More than 450 guests attended Colorado Academy’s Grandparents & Special Friends Day on December 16, 2022. Visitors were thrilled to return to campus this year after the event had been held virtually for the past few years.
Beginning their morning at the Field House in the CA Athletic Center, guests enjoyed breakfast treats followed by a welcome from Head of School Dr. Mike Davis. Recounting highlights of the school year so far, Davis said, “I want to give everyone in this room a huge thank you. Many of you helped to launch our annual giving campaign on CA Gives Day, and we recognize that many of you also contribute toward tuition. Your support enables us to provide an academic, athletic, and artistic environment that is unmatched.”
Davis then introduced several seasonal musical performances: Kindergartners presented a poem and a Slavic folk song, “It Snows in the Night”; Fourth Graders sang “I Love the Mountains” and “Stars,” both inspired by their study of national parks; and Middle School instrumentalists performed “Dona Nobis Pacem.”
“Now the real fun begins,” Davis concluded, before inviting visitors to accompany student guides to classrooms, where engaging activities and games allowed grandparents and special friends to spend time with their students.
In the Lower School, visitors were delighted to see samples of student work, read together, enjoy poems and presentations, and test their math and language skills, while guests of students in Grades 6–8 had fun touring the halls of the Chowdry Middle School and sitting in desks alongside their students.
Meanwhile, Upper School grandparents and special friends had the chance to join their students in the Campus Center for a gingerbread house-building competition, as well as take in the rousing Upper School Talent Show, which included performances by students, faculty, and staff members.
Guests also enjoyed stopping in to the Ponzio Art Center to view the hundreds of works displayed in the annual Pre-K–Grade 8 Arts Showcase.
At the end of a packed morning schedule, many students departed with their grandparents and special friends, eager to begin a relaxing and fun-filled Winter Break.