I am excited about our capital campaign to build a new high school building. Early last spring, we began discussions with key donors about this work. I have been humbled by the generosity and support that has been given to the school. There is trust in what we are trying to accomplish: moving CA from a great to an exceptional school. There is also sense of urgency. We have been challenged by key donors to literally “build our future now.” Behind the scenes, there has been a lot of careful thought and planning invested in this effort. I wanted to use this forum to share our efforts to ensure that CA offers an outstanding and relevant education for our students.
 

Two years ago, administrators, representative faculty leaders, and the Board of Trustees met in a strategic planning retreat to map out key priorities for Colorado Academy. We analyzed the school’s program and key trends in education. We set a course to be an educational institution that would be a leader in 21st century Pre-K through 12 education.

Last year, we began implementation of that plan in which critical thinking and problem solving, innovation, and creativity would be foundational elements of our academic program, along with key 21st century skills. In the course of our work, we realized that we had so many things working for us at Colorado Academy: a motivated and dedicated faculty, administrative leadership determined to cultivate new approaches, a strong record of success with our students, and very supportive parent and alumni communities.
 

Standing in our way, however, is an Upper School building that is 48 years old. As we talked about improving the quality of our educational program, we focused at first on “low-cost” improvements. Changing our schedule and calendar. Refocusing professional development dollars to bring awareness about teaching innovation to our entire faculty.

As we made this investment, we realized that tight space in the current Knowles Upper School Building restricted our faculty. In the humanities, the teaching space meant that teachers are limited to more traditional pedagogies. In the sciences, the space limits our ability to offer more interesting electives and allow students and teachers to conduct more innovative lab experiments. Environmental conditions in this building do not promote academic performance. Further, there is little space for students to collaborate and socialize. Given our recent and historic record of student success (we track the GPA performance of our graduates in college), we know that we have a program that is excellent. Yet, we want to go beyond. We want provide the best possible environment in which to learn.
 

Last spring, the Board of Trustees designated a new Upper School as our top fundraising priority. In a nucleus phase of the campaign, I began speaking with members of our donor community. Early in this process, two donors challenged the Board to create a sense of urgency for this project with two significant pledges to the campaign. Their goal was for us to fund and construct this building by the 2012-13 school year. I took this ambitious goal back to the Board, which we accepted. To get this done, we knew we had to engage in our planning thoughtfully. We want to construct a building that will serve our needs for a long time, and thus, early last summer, we began the design process as we continued conversations with key donors.
 

In June, our Building and Grounds Committee interviewed different architects. In,the end, we selected Brian Klipp of Klipp Architects. We were impressed with Brian’s approach of designing the building from the inside out. A key goal is to ensure that this new building “fits” with the rest of campus. Since Brian designed the Chowdry Middle School, we are confident in his abilities. We asked the architects to help design a building around the best practices in education; we knew we wanted a building that lent itself to collaboration and would be a place of innovation and a model of sustainability.
 

Also during the summer, we interviewed various construction firms through an RFP (request for proposal) bidding process. In conversations with every firm, we asked the firms if they could complete construction by January 2013, thus limiting the time during which our students would be in temporary classrooms. Each firm, but particularly our choice, Franzen Pittman, made clear that this was a realistic goal. Franzen Pittman has been involved with numerous construction projects on this campus, including the Schotters Music building and the Chowdry Middle School. Involving them early in our design process has allowed us to be sensitive to controlling costs and keep unanticipated issues from arising in the construction phase.
 

Quickly, we began to identify features that would distinguish this new space from the current building: a community room that will serve as a lecture hall, state-of-the-art facilities for science, an additional “innovation” lab that will feature technologies like 3-D printers and more traditional “workshop” equipment for students to design and prototype engineering projects, ample space for students to collaborate and socialize (and a commitment to create spaces so important to students, like the seniors’ gathering room), and a more environmentally sustainable building. From speaking with the architects, we knew that we had to spend at least six months of careful planning to ensure we designed a building we would be happy with for a long time. That work began last summer and has continued throughout the quiet phase of our fundraising process.
 

If we break ground this June, Upper School Principal Jon Vogels, the Board of Trustees and I are committed to making the high school experience the best it can be during construction. Safety will be a key priority. But, so too will be ensuring that our students are engaged and involved in the process; that the traditions and annual events through the year are maintained, and that students have the opportunity to create new traditions with the opening of a new building. I have faith in the resiliency of CA students.

We are currently working on the design and layout of the temporary classrooms that will exist in the Stamper Commons. Students will have approximately 2,000 square feet more in our temporary quarters than we currently have in the Upper School building. The temporary classrooms will be more spacious and comfortable than are our current classrooms.
 

Few things have been as humbling and inspiring to me as the support that has been shown for this project. In an extremely short amount of time, we have made much progress towards our $11 million goal to fund this building and our endowment. The donors, with whom I have spoken, including our trustees, recognize that this building will be a significant step for Colorado Academy and will make a significant difference in the academic experience of CA students.

As we move forward, we need strong financial support for this project. Yes, we have made good progress. But, the timing is critical. Construction costs are advantageous for a June groundbreaking. I hope that each member of this community will consider making a generous pledge to the project. Ultimately, everything we do at CA is about our students. Providing the students and teachers with a state-of-the-art facility will create amazing learning opportunities. It will set us apart in the educational community and allow us to realize our strategic goals. Thank you for your support as we “build the future now.”