Community Engagement

A long partnership between ACDS and this organization has benefitted hundreds of children suffering from cancer. Shining Stars brings a group each year to Aspen for a holiday. Our students collect donations of toys and ski gear, hold bake sales to raise funds, and often ski with the Shining Stars when they are in town.

This day involves all students in the school for a variety of projects. The 2016 Day of Service, held on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, had students fanning out all over town: an interactive art project in downtown Aspen, helping out at the homeless shelter to create a meal for needy people, visiting seniors, and bringing homemade dog biscuits to the puppies at the animal shelter.

With our partners at the Independence Pass Foundation, students work each fall to plant trees and prevent erosion on the high alpine slopes near the Continental Divide. Middle School students traditionally do this project during the fall Outdoor Ed trips; oftentimes Kindergarteners will visit the planting sites to water and tend to the trees.

Second Grade students participate in the worldwide collection for UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund. They learn about the work of this organization and, at Halloween, "trick or treat for UNICEF" in costume.

Seventh Graders travel, together with teachers from ACDS and leaders from the World Leadership School, to the Sacred Valley of Peru in June. This Collaborative Leadership Program is a life-changing experience where students from different cultures learn and work together at a rural partner school in a carefully chosen location. The goal: to nurture students' ability to see the world from different perspectives.

Oftentimes, a particular idea will strike a chord with our students, and they take that idea and run with it. Teachers and parents stand by for support, but the children themselves are the leaders. One example was a recent "book drive" that a Fifth Grade class held to raise money for a charity that provides farm animals to needy families overseas.

With the assisted living facility Whitcomb Terrace right down the street from school, students enjoy stopping by periodically to visit the seniors who reside there. The Fourth Graders visit each holiday season to perform their songs for the school concert, the Holiday Sing, for an appreciative audience of seniors.

Of the many great causes to support, the American Heart Association's Jump Rope for Heart is one of the most popular at Aspen Country Day School. Children participate by recording their jumping time and gathering pledges to support heart research.