CAtalyst - Winter 2023-2024 - Colorado Academy Annual Report

CATALYST Welcome to the inaugural issue of CAtalyst, Colorado Academy’s annual report that celebrates the people and ideas accelerating growth and innovation within our community of teaching and learning. This year we address a concept at the core of CA’s curriculum at every grade level—academic freedom. For CA, this simple phrase means many things: encouraging students to take intellectual risks while valuing the perspectives of others; elevating the passions and expertise of our faculty; and protecting open inquiry and debate, even when we confront the most difficult questions our society faces today. Above all, academic freedom at CA unites a community engaged in the critical work of educating students who will make an impact in the world through their understanding, courage, and compassion.

ON THE COVER Junior Charlotte DeNezza captured this landscape on a June 2023 trip to Iceland, part of CA’s Global Travel program. The week-long expedition allowed students to explore the country’s unique history, geology, wildlife, and sustainable innovation. The photographs they captured, along with their reflections on the trip, comprised the inaugural show of the 2023-2024 school year in the main gallery of the Ponzio Arts Center.

WHAT IS ACADEMIC FREEDOM?

Freedom to Lead With COurage + Kindness Freedom to RETHINK EVERYTHING Freedom to IMAGINE THE WORLD Freedom to SHAPE THE FUTURE Freedom to Pursue Your Passion Freedom to Create Your Calling Freedom to ACHIEVE SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS

FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL - WHY CA MATTERS MORE THAN EVER – P.5 FACULTY SPOTLIGHT - ADVANCED STUDIES & RESEARCH – P.9 STUDENT SPOTLIGHT - FIFTH GRADE ZOOMS IN – P.15 STUDENT SPOTLIGHT - MIDDLE SCHOOLERS CHOOSE ADVENTURE – P.17 STUDENT SPOTLIGHT - BELA CHAUDHURI – P.19 ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT - JULIA RICHMAN '00 CONSTANT LEARNER – P.21 COLORADO ACADEMY ANNUAL REPORT – P.29

FREEDOM TO LEAD WITH

COURAGE+KINDNESS

Dr. Davis explored the dramatic desert landscape of Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah with students in spring 2022.

LETTE R FROM TH E H E AD O F S CH O O L

WHY CA MATTERS MORE THAN EVER We are living in unprecedented times. Our society is feeling the impact of geo-political unrest, climate change, and political dysfunction. Our kids are living through a time in which they have to navigate the pitfalls of social media. This generation of students has lived their whole lives in an era in which civility in society is seemingly neither valued nor rewarded. They are witnessing a rise in hateful rhetoric, racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, and homophobia. Artificial intelligence will soon have a significant effect on our economy, future college majors, and job prospects. It’s thus not surprising that medical experts are worried about the mental well-being of young people, who are more anxious and prone to depression than at any time in recent history.

And yet, there is no place that I would rather be than working in a school and serving students. Each day is full of joy and optimism. Our students are curious and caring.

They have passions and interests, and they work hard to pursue excellence in academics, the arts, and athletics.

When I came to Colorado Academy 16 years ago, I knew it was a special place. My predecessor Chris Babbs shared a modern vision of CA that focused upon providing an outstanding education in a supportive community. I came to experience a school culture that was unlike anything I had seen before. This was an institution that truly lived up to its values.

Today’s CA has built upon that great foundation. We continue to offer a broad-based liberal arts and sciences curriculum with a focus on academic excellence. Through their co-curricular pursuits, students learn important life lessons and skills. We continue to be a school that values experiential education. We reach out to the larger community through Horizons Colorado, service learning, and our REDI Lab partnership with the Denver Housing Authority. In the classroom, our students engage in conversations about real-world problems and issues.

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The key to our success is that we do not shy away from engaging our students. We follow the evidence, and we ask our students to think about their assumptions and judgments. In the end, we want them to be curious about the world. As a historian, I am horrified by the rise in legislation that seeks to limit scholarship and inquiry into certain subjects. The emergence of a movement to ban books is equally alarming. Our goal as educators is not to indoctrinate, but to promote critical and creative thinking. That is best done when our educators have academic freedom to design courses, choose relevant and thought-provoking material, and encourage open discussion.

Last year, a group of CA faculty worked on a statement of academic freedom and civil discourse. All agreed that we want to be a place where ideas are vigorously debated in respectful ways. We want ideological diversity. We want students to be confronted (in age-appropriate ways) with ideas that might make them uncomfortable or even offended. Great teaching and learning take students out of their comfort zones. Every CA alum who ever went on a tough Interim trip knows this.

There is independence in the way that CA creates all types of opportunities for our students and faculty. This freedom allows us to develop a unique curriculum. Our new Advanced Studies and Research (ASR) program in the Upper School offers an alternative to more traditional Advanced Placement courses in the humanities. With 92% of our Upper School faculty possessing advanced degrees, our teachers are driven to create engaging courses built upon their expertise. Through ASR, we have significantly increased the number of rigorous courses available to our students: Computer Science Principles,

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Economics in Theory and Practice, The History of Ideas and Inventions, and Music Theory are just a few of more than a dozen new offerings, which also include courses in the Visual and Performing Arts. These opportunities for advanced study not only help students present more competitive applications in the college process, but they also ignite a love of learning and passion for a particular subject.

This year, I have relished the chance to develop and teach a new Honors elective, the History and Mythology of the American West. It is an area I have wanted to share with students for years. My interest emerged from my own high school experience of writing a research paper on the relationship between the Chiricahua Apache leader Cochise and a white settler named Tom Jeffords. Cochise had been warring with the Americans, as Jeffords was managing a stage line between Mesilla and Tucson.

Many of his drivers had been killed by the Apaches, and Jeffords himself had an arrow in his back from an Apache attack. Jeffords went alone into Chiricahua territory to discuss an arrangement with Cochise. The Apache leader was so impressed with Jeffords’ courage that they went on to become friends, and Jeffords served as one of the more fair Indian Agents when the Chiricahuas made peace with the Americans.

This is one of a number of stories that demonstrate the complex history of Western expansion and subjugation of American Indians. Thus, in the course, we have focused on the story of the Apache as a way of understanding a larger history. The story of the Apache is one of resistance and survival, but also of the intersection of different cultures, all of which made different trade-offs as they came into contact with one

another: Apache, Mexican, American, African American, and other native peoples.

Recently, I took 15 of my students to Cochise’s Stronghold and to Apache Pass to see the history for themselves. Cochise’s Stronghold is a wilderness of rock where no soldier dared go, but that is where Jeffords and, eventually, General Otis Howard went to make peace with the Apaches. We visited Council Rocks, where Cochise made peace with the Americans. We also visited Apache Pass, where two important battles took place, and Fort Bowie, from which Geronimo and his people were deported from their traditional homeland to the east, concluding more than 20 years of conflict with the Americans.

There are not many schools where educators have the freedom to develop this type of experiential course work—but doing so is more important than ever, as we prepare this generation of students in the 21st century.

Thank you for your support!

Mike Davis, PhD Head of School Colorado Academy

Head of School Dr. Mike Davis shared the spotlight with Lower School students during the All-School Assembly on the first day of school, August 22, 2023.

FREEDOM TO

RETHINK EVERYTHING

From left, Upper School faculty members Liz Sarles, Katie Schneider, and Ross Holland teach the Advanced Studies and Research courses Superpowers: China, Russia, and the United States in the Modern World; Computer Science Principles; and Philosophy and Literature.

FA CUL TY SPOTL IGH T

ADVaNCED STUDIES AND RESEARCH

Placement (AP) classes with CA’s own ASR program— courses designed to give students more agency and the space and encouragement to rigorously pursue multidisciplinary questions that connect to the broader world. Visual and Performing Arts and Computer Science Departments also began adding ASR courses.

“ WE JUST PIVOT”

In Colorado Academy’s Advanced Studies and Research (ASR) classes offered in the Upper School, a few things stand out: the many voices sharing ideas and observations, the willingness to question conventional wisdom, the fingers flipping (or laptop-scrolling) to relevant passages in primary and secondary sources, and the laughter—plenty of it.

These new offerings are weighted and presented to colleges alongside AP courses as the most rigorous in each discipline, yet, explains Director of College Counseling and Upper School Strategic Initiatives Sonia Arora ’01, ASR will help students differentiate themselves in ways that AP currently limits. “We believe firmly that moving away from AP will make our program more distinctive to colleges and our students’ achievements more noteworthy,” she asserts.

Of her course Superpowers: China, Russia, and the United States in the Modern World, Senior Instructor and Social Studies Department Chair Liz Sarles says, “My favorite thing about ASR so far is its organic nature. Whereas the AP curriculum demands that you move through the material toward the test in a linear, proscribed way—or else you get ‘off track’—in my class there’s never that pressure. We’re never behind: We just pivot. Eagerly sharing their interests and observations about how the content we’re covering connects to the world, the students move the trajectory of the course as we go deeper into areas they want to investigate.”

As characterized by Senior Instructor and English Department Chair Ross Holland, whose course Philosophy and Literature is one of the first to carry the ASR designation, this is the “collective energy” that naturally sparks into life when passionate, engaged thinkers are offered the time, the freedom, and the guidance to delve into the biggest questions and discover the joy of true intellectual exploration.

“One way to think about ASR,” Holland says, “is that we’re coming together to do something really hard, and trying to have fun while doing it.”

Beginning in the fall of 2023, CA’s English and Social Studies Departments replaced four Advanced

CA is far from alone in reevaluating the role of AP in the curriculum: More than 80 other leading independent schools have made the choice to develop their own college-level advanced courses in the last 15 years, eliminating AP, and some have never offered AP. By participating in this widespread movement, CA makes its values as a school clear: Curiosity, the pursuit of big ideas, and passionate engagement with the world are essential if education is to be a transformative force for good.

Head of School Dr. Mike Davis says simply, “The kind of programmatic evolution that ASR represents is at the heart of CA’s mission.”

Witnessing the excitement that suffuses the classrooms where CA’s dozen ASR courses for 2023-2024 are taught leaves little room to argue with that assessment.

Students’ passion for the exchange of ideas is palpable.

The Juniors and Seniors taking Superpowers look at great power development and rivalry through an interdisciplinary lens, incorporating historical periods such as the Cold War, global competition around technologies such as semiconductors, multiple frameworks of international relations, and literary approaches to geopolitical questions in their discussions and debates.

But ripped-from-the-headlines news and other current events are fair game, too, as the nations in question

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Students in the ASR course Superpowers: China, Russia, and the United States in the Modern World

make moves that bring all those forces into the present day—and into the classroom.

Students examine the history and geopolitical motivations behind the latest developments in the war in Ukraine. They unpack the controversy around recognizing Taiwan’s status as an independent country—even dissecting a Wall Street Journal editorial by entrepreneur and Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy calling for the U.S. to militarily defend Taiwan. And they look back on the attacks of September 11, 2001, by attending a National Security Forum hosted

by Denver’s Counterterrorism Education Learning Lab and featuring former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, CNN National Security Analyst Peter Bergen, and Admiral James Stavridis, 16th NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.

Explains Sarles, “There are plenty of schools that dropped AP courses without providing anything in their place. But the fact that ASR at CA is filling that opening with something that is so thoughtful and helpful and exciting and relevant—I think it just showcases that we truly are preparing kids to approach contemporary issues by providing them with what they’re going to need going forward in their education and their lives.”

“Have we lost something by moving away from AP?” Sarles challenges. “Absolutely not. All I see are gains.”

philosophical constructs—epistemology, ontology, and ethics—through close consideration of challenging texts, films, graphic novels, and other works by creators such as George Orwell (1984), filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski (Dekalog), contemporary novelist Paul Auster (City of Glass), and poet Tracy Smith (Life on Mars).

“ None of us in the room, including me, is going to definitively answer the questions we’re considering— How do I know what I know?

What makes me who I am?”

“The goal of this course’s approach,” Holland says, “is not for me to take some sort of knowledge I have in my head and ‘transfer’ it into students’ heads. It’s to create the conditions and the context in which we can experiment with ideas. None of us in the room, including me, is going to definitively answer the questions we’re considering—How do I know what I know? What makes me who I am? Instead, I’m facilitating a classroom dynamic and a community that nurtures the very best kind of learning.”

EXPERIMENTING WITH IDEAS

For Holland, like Sarles, the heart of ASR is loosening staid expectations around predefined outcomes and reassessing the role of teacher and school.

In Holland’s class, the ASR designation means that students dive deeply, at a college level, into major

“My ASR class should be a place for students to test out their ideas,” he elaborates. “If I come into the room

thinking, ‘We must get to concept X in order for today to be successful,’ then when my students begin to truly engage with each other and explore where that takes them, I might feel a little frustration. I might miss the wonderful ideas that we did get to.”

Holland acknowledges that this way of thinking about classroom culture and its outcomes is starting to “infect” his other classes, too. “Reflecting on the high level we hope our humanities students reach as a Junior or Senior in an ASR course, we have to ask ourselves, what does that mean for our Ninth and Tenth Graders? What do we need to do to prepare them?”

That holistic view has been part of the reevaluation of AP and the implementation of ASR from the start, Holland makes clear.

“In order for us to rethink AP, you have to rethink everything. You have to rethink what are the skills and dispositions that we’re trying to foster in Ninth Grade, and even before that. ASR has really inspired a much larger conversation about teaching and learning at CA.”

THE ONES ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS That intellectual foment has not been confined to the humanities, where it’s often easy to see student passions driving discovery and academic rigor. In computer science and engineering design teacher and Computer Science Department Chair Katie Schneider’s ASR, Computer Science Principles, what sounds like a straightforward journey through coding and related concepts becomes an adventure into the fundamentals of computing.

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Previously, the course was, in fact, offered as an AP, with a heavy emphasis on designing and evaluating solutions through the development of algorithms and programs. But AP Computer Science Principles required students to spend a significant chunk of class time learning a “pseudo” coding language just to take the final examination, a burden that precluded in-depth exploration of other topics.

“We were learning the ways of the AP test,” Schneider explains, “rather than getting into things that we were excited about or working on projects that inspired students.”

Now, not only does the course make space for students to design and code their own final programs–everything from graphics-intensive games to practical, productivityenhancing apps—but it also allows for extended sessions looking at what Schneider calls the “nitty-gritty” of computing.

This generation of students, she observes, is so fully immersed in computing technologies throughout their daily lives, from their phones to their laptops, smart watches, and TVs, that it’s more important than ever for them to stop to wonder at what makes it all possible.

“Every single day, my students are sending texts, images, and videos on their devices. But in this course, we’re looking at how, beneath that abstraction layer of the phone screen or the computer interface, the binary number system is the foundation of everything they take for granted.”

Thinking about how binary 1s and 0s can represent decimal numbers, the alphabet, shapes, colors, and ultimately sounds and moving images leads students to considering pressing contemporary issues, such

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as online security breaches and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI).

“In the very near future, if not right now, the non-coding concepts we’re exploring—for example, how internet data travels as binary information, or how the large language models underlying AI process and reflect the digital world and its biases—are going to be critically important for these young people to understand,” Schneider argues.

Most of her students won’t be, say, working on coding an AI; but they will most likely be using it to do their jobs, and possibly to do amazing things. As Schneider tells her students, “Whatever field you end up in, you want to be the people who are asking the important questions about what data we’re using, is it the right data, and are we representing all of the people who we want to represent within this data? That’s going to become the most important work they can do in the future.”

A WORLD OF DISCOVERIES As understanding the binary number system segues into discussion of bias and equity in computing, it becomes clear that in Computer Science Principles, just as in CA’s other ASR courses, no field of study is really separate from any other.

And that, teachers will tell you, is very much the point.

Holland notes that central texts his students study, such as Orwell’s 1984, deliberately have a place in the reading list for a course like Sarles’ Superpowers.

Similarly, knowledge of computer science and the history of semiconductor development can inform

discussion of the global “chip wars.” And the philosophy of Plato, including his musings about the nature of justice or the contrast between perception and reality, surely comes into play as students tackle the pronouncements of a Ramaswamy or Putin.

“All subjects are everywhere,” is the way Sarles puts it. “Social studies doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Literature doesn’t exist in a vacuum. The onus is on us as educators to light the way to genuine academic freedom and intellectual discourse that embrace ideas and opinions from across the political spectrum and across disciplines. Interdisciplinary learning is the deepest and most relevant learning we challenge our students to undertake.”

The role of ASR, continues Sarles, is to “give our students access to a world of stories and discoveries as they build their own.”

All ASR courses culminate with significant final projects, which represent deep and original scholarship and creativity and celebrate high-level thinking. Humanities students travel to the University of Denver’s main library in the Anderson Academic Commons to conduct research toward a college-thesis-like paper; those in the arts mount a formal gallery show; and those in computer science develop a robust application.

But whatever the tangible outcome, the intangible and arguably more important result is a new vision of teaching and learning in which students master the art of sustained intellectual engagement and discover its joy and excitement. 

2023-202 4

WHAT IS ASR?

FUTURE FOCUSED

A S R

• AI AND MACHINE LEARNING

• MUSIC THEORY

• ROBOTICS

• PHILOSOPHY AND LITERATURE

• ART SENIOR PORTFOLIO

• THE HISTORY OF IDEAS AND INVENTIONS

• COMPUTER SCIENCE PRINCIPLES • CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE OF ISRAEL, PALESTINE, AND LEBANON • SUPERPOWERS: CHINA, RUSSIA, AND THE UNITED STATES IN THE MODERN WORLD

INTERDISCIPLINARY LENS

Cou r ses

• INDEPENDENT STUDY IN SOCIAL STUDIES

• INTERNATIONAL GENDER MOVEMENTS • ECONOMICS IN THEORY IN PRACTICE • THE HISTORY AND CULTURE OF MEXICO

In the Art Senior Portfolio ASR course, visiting Denver artist Jahna Rae critiques the Seniors’ work in progress in their studio in the Ponzio Arts Center.

REAL-WORLD QUESTIONS

DEMONSTRATING MASTERY

STUDENT-DIRECTED LEARNING

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FREEDOM TO

IMAGINE THE WORLD

Reading Kelly Yang’s award-winning autobiographical novel Front Desk was an eye-opening experience for these Fifth Graders.

S TUDE NT SPOTL IG H T

FIFTH GRADE ZOOMS IN Ethan Langefels describes Fifth Grade at Colorado Academy by way of a simile. “It’s like if you were trying to lift up a big, heavy piece of wood. Your teachers won’t do it for you, but they will help you figure out a way for you to lift it up yourself.”

Getting better at making sense of unfamiliar ideas while learning new things about writing and history is hard, Ethan and his classmates explain; but, just as when that big log inches off the ground, it’s also exhilarating.

It all starts, in one sense, at the very beginning of the school year, when Fifth Graders read the novel Front Desk, author Kelly Yang’s award-winning autobiographical debut about a 10-year-old Chinese American immigrant girl who manages the front desk of a motel while her parents clean the rooms.

“Front Desk has exposed our class to a lot more ‘real’ topics like racism,” says Caroline Miller.

Digging into Yang’s absorbing tale of immigration, poverty, and race, students observe the author “zooming in” to offer rich details about the characters’ daily lives and complex backstories, and they practice expanding “small moments” in their own writing.

“The big thing for me,” Naomi Giarratano shares, “is that afterwards, we do these discussion sessions where we say what we learned from the book. Now, after 26 sessions, our thinking has evolved so much.”

Their writing blossoms, too. “It feels a lot more open,” is how Leven Weekes characterizes the experience of taking her own small moments—like when Front Desk’s young narrator, Mia Tang, relishes the luxury of taking a hot shower for the first time—and making them bigger through her observations and ideas.

“I used to have trouble with writing,” acknowledges Elle Thomas, “but when you’re given the freedom to write whatever you want, in your own words, you find a lot more things to say.”

The practice the students get while parsing the novel’s themes and working on their writing carries over to social studies and their focus on 20th century American history, as they look into the Great Migration that saw millions of Black Americans leave the racist South to find opportunity in the North.

Says Jamie Zisler, “I never knew about the Great Migration before. It’s a powerful moment in history— inspiring, but also sad; I can’t really explain it.”

Learning about the Green Book that Black travelers relied on from the 1930s to the 1960s to steer clear of hostile towns, gas stations, restaurants, and hotels as they made their way across the country, Audrey Linsley feels it was “incredible that there were so few safe places they could go that they needed a guide book to tell them.”

She goes on, “This is the first time we’ve ever really seen how horrible things were—the sad truth.”

But the students perceive a bright side, too—their growing confidence and openness in encountering challenging ideas, and arriving at their own.

“ W hen you’re given the freedom to write whatever you want... you find a lot more things to say.”

For Xavier Joymon, those gains have become most apparent through partner work and group discussions, where he’s learned to consider diverse opinions and seek compromise. “I’ve had a big jump, from being able to write a couple of sentences to a couple of pages. Talking to each other about our ideas, I’ve noticed we all have a lot more of our own thoughts to put down.”

Even outside the homeroom the difference has been noticeable, adds Caroline Miller. “We have table groups in art, so while we’re working on our projects, we can also just talk about anything we want. It’s a way to let your creativity flow and just express yourself.”

In Fifth Grade, continues Naomi Giarratano, “You can come up with things you never imagined. You’re creating your own world.” 

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FREEDOM TO

SHAPE THE FUTURE

From left, Eighth Grader Rahul Iyengar and Ninth Graders MJ Seitz-Yañez and Nina Oren discussed their work on CA’s award-winning Future City team.

S TUDE NT SPOTL IG H T

MIDDLE SCHOOLERS CHOOSE ADVENTURE Friends Rahul Iyengar, an Eighth Grader, and MJ SeitzYañez and Nina Oren, both in Ninth Grade, met a year ago when they all were part of the Middle School Future City team. A hands-on, cross-curricular interscholastic competition that brings STEM to life in Grades Six through Eight, Future City asks students to imagine how to make the world a better place and challenges them to envision a city that solves a major sustainability issue.

Middle school teams from across the globe contend locally for a chance to reach the Future City Finals in Washington, D.C. The Colorado Academy team’s city concept, “Caelum,” cleverly tackled climate change by addressing issues such as urban poverty, water availability, food security, and energy production, and their effort won first place in regional competition, qualifying them for a trip to nationals. And even though the team earned only twelfth place at the national level, the journey to get there, according to Rahul, was worthy of celebration from start to finish.

“I joined Future City for the challenge,” he explains, “but I stayed for the family that grew out of the experience.” A year later, the Future City family remains intact in many ways: MJ, last year’s region-winning

general project manager, has handed that role over to Rahul, and the three competitors have stayed close through emails and texts. Though their connection now stretches across two divisions at CA, the thrill of envisioning the future remains a strong common thread.

Israel and Hamas broke out in October 2023, scheduled debates in the Ninth Grade Global Perspectives course were postponed so students could learn about the history of the conflict and the latest news from the region.

“I love being surrounded by people who share similar interests and are as enthusiastic about things as I am,” says Rahul, whose passion for all things math, science, and engineering is infectious. “It was definitely exciting to be in a room full of people like that with Future City.

That’s what I love most about CA—the ability to apply what I’m learning in classes to something that I really, really enjoy.”

MJ recounts, “I found I was trying to immerse myself more in global news—what’s going on in the world?

What’s my impact on the world? How are my experiences different from someone else’s? How are they the same?”

That excitement sustains MJ and Nina, too, though in a different way in their first year of high school. For MJ, moving from the Middle School to the Upper School has meant more opportunities to branch out to explore music, theater, and especially athletics. “CA has sports that I’d never even heard of, like ultimate Frisbee,” she says. “My goal now is to try as many as I can before I graduate.”

Nina, too, has dived in deeper than ever. “The performing arts at CA are my whole life,” she proclaims. “The teachers in the theater and choir programs are just amazing—I’ve improved so much in a short time. I feel so comfortable being able to express myself here and just have fun with it.”

All three former teammates point to social studies as the place where their love for sharing ideas with peers feels most tangible at the moment. When the war between

“ I joined Future City for the challenge, but I stayed for the family that grew out of the experience.”

In the Middle School, an open lunchtime forum gave students the opportunity to ask questions about the situation in the Middle East, from wondering about the background of the conflict to imagining the potential for a wider international war. “Everyone walked out knowing much more about the different sides of the issue than they did walking in,” says Rahul.

At CA, explains Nina, there’s a “Choose your own adventure” quality to each day: You might go from a voice lesson to a debate about current events, and then to a sports practice, theater rehearsal, or Mock Trial prep session. “Taking advantage of all those opportunities opens your mind to a lot of things.” 

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FREEDOM TO

PURSUE YOUR PASSION

Senior Bela Chaudhuri works in CA’s biology lab to complete an experiment for her independent study course in science, CRISPR & Sickle Cell Anemia.

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BELA CHAUDHURI Senior Bela Chaudhuri describes herself as “someone who has a lot of interests and a lot of curiosity, and so I really like to pursue a lot of different things. The reason I’ve been able to continue to do so as I’ve progressed through high school is because CA supports you in doing that.”

Chaudhuri is right about “a lot”: This STEM-focused scholar balances AP-level and post-AP biology and mathematics with Studio Art, Honors creative writing and literature, voice lessons, and a role as a starter on the Varsity Girls Volleyball team.

But what most inspires her at the moment is her independent study in science, CRISPR & Sickle Cell Anemia. “CRISPR is an incredibly cool process that’s central to the direction that science is going in the future,” Chaudhuri explains. The gene-editing technology gives scientists the ability to alter the DNA inside individual cells of plants and animals easily and economically.

According to many, it will likely change the world as we know it by transforming medicine and food production and even altering the course of human evolution.

In the independent study she designed with science teacher and Science Department Chair Suzie Jekel serving as advisor, Chaudhuri is learning firsthand how to edit genes in bacteria such as E. coli and researching ways that CRISPR might be used to cure a devastating blood disorder that affects millions of people worldwide. It’s thought that the technology could correct the genetic mutation that causes sickle cell anemia.

“ Part of my interest in pursuing this course was me just exploring something that I’m curious about; another part of it was me preparing myself for my career.”

According to Chaudhuri, “Part of my interest in pursuing this course was me just exploring something that I’m curious about; another part of it was me preparing myself for my career, since I want to go into scientific research, and I have no doubt that CRISPR is going to be an integral part of that.”

other work she’s done in the Upper School—in fields ranging from history to philosophy—to inform her thinking about science.

For example, she relates, in the Gender Studies Honors course her Junior year, she discovered how forces in society have created, regulated, and reinforced gender throughout history. “Considering how male-dominated scientific research has been, it’s interesting to see how that’s now shifting as more women have begun to speak up and gender-nonconforming people have entered the field. Knowing how we got here is essential preparation for anyone going into science.”

That type of cross-disciplinary teaching and learning has been at the heart of her CA experience, says Chaudhuri.

“Teachers here are so good about making connections between different classes and areas of study. There’s a lot of back-and-forth between what you’re learning, so that it doesn’t feel like you’re taking six separate courses. It’s like I’m experiencing this giant mass of interconnected knowledge.”

“The whole world is interdisciplinary,” she continues.

“Being able to apply what you’re learning in one area to what you’re studying in another is essential to moving forward in life. You’re becoming a more conscientious human, with all the tools you need to navigate the world.” 

What’s special about studying CRISPR at CA, Chaudhuri goes on, is that she’s been able to draw on much of the

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FREEDOM TO

CREATE YOUR CALLING

As the Deputy Executive Director in the Governor’s Office of Information Technology for the State of Colorado, Julia Richman ’00 melds vision and strategy to solve some of the toughest challenges in the state.

ALUMNI SPOTL IG H T

JULIA RICHMAN ’00 CONSTANT LEARNER Julia Richman ’00 is the kind of high-level public-sector technology strategist who will tell you sometimes technology isn’t the best solution to a seemingly technological problem—sometimes it’s not even close.

As Deputy Executive Director in the Governor’s Office of Information Technology for the State of Colorado, Richman knows from her deep well of experience that sometimes, the most powerful innovations start with asking the simplest of questions: “What is it that people really need?”

Formerly the Chief Innovation and Technology Officer for the City of Boulder, Richman loves to share the story of how she helped tackle a hot-button challenge—moving that famously progressive city equitably toward a green economy—with a surprisingly human approach that paid unexpected dividends.

In 2018, she recounts, Boulder was the recipient of a sizable Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Mayors Innovation Challenge award. Her team’s idea was aimed at encouraging low-income residents to transition to shared and electric mobility in support of the city’s sustainability vision. “When you work a couple of jobs,” Richman explains, “you might not be looking to innovate your commute; your car, however old, is your key tool. But currently it’s only the wealthy who can afford to make the switch to shared mobility and electric vehicles (EVs).”

Richman and her team wondered how Boulder could reach those community members who weren’t already part of the “choir” singing the benefits of a green economy. They set out to gather data, likening the effort to “Carpool Karaoke”: They got in the cars of people who volunteered to participate and drove with them to work, asking questions and understanding what mobility barriers they faced.

The residents they sought to work with lived in manufactured home parks, didn’t speak English, and didn’t have the resources to access or even learn about technologies like shared mobility or EVs.

“ Our approach wasn’t going to work unless we first built a network of trust at the community level, through people our constituents knew.”

In response, she and her colleagues in the city government started with a reasonable-sounding technology initiative: partnering with the rideshare service Lyft and the e-bike provider BCycle to offer prepaid, environmentally-friendly transportation options to public housing residents. But the early results showed disappointingly low adoption rates among the most underserved communities. Their first experiment, to give away $100K in free rides, failed.

Richman knew they were on the wrong track, and her team reasoned that the problem wasn’t technology; it was trust. “We realized that, of course, you’re not going to hop in a Lyft if no one you know has ever done that.

The novelty of the technology didn’t matter; the free

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Richman delivering the opening keynote at the Colorado Digital Government Summit in October 2023

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money we were handing out for rides didn’t matter, either. Our approach wasn’t going to work unless we first built a network of trust at the community level, through people our constituents knew.”

So Richman and her team worked with liaisons on the ground to prototype a program called Community Connectors, where neighborhood residents were paid to help translate city goals in terms that their neighbors could understand. The program was immediately successful, Richman relates, and it has been borrowed in other municipalities.

When COVID-19 hit soon after, the Community Connectors program was perfectly positioned: It played a central role in educating people about and connecting them to vital public health information, vaccinations, and other resources. Focusing on trust, not technology, turned out to be the innovative solution to a crisis almost no one saw coming.

As the Boulder story vividly demonstrates, Richman is that brand of strategic visionary who thinks so far outside the box that, often, you can’t even see the box from where she’s standing. In this case, not only was technology not the right solution, it wasn’t even addressing the right problem.

Figuring out ways to solve the toughest challenges by drilling down to the essential human wants and needs at their heart is what drives Richman in her work today at the state’s highest levels, where her office has a hand in everything from enabling digital government to using technology to reduce poverty and offer equitable access to state services.

And she attributes that knack to the curiosity, ideological

openness, and willingness to engage in debate and thoughtful exchange that she encountered at Colorado Academy.

FOURSQUARE, HANDSTANDS, AND A WORLD OF IDEAS It’s at CA, Richman attests, that she began seeing herself as the kind of learner and leader who would go on to solve the biggest problems in some of the most dynamic places in the country. “I found this community of curiosity here,” she says, “where my teachers celebrated what I was interested in, and we’d have interesting and challenging conversations when we passed each other in the halls.”

She recalls many a discussion session in former history teacher Jim Blanas’ classroom, where students would spend vast amounts of class time following notions wherever they led. “His classes were more like seminars,” explains Richman, “and we were learning how to think and understand the world, rather than absorbing just a set of facts.”

From physics and math to English and social studies— all areas where she excelled—she came to see how her brain thrived when pulling at threads between complex ideas that spanned multiple fields. She started to understand how so many aspects of our world are connected, with humans, for better or worse, at the center in so many ways.

Her Upper School peers were a critical part of that realization. Doing handstands between classes and playing endless games of foursquare at lunchtime, she

says, further encouraged that openness to exploration and making connections. “You’d stand in line to wait your turn to play, and you’d have conversations with people in every grade. Socializing in a way that wasn’t hierarchical made my high school experience unbelievably rich.”

“ I found this community of curiosity here, where my teachers celebrated what I was interested in, and we’d have interesting and challenging conversations when we passed each other in the halls.”

When she went on to Dartmouth College, Richman found herself longing for the heady, interdisciplinary style of learning and community-building that had nourished her at CA, and she pursued a creative major in government, political theory, law, and English and art history, with a focus on Modernism. This seemingly omnivorous endeavor may have surprised her Dartmouth classmates and teachers, but it would have struck a chord with anyone who knew her at CA. “Most people in my major were future lawyers—a fact I only realized when everyone was applying to law school at the end of college, but I wasn’t,” Richman relates. “The truth was I just liked learning about the law”—just like she relished exploring the influence of the Beat Poets

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on American identity in the early 20th century, and examining the role of social capital in shaping society.

A passion for tracing the connections between disparate ideas and fields led her to graduate school at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, and then to Deloitte, the global consulting firm that advises the biggest organizations in the world. There she became a star, using her broad background in the humanities, sciences, and public policy to help New York City make progress on its traffic-busting congestionpricing scheme, Texas to modernize its Department of Public Safety, or Louisiana to build its emergencymanagement capabilities following hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

After the financial crisis of 2008, she began to specialize in working with large organizations to make their technology operations more cost effective and provide better customer service. Faced with declining tax revenues, mandatory layoffs, and all the other impacts that were felt during the crisis, according to Richman, governments and other big enterprises wanted to find a way to do more with less of everything. At the same time, they were sitting on sprawling technology infrastructures built in the early 2000s that had never been optimized to operate efficiently.

As Richman explains it, “It was a world of transformative cost-cutting, building brand-new technology organizations within governments and businesses where there had

been little thoughtfulness or planning before. There were huge numbers of staff all working in silos with separate systems that were incredibly expensive to run.

My job was to ask, how do we integrate operations, centralize the services they offer, build a healthy financial model, and figure out how to make decisions?”

Of the field in which she became a technology whisperer to the biggest organizations, Richman acknowledges, “I didn’t start there, but this is what people needed at the time. These are the problems that truly needed to be solved.”

TRANSFORMING LIVES BY TRANSFORMING GOVERNMENT Up for partner when her tenth year at Deloitte rolled around in 2016, Richman found herself reflecting on her options. “How is it that I know so much about Louisiana, New York, and all these other places,” she wondered, “but so much less about my own community?” Her role as a Senior Manager of Strategy and Operations put her in three different cities a week, but she barely had a bottle of mustard in the fridge at home in Denver.

Naturally gravitating to solving big problems, when Richman was recruited for a role leading data and innovation in Boulder, she started thinking, “Cities are really impactful to the daily lives of people; maybe that’s what’s next.” She signed on as a sort of “entrepreneur” within the city’s government, looking at new ways to interact with constituents on a day-to-day level and engage more people in the hard work of governing.

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Richman at the Colorado Digital Government Summit

The track record of innovation she built there around meeting human needs through technological and organizational shifts—like the one that led to the creation of the Community Connectors program— next landed her the role in the Governor’s Office of Information Technology, where she saw an even bigger opportunity to transform lives while transforming government.

It was at the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 when she arrived at the Capitol, and she found a state government scrambling to make the leap to digital services as the whole world went online. “COVID changed everything,” she recalls. “Government didn’t really believe it could do things online, and then all of a sudden they had no other choice. It was an awesome time for innovation.”

Seizing on crisis as opportunity, Richman looked around at the thousand employees operating under a half-billion dollar budget in the state’s technology organization and saw tremendous unrealized potential. “For the first couple of years, my focus was just organizing our work, making it structured and repeatable, and creating an inclusive, sustainable place to work.”

The Office of Information Technology went entirely remote as Richman endorsed the internal campaign, “Think differently.” While in the past, government acted in paternalistic ways—“We know what you need and are here to provide it for you”—the paradigm shift accelerated by the pandemic required user-centered governing.

“The new generation of residents who grew up with technology expect government to work more like Google or Grubhub,” Richman explains, “and they’re

demanding that someone address their concerns. Now, governments everywhere are starting to think about themselves and how they are organized, and working to put the voices and needs of their constituents first.”

“ I didn’t start there, but this is what people needed at the time. These are the problems that truly needed to be solved.”

Under Richman’s leadership, Colorado has launched a strategic plan that calls for the reinvention of digital governing; the goal is fundamentally to leverage technology to improve people’s lives. “How do we get people access to the services they’re already eligible for, but historically have been hidden behind the administrative barriers of paperwork and the physical barriers of having to travel to stand in line in an office?”

being on the other end. Through our research, we found that at least 20% of Coloradans still want some form of in-person option.”

The ability to hold onto two contrary ideas at the same time—in-person versus digital, green technology versus community-building—is the superpower that allows Richman to push the boundaries of what technology can do while attending to the all-important human needs it must serve.

And yes, she names CA as the place where that strength flourished.

“Being a constant learner is my job,” Richman explains.

“There are no easy solutions in government anymore: everything is intersectional and complicated. Just like shooting the breeze in the Upper School lobby or in the foursquare line at CA, being willing to have a conversation, to question assumptions, and to bring the right tools and ideas to the table—there’s no other way to solve problems now.” 

The Division of Motor Vehicles is a prime example. While some states are just barely arriving at digital-first motor vehicle transactions, a majority of those interactions in Colorado happen online in less than two minutes, instead of requiring hours of waiting. “That’s exactly the kind of experience we want to enable,” says Richman.

But at the same time, just as in Boulder, Richman is always asking her team, what are the human needs at the heart of what we’re trying to do? In some cases, that means people, not technology, might hold the answer.

“What if you’re applying for unemployment assistance?” she offers. “A big chunk of that transaction may be available online, but when that person is stressed, has unique circumstances, or needs help, they want a human

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FREEDOM TO ASK THE BIG QUESTIONS

FREEDOM IS IN OUR MISSION:

CREATING CURIOUS, AND ADVENTUROUS, FREEDOM TO RISK GOING WHERE YOU’VE NEVER GONE BEFORE

FREEDOM TO EMBRACE A COMMUNITY OF LEARNERS

KIND, COURAGEOUS, LEARNERS AND LEADERS.

FREEDOM TO TEST YOUR VOICE AND YOUR VISION

THE ONES WHO SEEK OUT THE FREEDOM OF DISCOVERY AND SURPRISE

THE ONES WHO KNOW FREEDOM TO FAIL IS THE BEST WAY FORWARD

2023 Annual REPORT

OPERATING BUDGET YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 2023

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION

STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES

Year Ended June 30, 2023

July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023

Assets

Operating Revenue

Without Donor Restrictions

Tuition and fees, net of financial aid grants of $3,510,948 and $3,319,154

Cash and cash equivalents Accounts receivable, net

$17,747,918 $91,779

Promises to give, net

$1,137,537

Prepaid expenses and other assets

$438,504

Restricted Cash Property and equipment, net Beneficial interest in Perpetual Trust

– $68,886,345 $193,364

Endowment Promises to give, net Investments Total assets

$428,286 $34,557,663 $123,481,396

With Donor Restrictions

Total

$31,704,053

–

$31,704,053

$749,177

–

$749,177

$2,305,676

–

$2,305,676

$585,488

–

$585,488

Net assets released from restriction pursuant to endowment spending-rate distribution formula

$1,394,059

($1,394,059)

–

Net assets released from restrictions

$1,096,188

($1,096,188)

–

$37,834,641

($2,490,247)

–

$28,504,677

Transportation fees Summer and other program revenue Interest and other income

Total operating revenue

Operating Expenses Educational activities and transportation

$28,504,677

–

Summer and other program expenses

$3,403,622

–

$3,403,622

Total program services expense

$31,908,299

–

$31,908,299

$5,466,657

–

$5,466,657

$37,374,956

–

$37,374,956

$459,685

($2,490,247)

($2,030,562)

General and administrative

Liabilities and Net Assets

Total operating expenses

Liabilities

Net loss from operations

Accounts payable and accrued expenses Accrued payroll costs Construction payable and retainage

$899,793 $2,080,051 $577,001

Deferred summer program income

$1,861,543

Tuition and fees paid in advance

$6,607,184

Total liabilities

$12,025,572

With donor restrictions Total net assets Total liabilities and net assets

Contributions

$1,420,668

$4,544,415

$5,965,083

Special event revenue

$339,723

$831,527

$1,171,250

Less: cost of direct benefits to donors

($206,861)

–

($206,861)

Net special event revenue Fundraising expenses Net investment return (loss)

Net assets Without donor restrictions

Nonoperating Support and Expenses

$71,048,874

Distribution from and change in value of beneficial interest in perpetual trust

$40,406,950

Net assets released from restrictions for capital improvements

$111,455,824 $123,481,396

Net nonoperating support and expenses

$132,862

$831,527

$964,389

($1,613,359)

–

($1,613,359)

$89,018

$3,612,234

$3,701,252 $455

$9,936

($9,481)

$737,646

($737,646)

–

$776,772

$8,241,048

$9,017,820

Change in net assets

$1,236,457

$5,750,801

$6,987,258

Net assets, beginning of year

$69,812,417

$34,656,149

$104,468,566

Net assets, end of year

$71,048,874

$40,406,950

$111,455,824

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CHANGING TRAJECTORIES FOR 25 YEARS

When looking at the breadth and depth of the positive impact that Horizons Colorado has had on our students and families over the past 25 years, there is so much to be thankful for and to celebrate! Through opportunities in quality academics, socialemotional support, leadership training, life skills, and more, Horizons students have built self-confidence and self-esteem—the foundations for pursuing a choice-filled life. Our organization has also trained hundreds of teachers, integrated into the Colorado Academy community, provided Horizons parent and family engagement, collaborated with partners throughout the Denver Metro Area, and served as a leading member of the ever-growing Horizons National network of affiliates—serving over 7,000 students nationwide. In recent years, we have expanded our year-round offerings to include in-person tutoring and recalibrated our high school program as a one-on-one mentorship initiative.

As we celebrate our achievements and look toward the future, we acknowledge that Horizons Colorado programming would not be possible without the steadfast and benevolent support of our generous donors. Horizons is a beacon of hope and possibility for a more equitable outlook for every student. Together, with our circle of supporters and friends, we are working toward a brighter future for all.

H

25 19 9 8 - 2 0 2 3

REVENUE

AMOUNT

%

Special Events

$286,792

36

Individual Contributions

$252,717

32

Henning Health & Wellness Program

$20,000

2.6

Community Foundation Grants

$152,394

19

Endowment Earnings

$62,160

7.9

$1500

0.2

Corporate Matching Gifts

$10,785

1.5

Program Fees

$6,352

0.8

$792,700

100

AMOUNT

%

$439,323

61

Summer Program Costs (Including Henning Health & Wellness Program) $148,883

21

Year Round Program Costs

$54,721

7.6

Alumni College Scholarships

$5,525

0.7

$939

0.13

$68,017

9.57

$717,408

100

Horizons National Program Contributions

TOTAL REVENUE

EXPENSES Summer Staff and Administrative Salaries

Community Outreach Advancement and Administrative Costs TOTAL EXPENSES

34

DO

HORIZONS COLORADO

ONS COLORA ORIZ

Horizons Colorado students celebrated their graduation in summer 2023.

CO LO R A D O AC A D EM Y ’ S S T R AT E G I C PL A N , THE FUTURE IN FOCUS, S U PP O R T S C A’ S G OA L S T H R O U G H F O U R SP OT L I G H T I N I T I AT I V E S:

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STUDENT EXPERIENCE

INSTRUCTIONAL EXCELLENCE

CA’s top priority is to prepare students for a complex and ever-changing world by enhancing our Pre-K through Grade 12 curriculum with more authentic engagement and self-directed, inquiry-based learning. This is the foundational premise of academic freedom—creating opportunities to investigate, debate, and research complex ideas. Curiosity-driven, immersive experiences not only help students create their sense of purpose and exercise agency, but they also provide educators with the opportunity to develop coursework that encourages students to explore and expand their paths and perspectives.

CA cultivates a healthy and inspiring work environment where faculty are empowered to chart their professional journeys. Academic freedom is central to this commitment, encouraging educators to advance instruction through mission-driven, responsive teaching and innovation. With CA’s robust investment in professional development, supportive coaching and mentoring, and pledge to sustain an ever-evolving curriculum, faculty are encouraged to think outside the box and incorporate emerging trends in their teaching. When CA teachers pursue their passions, students are rewarded with enhanced learning, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and coursework found nowhere else.

CAMPUS INVESTMENTS

FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY

CA is an idyllic environment, surrounded by natural beauty, outstanding academic buildings, up-to-date technology infrastructure and classroom equipment, and high-caliber athletic and arts facilities. The beautiful campus— both indoor and out—is an essential part of the CA experience, providing a restorative natural environment, offering top-notch programming, promoting strong enrollment, and supporting financial and environmental sustainability.

Ongoing investments in campus facilities are fundamental to providing spaces in which academic freedom can thrive. Through thoughtful and impactful capital improvements, CA continues to create modern infrastructure and appealing learning spaces for its teachers, students, and mission-based curriculum.

CA is able to leverage its reputation, expertise, and physical assets to generate valuable auxiliary revenue streams and endowment growth. With zero debt weighing on its annual budget, CA is in an enviable financial situation within the realm of independent schools. Because of its solid fiscal foundation, CA is in a strong position to deliver on academic freedom goals by attracting and retaining top-tier faculty, who in addition to feeling supported to pursue innovative teaching, appreciate the quality of the student body, the career-enhancing growth opportunities, and industry-leading pay and benefits. CA’s continued commitment to investment in professional development and campus facilities is also an important factor in teacher retention.

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ACA D E M I C F R E E D O M AT CO LO R A D O AC A D EM Y TAKING INTELLECTUAL RISKS

LEANING INTO DISCOMFORT

VALUING DIFFERENT WORLDVIEWS

Critical to living Colorado Academy’s mission is the school’s unwavering commitment to academic freedom and civil discourse. CA strives to be a place where students and teachers may express their ideas openly, without fear of censorship or intimidation.

By encouraging open inquiry and dialogue, faculty help students develop critical thinking skills so that they are equipped to face challenging topics.

When tackling challenging or uncomfortable topics, academic freedom is not always easy or comfortable.

At CA, we aim to nurture a community that is more committed to truth based on evidence than to being right. When we are challenged with new ideas that may integrate into our own understanding, our intellectual growth is enriched.

CA recognizes that open expression of ideas and civil discourse are vital for fostering care, respect, and compassion. By encouraging dialogue and diverse perspectives, CA creates an environment that values the experiences and opinions of all individuals, and that seeks to build bridges of understanding across communities.

Colorado Academy 3800 South Pierce Street Denver, CO 80235 CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

Art by Anna Colpack ’23 After completing her Senior Portfolio show, Colpack said, “I rediscovered my love of art making when I realized that it’s not about the final piece, what others think about it, or even how good it is. The true beauty is in the process it takes to make something.”