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Category: News

Help Hope Give Hope to Charis Youth Ranch

November 3rd, 2020

Animal rescues across the U.S. are experiencing funding shortages due to the pandemic. Compass Community Collaborative School student is stepping up to help. Join her in raising funds for the Charis Youth Ranch in Fort Collins.

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And ... We're Off

October 21st, 2020

Teachers and students, without exception, are reporting feeling VERY happy to be back together (even masked and distanced).

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Compass's Story of Reimagining Education During the Pandemic

October 14th, 2020

Over the summer, as the pandemic progressed, Compass Community Collaborative School had the opportunity to reimagine the virtual learning experience to make it as meaningful as possible for Fort Collins middle school and high school students. In this Lessons for SEL article, Jan Harrison and Dawn DuPriest talk about the "authentic deep learning" Compass staff encourages and fosters—even in times like these.

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On the Cutting Edge

September 1st, 2020

There's a new 3D gadget in the Compass Design Lab and we can't wait for you to try it. The X-Carve machine is one of the new tools that is revolutionizing digital fabrication. With this 3D carving device, students can bring endless ideas to life.

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Welcome to the 2020-2021 School Year!

August 24th, 2020

There is that saying, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going”, and I think of our school that way. We’ve got this...because we have each other and we have you. It is an honor to serve as the leader of this school, and a privilege to serve your families. Welcome back to school!

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Compass Tech Team Open for Business

July 5th, 2020

Over the summer, the Compass Tech Team has been working hard to inventory, clean, re-image and repair all of the computers in our school—as well as fix things like vacuum cleaners and 3-D printers!

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Compass Wins Wells Fargo Global Impact Challenge

June 14th, 2020

The results are in for the No Barriers 2019 Wells Fargo Global Impact Challenge—a diversity and inclusion competition designed to spark the best ideas from students for building a world free of barriers, stereotypes and discrimination.

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The Map is Not the Journey

May 19th, 2020

When we were designing Compass, we set out with the belief that schools should help prepare students for uncertainty. Wow! We had no idea what practical application the future had in store.

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Compass’s First Graduate Earns Scholarships and Offers

May 11th, 2020

Compass's first graduate was accepted at Prescott College, University of Montana, Western Colorado University, Fort Lewis College, Quest University, Evergreen State College, and College of the Atlantic, and was offered over $94,000 in merit scholarships!

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Intensive Spotlight: Girls Who Code

April 6th, 2020

Through this intensive, the girls have learned about women that have used their skills to create all kinds of solutions; the first compiler, an online educational platform for deaf students, and an invention to help someone with Parkinson’s disease to be able to write again, just to name a few.

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A Home School Education

March 30th, 2020

All over the world, whether in private chats or through viral memes, parents seem desperate to find out how to become a homeschool teacher, and my answer to this question is “you already are?”

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Calls to Action from the Climate Films Venture

March 17th, 2020

The decisions you make now will affect generations to come. Every trip in the car you take, every water faucet you turn on will have detrimental consequences on all of the life on earth. Be aware of your own habits and educate others on what they can do to reduce their environmental impact.

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Does Animating a Budget Make it More Exciting?

March 4th, 2020

Students in Emmanuelle’s Re-Animated venture are learning to make informative, animated public service announcements to help the City of Fort Collins educate the public about important, but possibly-less-than-thrilling topics.

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The Language of the Future is at Compass NOW!

March 3rd, 2020

Today, our school’s enjoy touch screen televisions with built in web browsers and wireless keyboards to control that technology from anywhere in the room, and there are more colors available than our eyes can even see!

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CCCS Board VP Presented at TEDx

January 14th, 2020

Our very own Board Vice President and International Baccalaureate history teacher, Russ Brown, was invited to speak at a TEDx Conference in Iowa this past year. The video of his presentation has finally been published and it is well worth the listen. We’re proud of you, Russ!

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Quarter 3 Ventures at Compass

January 6th, 2020

Third quarter Ventures will start on January 14th, 2020. Here are the exciting opportunities we have in store for our learning community this academic quarter.

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Venture Highlight: Students Design Independent Ventures

December 2nd, 2019

Compass offers students the opportunity to employ entrepreneurial mindsets and use community-engaged project-based learning (venture projects) to inspire deep learning of academic, social-emotional, and 21st Century essential skills. Venture projects may be group-based or individual—especially as students advance to higher levels.

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Venture Profile: Virtual Reality, Real Feelings

November 5th, 2019

Hello! This is Dawn DuPriest and this quarter, I’m facilitating a venture project class called “Virtual Reality, Real Feelings” — about the crossroads of VR and empathy. The purpose of this venture is to explore how VR technology can immerse someone in a world so much that it changes their perception of the world.

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Second Quarter Venture Projects at Compass

October 14th, 2019

At Compass Community Collaborative School, students immerse in quarter-long interdisciplinary Venture Projects. Students and staff utilize a human-centered design approach —a process that offers our students a chance to deeply understand the communities we wish to serve, to truly understand what is at the heart of a given problem, to design with those who may face the challenges we attempt to solve, to dream up scores of ideas, and to create innovative, thoughtful solutions that are grounded in our community’s needs.

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What is a Compass Seminar

October 7th, 2019

Seminars allow Compass students to explore MANY different interests! Students enjoy two seminars a week. We are so grateful for our Compass staff and community partners that make these unique learning experiences possible.

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Ventures Ventures Everywhere

September 30th, 2019

You may know what your Compass student is working on in their Venture Project, but we thought you might want to know what else is going on!

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Upper School Oral Storytelling Intensive

September 16th, 2019

During our first English Intensive, students investigated oral storytelling and looked at the Common Core English standards of oral expression as well as the Compass Competency of Communication.

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Venture Spotlight: Exploring Sustainability with Shamayim

September 9th, 2019

Shamayim’s first Venture Project with Compass is offering an opportunity for students in 6th-11th grades to explore sustainability in partnership with the CSU Center for the Built Environment, the City of Fort Collins, and Green Apple Schools Day of Service. The Venture students are creating Compass Climate Action Report that will be submitted to the Green Apple School competition and City of Fort Collins.

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A Fabulous Start to the New School Year

August 26th, 2019

I feel a deep pride for what Compass is becoming, but I have no illusions that we could be where we are without you, our families, sharing your beautiful children with us and without the thousands of hours our staff and board members have dedicated to its success.

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Venture Highlight: Robotics and Urban Design

August 19th, 2019

Dawn DuPriest will be starting her year off with a group of middle and upper school students in a Venture focused on FIRST LEGO League Robotics and Tech Challenges. The theme of the competition this year is “City-Shaper”.

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Welcome to Compass 2.0

August 12th, 2019

We are so excited for the kids to come back! Many have come back to visit and help throughout the summer, but there is something especially energizing about having all the students here all together.

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Teacher Workshop Week: Reflecting on our First Year

June 17th, 2019

Compass staff spent the week of June 3-7 working together to reflect on all that we had learned during Compass’ first year and refining and creating new learning experiences and protocols to make next year even better.

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A Thank You Letter

May 20th, 2019

Thank you for being the pioneers. Starting a school is not for the faint of heart. While we are confident in our skill as teachers and in the overwhelming research behind all we are doing, taking the project from theory to action (with a building of 170 strangers) was a lesson in iteration and growth.

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Landscape Design and Installation Venture

April 29th, 2019

In Katie’s Landscape Design and Installation venture, students are working with a Fort Collins client to design and install a residential landscape—including a goat playground!

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Leadership Notes From Compass

April 22nd, 2019

With only about 6 weeks left of the school year, we are busy finishing session six of Intensive classes and right in the middle of the last venture projects. The building is buzzing with learning, spring is springing all around us, and we are also looking ahead to next school year with excitement.

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Inaugural 360 Team Meetings

April 15th, 2019

The purpose of our 360 Team meetings with our high school cohort on April 9 was to help the students learn how to reflect on their growth and education. In particular, students followed a “Guide to Thrive” that helped them focus their reflections on their progress in the Compass Competencies and in subject specific content.

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Venture Highlight: Reducing Flood Risk in our Community

February 25th, 2019

The Flood Squad is tasked with developing a proposal to decrease flood risk in their community. They have learned a lot about flooding—from experimenting on the permeability of soil with a soil infiltrometer, to conducting a neighborhood flood inventory of the Spring Creek neighborhood.

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