School News: Foundations Academy Students Host Giving Tree for Families in Need

Students at Landmark academy at reunion celebrate first annual latin culture week

Landmark Academy at Reunion , a tuition-free public charter school, recently hosted their First Annual Latin Culture Week, a week focused on educating students on the various aspects of Latin culture, from music and art to sports and celebrities, through unique activities. During the week-long celebration, students were able to step into the lives of the Aztecs, Incas and Mayans with Latin culture lessons through piñata making, cultural crafts, songs, traditional foods and more. Students made maracas and learned a traditional Mexican Hat Dance; created Aztec suns working with metal tooling; and studied different countries in Mexico , Central America and South America . Aztec dancers from the Colorado Folk Arts Council also visited with students and educated them on the spiritual and traditional aspects of Aztec culture through dance. “We reside in a community with strong Latin and Hispanic roots,” said Matt Carlton, principal of Landmark Academy at Reunion . “Our community culture is important to us at Landmark. By providing unique ways for our students to learn the various backgrounds of our diverse community they are able to understand and appreciate different cultures.” For more information about Landmark Academy at Reunion , please visit www.landmarkacademy.org.

December 14, 2011

Foundations Academy Students Host Giving Tree for Families in Need

Students encouraged to give up one of their holiday gifts for a child in need

BRIGHTON, Colo. (Dec. 12, 2011) – There’s more on the Foundations Academy holiday tree than bulbs and tinsel. This year, the tree is decorated with ornament tags with the age and gender of local children without gifts this year. To help students learn the importance of giving, the charter school erected the Foundations Giving Tree to help local families in need.

“At Foundations, each month of the year is assigned a moral focus virtue which many of our lessons are themed around,” said Joseph Hammond, principal of Foundations Academy. “December’s virtue is ‘self-control’ so we’re asking our students to display self-control by asking for one less gift for themselves in order to provide one more gift for a local child in need.”

In partnership with Almost Home, a nonprofit providing shelter and housing assistance, Foundations students will add gifts to the Giving Tree for kids in the community who wouldn’t otherwise have toys to unwrap. All new, unused toys will be collected at the school and placed in a box to be donated to Almost Home on Dec. 15. The collection is organized by the school’s Moral Focus Committee.

Almost Home helps citizens of Adams County establish self-sufficiency by providing rent and utility assistance, shelter, transitional housing, low-income rentals and bilingual case management.