I chose Animas High School because of multiple reasons. A major reason for me was the culture of acceptance and academic excellence. The culture of academic excellence is demonstrated every day through the acronym PAPER: Perspective, Advocacy, Perseverance, Evidence, and Refinement. The most prominent of those skills for me so far was advocacy. Many parts of the Math 1 class which all freshman are required to take are easy for me, because I have been in math three grades above my grade level since sixth grade. I spoke to Lauren Lucky, the Math 1 teacher, about this, and we figured out a way to make the class more meaningful for me instead of making me redo all of the math which I have done in the past. My advocating made my experience in Math 1 so far much more enjoyable. Another reason that I came to Animas was for the student/teacher relationships and small school atmosphere that we have here. I went to Mountain Middle School, which was also charter and project based and had 180 students. I liked that we knew our teachers well and they had time for all of us individually. Animas, which has roughly 270 students, is a similar environment. Durango High School has over 1000 students, so it would be difficult to have the same familiarity with the teachers that we are able to enjoy at Animas.