CA Record-Breakers, Firsts, and Milestones

Every year at Colorado Academy, the school and its students cover new territory, reach new milestones, break previously held records, and even though the school is more than 110 years old, it continues to rack up historic “firsts.” Here are just a few of the highlights from the 2017-2018 school year: n

Colorado Academy 2017-2018 Timeline

AUGUST 2017

Head of School Dr. Mike Davis enters

his 10th year at Colorado Academy.

The CA Parent Association hosts

its Parent Volunteer Fair called Get INvolved on the first day of school. SEPTEMBER 2017

Aerial drone photography captures the site of the future Field House as construction gets underway.

Welcometoour unplugged Campus Center. Welcometoour unplugged Campus Center.

Thank you for putting away your mobile device.

Thank you for putting away your mobile device.

CA announces that the Campus Center is a cell phone-free zone.

The message: “Disconnect and Unplug!”

CA’s annual Alchemist Dinner event honors former faculty member and principal Tom Fitzgerald who taught at CA for nearly 40 years.

DECEMBER 2017

3D-Day takes hold in the Lower

School as students in Grades 1-5 learn to invent with a 3D printer.

On a foggy October day, the annual tradition continues for Fourth Grade students as they climb Mt. Falcon. NOVEMBER 2017

In Boys Soccer, the Colorado Academy Mustangs beat the Kent

Denver Sun Devils after double overtime. The Mustangs win 5-4 in penalty kicks to earn a berth in the State Championship game.

The Colorado Academy Ultimate

Frisbee team takes sixth place at State, the highest finish ever for a CA Co-Ed Ultimate team.

CA begins to offer architectural

drawing to Upper School students as an art elective.

Slater Turf Field opens after being

resurfaced, a dozen years after it was built.

CA’s Middle School FIRST LEGOTM

League team competes at a state competition and wins the second place Teamwork Award, an honor given to a team that is able to accomplish more together than they could as individuals through shared goals, strong communication, effective problem solving, and excellent time management.

Lower School students celebrate

International Day with a Parade of Nations and an informational scavenger hunt for “country facts.”

CA holds its second 24-hour play

project in which students take 24 hours to cast a play, design a set and props, memorize lines, and perform as part of this pop-up theater company. FEBRUARY 2018

The first parent flash mob erupted

at the Parent Association’s annual Taste of CA, an event celebrating multiculturalism, diversity, and inclusion.

The Girls Varsity Swim Team shatters seven team and individual

school swim records at the 3A State Championships. The team, the largest in school history, tallies its highest score ever at state with 145 team points. They also set a new school record, finishing in sixth place. Having also surpassed every goal their coaching staff set for them, the girls’ payoff is shaving their coaches’ heads.

Colorado Academy receives a gift

of 15 artworks from art collector and current parent Craig Ponzio. The gift comes less than a year after the opening of the new Ponzio Arts Center.

CA Freshmen take part in a new

academic intensive program focused on the topic of immigration. Several students travel to El Paso, Texas, to interview border agents and immigrants. MARCH 2018

CA’s new Field House opens, just nine months after breaking ground. The opening signals the end of Phase I of the project, as workers break ground on Phase II less than a week later.

Bringing the world to the classroom, Google demonstrates its Augmented

Reality (AR) app to Colorado Academy’s Lower School. Students are able to see things in augmented reality like dinosaurs, the Solar System, even Leonardo DaVinci’s inventions.

Two of CA’s three Mock Trial Teams

place at the State Tournament, with the A and C Teams taking third and fifth place.

The Upper School Conservatory of Theater stages the musical, Lucky Stiff.

Productions earlier in the year include American Buffalo and Girls Like That.

In spring sports, two CA teams

take consecutive State titles: the Girls Varsity Lacrosse Team defeats Cherry Creek 13-7 to win the 5A State Championship for the fourth consecutive year, and the Girls Varsity Golf Team takes the 3A State Championship for the second year in a row.

A record number of Colorado

Academy Seniors, 22 of them, commit to playing college sports. MAY 2018

CA hosts Trombone Shorty & Orleans

Avenue and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band in a New Orleans-style “Fiyo on the Bayou” celebration in the new Field House, with everything from a crawfish boil to beignets. Proceeds benefit student financial aid.

The 61st running of the Giant Relay

takes place at Colorado Academy with the Seniors—the Class of 2018—taking first place.

Top Upper School computer science students travel to Providence, R.I.,

to compete in the American Computer Science League National All-Star Competition. They come in fifth out of 20 teams, the highest that CA has ever placed in the tournament. JUNE 2018

Commencement dinner the night before graduation is cut short by a sudden thunderstorm that forces evacuation of the tent.

The Class of 2018 graduates on a beautiful June day with 100 Seniors receiving their diplomas. Over the last decade, Dr. Mike Davis has handed out diplomas to more than 1,000 students, and this year, two of the diplomas go to his twin daughters.