Santa Fe School for the Arts & Sciences

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Betty Williams' visit to the school was a day to remember!  After touring all of the classrooms, she had tea with Youth United students.  The Journal North covered the visit:

Nobel Laureate offers SF kids sage advice: 'Never Give Up'
By Jackie Jadrnak
Of the Journal

When youths at the Santa Fe School for the Arts & Sciences asked Nobel Peace Prize recipient Betty Williams for advice Wednesday, her answer was short and emphatic:

“Never give up.”

She was awarded the prize in 1976 after witnessing the deaths of three children during the “troubles” in her Northern Ireland home, where the Irish Republican Army battled British authorities. She collected 6,000 signatures within a couple of days from people urging peace and, with the children’s aunt, Mairead Corrigan, founded Women for Peace.

Ever since then, Williams said, she has been criss-crossing the world, speaking out for peace and for improved conditions for children.

On 9/11, she said, when terrorists flew jets into buildings in New York City and Washington, D.C., killing thousands of people, 35,615 children in the world died from malnutrition – “and no one said a word.”...

Seventh and 8th grade students were followed by a reporter and photographer from the Santa Fe New Mexican during their weekly community service time on Friday mornings.  As part of the Hooked on Books program, students organize book donations and re-stock shelves at 11 locations around Santa Fe.  Children from all over the city are invited to take the free books with the hope that reading will become a lifelong passion for them.  To read the entire news story, click here.

In its second year, the SFSAS reading camp succeeds in engaging students in the joy of reading.  Last year, students grew on average one year in reading after the two-week camp.  Thank you to the Santa Fe Community Foundation, the Los Nativos Fund at the New Mexico Community Foundation and the staff of Con Alma Health Foundation for making this camp possible!  The Santa Fe New Mexican spent time with the kids and staff of the camp.  Here is the story. 

The Middle School expedition centered on the Immigrant Experience.  The Santa Fe Reporter featured Middle School Humanities teacher Dina Jansen and middle school students in this story.    Here is a highlight from Mr. Beckman's piece:

"When I sat down with the seventh-grade class, I mistakenly used the term “melting pot” to describe the US. The students quickly corrected me by explaining the concept of “the salad bowl.” This idea states that rather than mixing all cultures together in a single, homogenous America, they instead function separately while also blending into the mix as a whole."

The Kindest School on Earth - One school's plan for a more civilized classroom

By Adele Oliviera
What if you you went to a school where you wrote the rules? These eighth graders at Santa Fe School for the Arts & Sciences in New Mexico do exactly that.  Every year they create their own constitution... 

The Santa Fe New Mexican, Monday December 31, 2012. Download here