion to this set of beliefs was steadfast. We created a mission, we created a school, we sustained a vision, we observed children in their many, many colors and stripes, and we believed. We believed so much we mortgaged our homes, put our names on lines of credit, painted, planted, and made a school where happy learners looked out from every shiny window every day.

What we believed about children and learning 25 years ago:
- We believed that each child is a unique individual with gifts, talents, needs, and passions.
- We believed that children have an innate thirst for learning, for play, and for being noticed and valued.
- We believed that play and hands-on opportunities in all learning are invaluable.
- We believed that nurturing teachers, with high expectations and clear boundaries, make learning happen.
- We believed in the power of the arts to engage in life-long learning and in the power of nature to sustain a life.
- We believed in community, in family, in supporting a school where older and younger children could play, work, and learn together.
- We believed in achievement, in excellence, in motivation, in success.

Fast forward to May of 2008 -- 25 years from those parent discussions that formed Foothills Academy. 25 years from the "wake up" call of A Nation At Risk that sent alarms ringing through the country, 25 years from those first headlines letting the nation know where American children placed in relation to the rest of the world, 25 years from our first graduates, many of them the children of our founding parents. 25 years later, our alumni are walking through the same orange door of the old farmhouse, smiling broadly and showing off the school to their spouses and children.

What do these alums hold dear from their Foothills education and want for their children?
- Relationships with their teachers.
- Bringing out the best in their child.
- Projects that help them understand and learn how things work.
- Playful, learning interactions with older and younger kids.
- Helping each child excel.
- Traditions such as the Festival of Light, marketplace, outings, the Arts Festival, MMM.
- Knowing that teachers will know their child, just as we knew them.
- The opportunity to be REAL.

These are the words of our alumni, not mine. If all the families of the school could fit in my living room and design a school, would the list the founding parents set in motion 25 years ago be the same list for our children today?  Would there be the same passion, the same commitment, the same investment? I have been told that when alumni return with their children wanting the same structure, the same beliefs, the same values, this is when you KNOW the mission of the school is sustainable.

Yes, we have sustained the mission, the core beliefs, the vision and the passion, but we have faltered in other areas. While we have grown, changed and adapted, we know what we need to improve. We need to market the school more broadly, we need more students in the older classes, we need increased financial stability. Yet, through all the striving and hard work, we know that at the core we have a very real and sustainable set of beliefs that have served the school for almost 25 years and will do so well into the future. Just like each one of us facing our 25th or 45th birthday, we need to review honestly and clearly what we do well, where we need support and assistance, and chart a course for our future.

In the case of Foothills Academy, the living room doors are flung open, the invitation is extended to each of you as important stake-holders in the school.  You are a member of the VISION TEAM at Foothills Academy believing that happy children looking out of shiny windows is always possible. Affirming these core beliefs and sharing them with others is what we did 25 years ago. We need to do this once again.

Happy May,
Mary Lou Faddick
Head of School

Upper School: Taking On the World Beyond the Classroom
9/10 Outings - Triumph of the Human Spirit

9th and 10th grade Explorations students divided by gender for their spring outings. Both groups headed west to Utah: the 9/10 girls rafted the Colorado River, camped and hiked along the way, culminating their venture with two additional days of camping in the Moab area. Meanwhile, the 9/10 boys took up residence at Cedar Mesa where, for six days and five nights, they backpacked and camped, exploring area canyons.

Both the boys' and girls' outings provided students and teachers with an excellent opportunity to further explore the outing theme: “Triumph of the Human Spirit."  Using knowledge, information, and concepts explored in trip preparation, students challenged themselves to be successful as individuals and as team members in the rugged Utah environment.

Both trips were physically and emotionally demanding; everyone in the group was charged with the responsibility to ensure a successful trip for each participant and for the group.

Meanwhile, Juniors Head to Costa Rica

Building on their March participation in the World Affairs Conference, Foothills juniors spent ten days in Costa Rica continuing their study of world health with a focus on ethical farming and the effects of pesticide use. This sojourn, encompassing a broad variety of activities, aimed at providing real world experiences to support classroom learning. The juniors' itinerary included volunteering on an organic farm, helping build a library and a school (each junior brought a favorite children's book in Spanish to donate to the library), and hiking the tallest waterfall in Costa Rica, then spending the night in the cave behind. The entire trip provided a Spanish language immersion, especially since neither of the chaperoning teachers, speak Spanish – the juniors had a chance to shine in Spanish!

Prior to their departure from Foothills, the juniors secured a "micro-credit" loan from the school to purchase local goods at Costa Rican marketplaces. Students will bring these goods back to campus and, after presenting an overview of their outing to Foothills students and grandparents on Grands Day, they will host a Costa Rican marketplace. Profits from sales will be donated to the Foothills outing program.

Senior Projects: Culminating Explorations

Having participated in ninth, tenth and eleventh grade outings, Foothills seniors currently are immersed in individual or paired projects. Each member of the Class of 2008 is currently investigating a subject of great personal interest and completing individually-designed research, including traditional and in-the-real-world, practical explorations.

Charlie and Leigh
Green Masonry: Going Beyond the Red Brick, “Can we make a green brick?”

Prompted by junior Guatemala outing experiences and the senior class San Marcos Trash Wall project, Charlie and Leigh are investigating sustainable building practices including a traditional mainstay of construction, the brick. They are asking questions such as what is the environmental footprint of using bricks and what are the possibilities of making this common product greener?  Highlights of their research include visiting the Earthship community and Earthday fair in Taos, work on the creation and testing of a prototype “green” brick, shadowing a structural engineer, working on a construction site and presentation of the Foothills Trash Wall and green construction ideas on Grands Day.

Michael
The Art of Design: What is required to become a designer or lead designer for a video game  design company?

Michael will explore art and video gaming with investigations including studio work on creating a game-design that incorporates drawing and writing, characters, environments, plot, and game play. He is also working to gain competence in software aspects of the field while assisting in developing a playable game and, in addition, shadowing at a video design company.

Seth
Change-vertizing: How is advertising used ethically to influence positive change in the world?

Seth's practical investigations include working with Foothills parent Deb Culig, a graphic artist and professional marketer, to develop an advertising campaign for a non-profit organization (Killer Coke) and visits and interviews with marketing professionals to discuss the field of non-profit and multi-cultural marketing. In addition, Seth is traveling to New York to meet with professionals and visit related photographic and graphic design exhibitions. While in New York, Seth will present his advertising campaign to the director of the Killer Coke campaign, an effort to draw attention to and change employment practices in the developing world.

Alia
News and Journalism: How Free is the Free Press?

Through her project, Alia hopes to gain knowledge about the world of print journalism, an understanding of how media and news sources are influenced by outside factors and how these factors come together to create the papers we read. Alia's field investigations include interviews of print and TV news media people in Denver, creating a contemporary-issues blog, touring a local newsroom and travel to London to investigate the character of British print journalism to develop an understanding of how it compares and contrasts with American. Her interviews will include academics in media and communications, journalism and publishing and members of the London press.

Jonas
Adaptive Recreation: What is the field of Adaptive Recreation; What does it take to be an adaptive rock climbing instructor?

Jonas's investigations involve informational interviews and practical experience in areas of adaptive recreation including skiing and snowboarding; sailing; handcycling and biking. Jonas will spend time with adaptive recreation experts at the Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center and No Limits Climbing Gear.

Heather
Education in Tanzania: What is the status of education in Tanzania? 

Through research which includes interviewing, visiting and working with schools in Arusha, at the foot of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Heather hopes to gain understanding of Tanzanian education. She will visit and work in four schools there.

Jordan
Ready, Set, Market: How do marketing and advertising play a role in the start-up and growth of a small business?

Jordan's practicum investigations include an internship in the marketing department of Hunter Douglas and interviews with owners of a variety of small, local businesses.