Winter happenings at American Academy
American Academy performers take a bow for one of their final performances of “How can we see germs?” for the kindergartners at American Academy Castle Pines.
Castle Pines residents Colin, Ben and Adam Gardner in their new American Academy spirit wear. The Rebels mascot was introduced earlier this year and students can wear spirit wear on school spirit days, as well as in their free time.
By Lynne Marsala Basche; photos courtesy of AA
Winter may be a time to hibernate and slow down, but that is not the case for students and teachers at American Academy (AA). AA has been busy with everything from introducing a new mascot to offering fun STEM extracurricular activities to singing in a Broadway-style performance, to name a few.
New Mascot –
AA students voted on three new mascot options, which were created by a staff committee, and the Rebels won! Surrounding the launch of the new mascot and logo is a middle school program designed to engage students in positive relationships with other students, grades, and ability groups. Through year-long friendly competitions and excursions, one of the program’s goals is to create a positive environment for learning. Go Rebels.
STEM – Team STEAM –
AA took STEM to the next level with Team STEAM, which is STEM plus an arts component. Team STEAM focuses on collaboration and relationships, using 21st century skills to figure out creative ways to explain science concepts. Fifth through eighth graders participated in the exciting extracurricular activity and performed for kindergarten and kindieprep students. By creating their own characters and scripts, Team STEAMers improved their problem-solving, teamwork, creativity, design, and scientific literacy through the program – and most of all, they had fun.
Broadway Classics –
Fourteen students from AA, including Castle Pines’ own Lauren and Kate Brockman and Maddox and Chase Jackson, performed with some of Denver’s award-nominated performers from the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, Boulder’s Dinner Theatre, Candlelight Dinner Playhouse, Littleton Town Hall, and Lone Tree Arts Center for an evening of Broadway Classics. “Broadway Sings” included selections from “Into the Woods”, “Annie”, “Wicked”, “Phantom of the Opera”, and others. Bravo, AA performers.
“Being part of this amazing production has inspired me and given me so much confidence! Just being around the professional performers is an experience itself – an incredible one,” said AA performer Chase Jackson.
