Las Cruces Academy

Introduction

We've made substantial progress on several fronts, and much of it was thanks to Cherries & Chocolate. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We at the Academy have much to be thankful for this year.

Table of Contents:

• We Have a Home
• Cherries & Chocolate
• New Teachers
• New Students
• Miscellaneous

We Have a Home

I'm pleased to announce that our home, as of January 2009, will be Suite B of 212 S. Downtown Mall. The building belongs to David & Cathy Blanchard; we will be leasing the portion facing the mall while Blanchard Engineering continues to occupy the portion facing the parking lot. We'd like to thank the Blanchards for letting us have first right of refusal on the property for months, even as we continued to look at other properties, and also for charging us very little in rent. They have been more than generous, and we're in their debt.

We are expecting to use this facility for two years. While it is in a great location and has many advantages, we can only have up to 50 students, so we expect to out grow it by the end of our second year. We are still choosing land for a permanent home which will fit a significantly larger student body. While we hunt for land, we are meeting with architects who will plan the renovations needed in the Blanchard building and design a building for our permanent home. The renovations to the Blanchard building must be done to meet the strict code for schools. We're seeking bids right now and we'll start renovations as soon as the city will let us, which we hope will be right around when we take occupancy. Expect a party when they're done!

Cherries & Chocolate

At this point we have over $2,000 in profits from the Cherries & Chocolate fund raiser. While we had hoped for more, we have been told we did very well for a first-time event, especially considering the state of the economy. More importantly, it raised quite a bit of community awareness of the Academy, and the attendees had a great time, sampling desserts, listening to live music, talking to interesting people, and bidding in the silent auction. Several groups of people need to be thanked for the success of the event.

First, of course, are Leonard Gambrell and Lori Miller, who hosted the event and shared their loving restored historic house in Mesilla. Next are Fred Bugbee and his two graduate students, Mike Armendariz and Rob Keedy, who played amazing music during the evening thanks to some very hard work (they practiced three hours a day for weeks ahead of time). Catherine Abeele, Mary Canavan, David Gutschick, Connie Maxwell, Kathleen Roman, and I all contributed desserts; Edward Lifschitz and Edith Daniell contributed recipes. Sandra Cantrell loaned us silver serving trays and the Southwest Environmental Center loaned us tables and wine glasses. Ocotillo Roasters Coffeehouse (in Coas) provided coffee. Darlene Armstrong, Amrita de Soyza, Robert Foster, David Gutschick, Vincent Gutschick, Harry Hellmuth, Michelle Lambert, Judy Licht, Connie Maxwell, Mary McDonald, Niki Threlkeld, Tom Packard, Dan Philpot, Picture Frame Factory Outlet, and I all contributed to the silent auction. Help was provided by George Barber, Mei Dai, Diana Davidson, Paul Deason, Mi Deng, Leonard Gambrell, David Gutschick, Vince Gutschick, Connie Maxwell, Amanda Meenach, Lori Miller, Larry McMillan, and myself. Lastly, tickets were available for sale at, the Durango Bagel, Enchanted Gardens, Jesse's KC BBQ, Ocotillo Roasters Coffeehouse, Unsettled Gallery, and Unravel Yarn Shop & Gallery.
We are also indebted to the people who bought tickets and attended the event and also to the people who made donations although they could not attend. Thanks very, very much to all of you, including all of those named above, for making this event a success.

New Teachers

Because of the publicity of Cherries & Chocolate, we've had a rush of people asking about teaching positions at the Academy. We're just about to finish preliminary interviews with all the prospective teachers, and we'll start final interviews in about two weeks. Job offers will be made very shortly after that, and we hope to publish a finalized faculty list around the same time that the student application comes out, which will also closely coincide with when we start occupying our new home on the Downtown Mall.

New Students

Prospective teachers weren't the only rush due to Cherries & Chocolate. We've had an even larger rush of parents who have suddenly heard of the academy, which has been quite exciting for us, since it's just in advance of the opening of admissions. We've scheduled the release of the admissions forms to start on December 20th, but we have first drafts already and may release the final version up to a week early.

Miscellaneous

Tom Packard, a retired pediatrician and gracious host who now lives in Las Cruces, is hosting a bocce ball/buffet dinner at his house in Talavera on December 6th. He is doing this to help us raise money for the Academy. He still has room for several more people, so if you would like to spend a enjoyable afternoon playing (or learning to play) bocce, an Italian bowling game, followed by a buffet dinner, let us know. Dinner will feature ham & roast beef, salads, rolls, wine & beer plus soft drinks, followed by desserts. All of this can be had for $25 per person. Please let us know if you would like to attend. The rain date is December 13th.

The Academy just received a $25 gift card from Dions. Unfortunately, the Academy is much more in need of green paper than food. We would like to receive at least $20 for the card. If you're interested, please let us know.

Best Wishes,
Dr. Lou Ellen Kay
Director, Las Cruces Academy