Meredith Leonard with the Alpine Education Foundation called into the Weekday Wake-Up on Thursday, February 19. Leonard discussed this Saturday’s Gala event at the Alpine Civic Center, a meet-and-greet this Monday with Dr. Oliver and the latest status on the enrollment and construction of the school’s temporary classrooms.

(0:00) And now another guest interview this morning and joining me live over the phone today is (0:04) Meredith Leonard with the Alpine Education Foundation and things continue to get more (0:09) exciting with the Alpine Charter School, Wyoming Classical Academy, Alpine. (0:13) Meredith, good morning. (0:14) How are you doing today? (0:16) Good morning.

(0:17) I’m doing well. (0:17) Thank you for having me. (0:18) Absolutely.

(0:19) Appreciate your time and well, Wyoming Classical Academy, Alpine, getting ready for the upcoming (0:24) fall season. (0:25) You have the big gala. (0:26) You’ve introduced the headmaster with a meet and greet on Monday.

(0:29) Let’s start with the gala and how things are shaping up with that this upcoming weekend. (0:35) We’re very excited about the gala this Saturday. (0:38) It’s going to be featuring Dueling Pianos that we’ve hired out of Salt Lake, Keyed Up (0:43) Entertainment.

(0:44) It’s a completely sold out event, so we are going to be jam-packing the Alpine Civic Center (0:50) and we’re just thrilled with all the community support and all the businesses and individuals (0:55) that have stepped up to help make it possible. (0:57) You mentioned it’s sold out, which is fantastic to hear. (1:01) At the same time, maybe there’s some people out there that’s like, oh man, I wish I could (1:04) have gone to that.

(1:05) How can people still get involved and maybe support if they’re not able to attend Saturday (1:10) night? (1:12) Absolutely. (1:13) Well, we do have our meet and greet with Dr. Oliver on Monday evening at the Alpine Library (1:18) from 4 to 7, so that’s a great way to get involved. (1:21) Another great way to get involved is to follow us on our Facebook page.

(1:26) Reach out to us if you have any ideas or questions or just want to support. (1:31) We will, of course, be holding more Parent Info Nights and more events kind of as we (1:35) head into the spring and summer and then into the fall. (1:39) There’s going to be a lot of activity around the school.

(1:42) As we open up the doors, we have the interior modulars, excuse me, the interiors of the (1:49) modulars almost completely built out, so we’ll start doing tours of those, and then (1:53) we’ll be looking outside into our landscaping and our playground, and I’m actually very (1:59) excited. (2:00) We’re very grateful to Karen Landscape Architects out of Jackson, who generously donated design (2:07) time to come up with a playground concept that we will actually be debuting at the gala, (2:13) and all of the funds raised at the gala will go to making that beautiful space for our (2:17) children. (2:17) Oh, fantastic.

(2:18) Love it. (2:19) You mentioned Dr. Oliver and the meet-and-greet this upcoming Monday. (2:23) Tell us more about him.

(2:24) He was just recently announced as the headmaster. (2:27) Yes. (2:28) Well, we were very grateful to have three outstanding candidates for our school, and (2:33) Dr. Oliver just stood out.

(2:35) We’re very excited to have him. (2:37) He’s joining us from Chattanooga, Tennessee, so a little bit of a change, but he’s very (2:42) excited to be close to the mountains and start something new. (2:45) He is leaving his current position where he is an assistant principal at a charter school, (2:51) so he knows the charter schools well.

(2:53) He knows what to do, but I think one of the things that stood out to us most about him (2:59) was just how kind he is and his excitement for learning and his excitement for creating (3:05) a beautiful school culture. (3:06) That is something that really stood out, and we’re very excited to welcome him. (3:10) Fantastic.

(3:11) That meet-and-greet again, four to six. (3:13) Was that right at the library in Alpine? (3:16) Four to seven. (3:17) Four to seven.

(3:17) Perfect. (3:18) So stop by and meet Dr. Oliver, and it sounds like you also touched on the building and (3:25) the temporary schoolhouse buildings, and it seems like everything’s right on schedule (3:30) for school to start this upcoming fall, right? (3:34) It is. (3:34) Yes.

(3:35) So we will be turning our attention to enrollment. (3:37) That is going to be key in terms of reaching parents. (3:40) We understand that for parents, you know, the ground underneath them might feel a little (3:44) bit shaky as they decide what to do next school year, but we just have to tell them to, you (3:49) know, be open-minded, come and see what we’re up to, read the curriculum, read more about (3:54) it.

(3:54) It’s a beautiful curriculum that was designed by the Hillsdale College professors. (4:00) It’s solely designed for K-12 public schools. (4:04) It’s very robust.

(4:05) The children will be exposed to great literature, history, civics, all of the beautiful things (4:12) that have stood the test of time, and in terms of the modulars, the modulars are a great little (4:19) classroom. (4:20) We’re so excited to be able to take parents through them because I know from the outside (4:23) they look somewhat modest, but on the inside, they really are beautiful little classrooms, (4:29) lots of natural light, and it just does feel like a little school, so we are so excited (4:34) to be able to start tours. (4:36) Meredith Leonard with the Alpine Education Foundation this morning on the weekday wakeup.

(4:40) Meredith, really appreciate your time. (4:42) Anything else you’d like to mention while we have you on the air today? (4:45) We just wanted to say thank you to all the community that has stepped up, all the businesses, (4:50) parents, individuals who have stepped up to help. (4:53) Bank of Jackson Hole has stepped up as our Maestro sponsor for the gala, which we’re very (4:58) grateful to them.

(4:59) They’ll be providing the entertainment. (5:00) And overall, we’re just, we’re in unbelief in terms of what we’ve been able to accomplish (5:06) in a year, and we can’t wait to see what this next year brings. (5:09) If someone wants to hop online and learn more about the enrollment and everything happening (5:14) with Wyoming Classical Academy and Alpine, where do they go? (5:18) Yes, they are welcome to go to the Alpine Classical Academy website, which is alpine.yoclassical.org. (5:27) They are also welcome to email me, and my email is info at alpineeducation.foundation. (5:36) If they want to get involved or have any questions, we would love to have more help, and we would (5:42) love to connect them to our community.

(5:45) That’s Meredith Leonard with the Alpine Education Foundation. (5:48) Meredith, thank you so much, and good luck at your gala this upcoming Saturday. (5:52) Thank you, Duke.

(5:53) We really appreciate it.