Santa Fe School for the Arts & Sciences

SFSAS Santa Fe School for the Arts & Sciences is an engaging environment where kids love to learn and teachers love to teach.

“We believe an education is more than just mastering academic knowledge.

Our students learn how to be compassionate, kind citizens and to stand up for what they know is right.”

– Rayna Dineen, Principal and Founder, Santa Fe School for the Arts & Sciences

Who we are “The school exemplifies and encourages the values of compassion, leadership, world citizenship and service.”

– From the SFSAS Vision Statement

Santa Fe School for the Arts &

Mission

Sciences (SFSAS) is a non profit,

Santa Fe School for the Arts & Sciences achieves academic excellence in an environment of respect, inclusion and diversity, utilizing Expeditionary Learning, global perspectives and a multicultural art and science enriched curriculum.

independent Expeditionary Learning school committed to providing a challenging, engaging education for children ages 3 through 8th grade.

Vision Each child's talents are fully developed, leading to a lifelong passion for learning and exploration in a caring environment where each child has opportunities for self-expression and growth. The school exemplifies and encourages the values of compassion, leadership, world citizenship and service.

Support the change you want to see in the world A Million Dollar Opportunity

SFSAS has an incredible opportunity

YOU can help ensure the school’s

to start an endowment – a million dollar

sustainability.

challenge grant!

YOU can help ensure that SFSAS endures

A private donor has committed to match every dollar that people pledge to the school, up to $1 million. A $2 million endowment would provide consistent funding to the school's financial aid program, ensuring that SFSAS's unique vision endures and is available to students who might not otherwise be able to attend the school. 30% of our students receive financial aid scholarships. A substantial number of them are 75% to full scholarships.

Pledges of up to five years can be counted toward the match.

Every new gift or pledge to the school’s endowment will be doubled until the $1 million gift is exhausted or we reach the end of the campaign on May 1, 2012, whichever comes first.

to teach the next generation of leaders.

YOUR GIFT helps ensure that no student is turned away for financial reasons.

YOUR GIFT will help SFSAS expand its leadership role in education.

YOUR GIFT and support of this endowment campaign will help SFSAS expand its outreach nationally and internationally.

YOUR GIFT will be matched dollar for dollar.

Compassion “Ultimately, education is more than knowledge; it is wisdom – and compassion is the heart of wisdom.”

– Brian Dineen, Founder, Santa Fe School for the Arts & Sciences

History

Commitment to financial aid scholarships

Santa Fe School for the Arts & Sciences began with the compassion of its founders. In 1999, Rayna and Brian Dineen and a group of parents began the school because they saw children who were not able to reach their full potential because of their school environments. SFSAS’ founders created a school free of bullying, where diversity is valued as an asset. They believed that misconceptions about physical and learning disabilities prevented students from realizing their own potential and the potential of those around them.

SFSAS has stayed true to the commitment that no student would be turned away for financial reasons. Every year, 30% of SFSAS students – or at least 36 students per year receive financial aid scholarships. A substantial number of them are 75% to full scholarships.

SFSAS is 100% inclusive of children with disabilities and has a partnership with Santa Fe Public Schools to provide education for students with special needs whose Individualized Education Plan (IEP) indicates that they will be best served at SFSAS. SFSAS’ founders believe that students are enriched by each other’s diverse backgrounds. These core values of compassion, respect and diversity are the foundation of Santa Fe School for the Arts & Sciences.

Watch a film short produced by SFSAS students about the water situation in Sudan.

Throughout this brochure, are QR Codes.

These barcode-like graphics, readable by smartphones, iPod touches, and tablets will open videos.

To watch the videos, download the BeeTagg Reader App from your app store. Then, with the app open: simply hold your phone or iPod over the coded squares to scan them and launch the video.

“In this school, the goal is not only to teach numbers and words, but to teach tolerance, respect, and compassion, helping each student grow up to be a happy, well-rounded citizen…. I was never scared to be who I was.”

– Lucas Weiss, Class of 2010

Leadership “I have been consistently impressed with the level of public community service the students and faculty at the Santa Fe School for the Arts & Sciences provide. I look forward to seeing their work in promoting literacy throughout our community.”

– Mayor David Coss, City of Santa Fe

SFSAS sees each student as a leader As leaders, SFSAS students create ways for people to join in making extraordinary things happen. For example: In 2011-12 SFSAS students are leading a community-wide campaign to get kids hooked on books. This is a studentdriven campaign to empower kids to take charge of their own education and use positive peer pressure to get their friends reading. It is part of an expedition called, “Be the Change,” and it explores the questions, “Can one person make a difference? Can one person change the world?”

The students named the campaign “Hooked on Books” and created a slogan, “Reel kids into reading.” They created a logo and designed the first competition. A steering committee of students from different middle and high schools, called Youth United, meets on the weekends to further develop our community outreach activities, including reading to children in the hospital and gathering additional community support. Our Alliance for Literacy now includes all Santa Fe Public Schools (SFPS) and many private schools as well.

Our students have already presented this initiative to SFPS principals, SFPS librarians, the Mayor of Santa Fe and PTA groups.

In 2011 SFSAS’ founder Rayna Dineen took 13 SFSAS alumni students to the Riverside School and Gandhi’s ashram in India to learn how students implement social change.

The trip was supported in part by a Fund for Teaching Global Learning Odyssey grant from the Expeditionary Learning Network.

In 2007 SFSAS students opened people’s eyes to the reality of youth homelessness in Santa Fe with a televised PSA, film, and peaceful protests, which assisted Youth Shelters’ Street Outreach Program in providing casitas for homeless youth.

Watch an award-winning film about tolerance made by SFSAS students and shown on PBS Masterpiece Theater.

Watch a documentary created by SFSAS students as a gift for the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market artists.

World Citizenship “Santa Fe School for the Arts & Sciences is one of the gems of the Expeditionary Learning School Network. In a network full of high achieving schools that build strong citizenship and character, Santa Fe School stands out as one of the most impressive centers for excellence in student work, thinking and contribution.� – Ron Berger, Chief Program Officer, Expeditionary Learning Schools

Teaching students to be world citizens SFSAS is committed to teaching students to be world citizens who can transform isolation and self-interest into connectedness and caring for the whole. This approach inspires their aspirations for themselves and for their world. For example: Each 8th grade student has the opportunity to visit a foreign country and perform community service while learning about the language and culture. All students can attend this overseas trip regardless of their ability to pay.

Our students have visited countries in Asia, Europe and Latin America.

We have numerous community partnerships, including a strong sister school relationship with the Armand Hammer United World College (UWC). SFSAS families have hosted UWC students for over 10 years.

SFSAS has sister schools in Japan, Costa Rica and India.

Service “Every Friday we look forward to our buddies coming to visit our classroom. It is a gift to have them here as they help build both academic and social skills with all my students.”

– Emma Johnston, 1st Grade Teacher at Cesar Chavez Elementary School

www.santafeschool.org 5912 Jaguar Drive Santa Fe, NM 87507 505 438 8585 SFSASendowment@gmail.com

The efforts of the students of the Santa Fe School for the Arts & Sciences demonstrate a remarkable sense of caring and awareness for others in need. The fact of youth caring for other youth signals a level of empathy and action that will have a profound impact on our community. These students are on the leading edge of bringing to light the marginalized and less fortunate and through thoughtful action are doing something about those conditions. We are fortunate to have young people creating a future of possibilities for all.

The following year the youth held a sleep out on the grounds of City Hall... It was quite an event and a very cold evening.

– Karen Rowell, Executive Director, Youth Shelters

100% RECYCLED. GRAPHIC DESIGN DONATED BY GODFRIED KONINGS. PRINTING DONATED IN PART BY CPCSOLUTIONS

My first encounter with Santa Fe School for the Arts & Sciences came at a film contest. The students had produced a piece on homeless youth. It was a very compelling production and won the Best of Show. The students donated their prize money to the Street Outreach Program at Youth Shelters.

©2011 SFSAS.

Every week for the last 10 years, 30 SFSAS students walk the quarter mile to Cesar Chavez Elementary School and tutor early elementary students. Since the school’s beginning, SFSAS students have served their community every week at the Food Depot, Bienvenidos, Cesar Chavez Elementary School, and Challenge New Mexico or at the Santa Fe River.