I Chose Animas High School because I was inspired by the people and the excitement that rounded on all of the learning. every time I heard or saw the students in and around AHS, they were ALWAYS smiling. I also decided to have a shadow day when I was in eighth grade (2012-2013). I was immediately accepted and welcomed in by everyone I met. After that I thought “Wow, these are the type of people that I want to take the journey of high school with and this is how I want to learn. Personally, I am a visual and a hands-on learner. If we do something difficult, I also like to do a lot of repetition so I can fully understand the concept. In all of the movies, high schools are shown as horrifying places where everybody gets bullied. Up until a couple of years of years ago, I thought that these stereotypical ideas of high schools were spot on; then I found Animas. Also, with most high schools, the learning is textbook without a whole lot of hands-on activities. Animas was important to me in this way because I love to be able to be able to do things instead of just learning about them. The culture here is all about acceptance and friendship and that made me WANT to learn and WANT to come to school here. We are pushed far academically at AHS, but at the same time we are helped. For example, if we ask a teacher to look at our project and say “fix this, this, and this.” This is because they want us to SUCCEED. The teachers and students here build super strong relationships here and by senior year I hope to be close to all of my teachers. I chose Animas High School because of the rigorous activities and the happiness everyone feels here.