No dog days allowed.
MSD Chosen to Present at the Annual NAIS Conference!
Posted on January 17, 2012
MSD is extremely proud to have been chosen to present two workshops at the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) Annual Conference this coming February in Seattle. NAIS received over 600 Conference proposals this year, the highest amount ever. There are over 1,400 schools represented by NAIS both in the United States and abroad and the Annual Conference draws more than 3,500 attendees. MSD’s selection for two workshop presentations speaks very highly of the work we do here everyday.
The NAIS Conference theme this year is “Innovation: imagine, invent, inspire, dream” and the opening speaker will be Bill Gates. Gates will speak about how innovation and philanthropy go hand in hand, a perfect tie-in to our first conference presentation. MSD will be a part of a small panel of schools that have participated in the NAIS Challenge 20/20 Program. MSD’s work in this area focused on a collaborative project with a school in Zambia and resulted in the design of a new type of mosquito net. The mosquito net is a great example of how true collaboration and innovation among students, in the spirit of wanting to “do good,” led to a product that is patentable and may, in fact, change the world.
Our second workshop presentation will also focus on our “do good” spirit and showcase our public partnerships with Freedom to Roam last year and the Denver Zoo this year. We will be talking about our innovative approach to learning through our commitment to engage in mission-driven, meaningful all school projects that provide wonderful integration points for curriculum, experiential learning, parent education, and service learning. We will be sharing how other schools can fully integrate a simple idea (migration for example) to promote authentic learning and truly help bridge the connection between school and an organization dedicated to a public purpose.
We look forward to sharing with our peer schools some of the fabulous work that we do each day at MSD. We are excited and proud to have been selected for two workshops and we are in good company with three other Association of Colorado Independent Schools (ACIS) schools that will be represented at NAIS: Fountain Valley, Colorado Academy and Denver Academy.
