Spring is a time of renewal. On the heels of dark winter mornings, frigid temperatures, bare trees, and blankets of snow, nature comes to life and astounds us with its beauty. As the natural world awakens, our five senses are treated to a cornucopia of color, sound, taste, smell, and touch. Spring is the natural world’s cue for us to recalibrate, as well, and assess our vision for what lies ahead.
Spring is also the time at Horizons Colorado at Colorado Academy when we hire our summer staff and engage in professional development. This year, our goal was to be intentional about our Horizons program and its impact on students. With this in mind, we invited Lola Salazar, founder of the Salazar Family Foundation and valued supporter of Horizons Colorado at Colorado Academy and of CA, and Erin Salazar, Director of Communications and Community Liaison for the Salazar Family Foundation, to help our Horizons faculty create vision boards around what they envision for the Horizons summer 2024 program. Last year, our Horizons high school students were treated to a half day of vision-boarding with Lola and Erin at the Salazar Family Foundation offices. For many of our students, it was the first time they had ever done an exercise like that—taking time to reflect on what their future could look like through making a collage. For many, it was a profound experience and one that the students will carry with them for a long time.
During our March professional development session, Lola and Erin directed our faculty to envision how they see themselves in relation to Horizons this coming summer: What do you want to achieve? How do you hope to make your students feel? What kinds of outcomes are you looking for? These were some of the guiding questions that were asked by Lola and Erin as we were all engaged in creating our vision for the 2024 summer program. As we worked, we were treated to interesting stories about Lola’s childhood and Erin’s role at the foundation. We also learned that Lola creates a vision board annually. She likes to reflect on her past vision boards and track her progress and goals through the years. This has inspired me to do the same in the years to come!
In late March, as I was driving from Denver to Southern California for Spring Break, my family and I listened to a podcast called “How I Built This Lab,” with Guy Raz. His guest was renowned organizational psychologist, Adam Grant. Adam has a new book called Hidden Potential, The Science of Achieving Greater Things. Throughout the podcast, Adam talked about how he believes every single person has hidden potential, and the book explores how to unleash that potential.
This resonated with me tremendously. The reason for Horizons’ very existence is to free each of our students’ individual hidden potential by opening doors and creating opportunities for them that they might not otherwise have. Working alongside community partners like the Salazar Family Foundation, we are doing just that—creating opportunities and lifelong learners, so that our students can access and develop their full potential. When the joy of learning is sparked, anything is possible!