Do you believe in the Community School?

Dear Editor:

It is with pleasure that I add my heartfelt support to the myriad letters endorsing the Aspen Community School’s “I Believe” capital campaign. By now, you must know that $4.2 million is at stake in BEST funding, the deadline to raise $4.9 million is fast approaching (May 1) and the physical plant of the school is in dire need of updating.

All the while, the most incredible and dedicated group of teachers, students, alumni and parents is putting on the annual original spring musical at the Wheeler Opera House (“Sherlock Holmes,” May 2 and 3) in addition to maintaining one of the highest-quality kindergarten-through-eighth-grade educational experiences in the state.

We talk a lot about community in this valley, and there are so many excellent examples of how we all come together. The Aspen Community School is aptly named. From Glenwood Springs to Independence Pass, families for over 40 years have gathered on the Woody Creek Mesa for our children and our future. You have heard many of these voices over the past months – some you recognize from long-ago days and some are not yet on our radar. We have all benefited from the extraordinariness-ness of what goes on up there at that mesa.

Our community is stronger for the Aspen Community School. It brings together the whole of the valley, from preschool through middle school. It links us to the past through generations of families who have walked in the familiar steps of the Central Area. It links us to the future as we watch our “life-long learners” take flight in high school, college and beyond.

We are now counting on the power of “community.” With your support, the Community School can realize its vision for the future. Visit the Aspen Community School Capital Campaign website at http://ibelieveacs.org, or the crowd-sourcing website: http://igg.me/at/BEST. Visit the campus on the Woody Creek Mesa. Join us, believe with us.

Cathy Click

Basalt