On September 26, 2014, The Colorado Springs School (CSS) will host a ceremony to install its 9th Head of School, Mr. Aaron Schubach, and to celebrate its Founders’ Day Honorees, Master Jay Kuk Lee ’99; Ms. Lesley S. King ’77; and Ms. Ava Heinrichsdorff at the Founders’ Day Hall of Fame celebration.
View an archive of past honorees.
Installation of 9th Head of School Mr. Aaron Schubach
Following his graduation with a B.A. in History from The Colorado College, Mr. Aaron Schubach arrived on the campus of The Colorado Springs School in 1996 for his first foray into teaching. His teaching philosophy was shaped as a young teacher by the school’s approach to experiential and innovative teaching techniques, not to mention its connection to the natural world and outdoor pursuits. He left for a year to pursue his Master’s in Liberal Arts in Western Classics from St. John’s College in Sante Fe and then returned to CSS; teaching history until 2004.
Moving across town, Mr. Schubach taught History, chaired the History department, and served as a dorm parent at Fountain Valley School before his curiosity in administration was piqued. Prior to and upon his acceptance at Columbia University’s Klingenstein Center for a Masters in Education with an emphasis in Private School Leadership, Mr. Schubach began to build his administrative capacities through admission, risk-management, alumni outreach, technology integration, curriculum design, and fiscal ad-hoc task forces and committees. His studies at Columbia furthered his connection to this content and a network of esteemed educators.
Selected unanimously by The Colorado Springs School Board of Trustees, Mr. Schubach was announced as the 9th Head of School in the spring. In his opening months in the position, Mr. Schubach has underscored how CSS will continue to honor its innovative history of delivering its mission through masterful teaching. The school’s stated mission, “Through superior academics and mentoring, The Colorado Springs School prepares students to think independently and to meet the challenges of a dynamic world with leadership, ingenuity, problem-solving skills, and personal integrity,” resonates clearly for Mr. Schubach and he is thrilled to be at the helm of the 52-year-old institution.
Aaron is an avid cyclist and an advisor to a group of Upper School students. He is married to Anna Sass, also a graduate of The Colorado College and a fine educator. Anna has taught English at The Colorado Springs School and Fountain Valley School. As a couple, they are raising two young boys, Ben and Henry. Ben is a second grader at CSS and Henry attends Ruth Washburn Cooperative Nursery School.
2014 Founders’ Day Athletic Hall of Fame Honoree: Master Jay Kuk Lee ‘99
Since graduating from CSS in 1999, Master Jay Kuk Lee has added steadily to his list of accomplishments. Building on the platform of community involvement that started during Jay’s days as a student of CSS, he is currently the Director of Operations for the U.S. Taekwondo Center, Inc. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Tri-Lakes YMCA, the Police Foundation of Colorado Springs, as well as the Board of Trustees for CSS. Himself a Kukkiwon 4th Degree Black Belt in Taekwondo, Jay is the Secretary of the Korean American Martial Arts Association (KAMA), is the Tournament Director for the U.S. Open Taekwondo Hanmadang -International competition and the Board of Directors for the “Everybody’s Welcome” Colorado Springs Diversity Forum. Always one to see the broader picture, Jay has expertly combined his leadership skills and business experience into a purposeful life. His teaching, coaching, and refereeing are noted on a local, national, and international level.
As the son of the first Head Coach of the U.S. Olympic Taekwondo team, Master Jay Lee was destined for a career path in the martial arts. As Director of Operations for U.S. Taekwondo Center, with three Schools (Dojangs) and four locations, Lee’s proficiency in the family business currently reaches more than 1,000 students of the martial arts. But before building his professional career, Lee and his three brothers took the initiative to develop their academic repertoire as students at The Colorado Springs School. Lee credits his success at Boston College to the opportunities he participated in while enrolled at CSS. As a CSS student, Jay was a three-sport student-athlete. He captained soccer, lacrosse and basketball in addition to being in student government. Jay made a significant contribution to student life while also embracing the role of a quintessential experiential learner. Upon his graduation from CSS, Jay attended Boston College and earned a bachelors in history before returning to Colorado Springs to manage the family business.
For his contributions to sport and culture on the local, national, and international level, Master Jay Kuk Lee will be a 2014 Founders’ Day Athletic Hall of Fame Honoree.
2014 Founders’ Day Honoree: Ms. Lesley S. King ‘77
Writer and author, Lesley S. King ‘77 has traveled to exotic places all over the world writing for The New York Times, Audubon magazine, United Airlines Hemispheres magazine and Frommer’s Travel Guides. She now writes about her truest passion, the adventure of living every moment with love. Today her essays and photographs inspire many, as she shows how to enjoy and benefit from life’s greatest challenges such as loss of loved ones, illness, and court battles, as well as life’s joys such as music, travel, and friendship. Lesley is author of The Baby Pact, a novel, and two books of travel essays. She blogs at The Inner Adventure, where every experience is a journey in spirit.
Lesley holds a M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a B.A. in Journalism/Spanish from Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas.
1n 2012, Ms. King shared her talents and experience as a writer with Upper School students from CSS as she advised them on the 2013 Writing ECS.
For 12 years, Ms. King served as the Managing Editor of the Santa Fe Institute Bulletin, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Lesley wrote and edited articles for a 50- to 70-page annual publication for one of the world’s leading complexity science research institutes. The publication targeted scientists, executives, entrepreneurs, and science enthusiasts. In addition, she worked with Nobel Laureates, scientists, and business researchers to refine their writing, including Geoffrey B. West, J. Doyne Farmer, Scott Paige, and Michael Mauboussin, among many others.
Ms. King’s distinction as a 2014 Founders’ Day Honoree is maximized as she accepts this honor alongside her high school English teacher, Mrs. Ava Heinrichsdorff.
2014 Founders’ Day Hall of Fame Honoree: Ms. Ava Heinrichsdorff
If you have been connected to the CSS community for long, chances are, Ms. Ava Molnar Heinrichsdorff has touched your life in some way; either through her 30 years teaching, her prolific writings, or her reputation at-large; Ava’s years at CSS have woven her into the fabric of our school’s history. Starting in 1963 as an English and Philosophy teacher, Ava spent 25 years as the English department chair and 30 years at CSS. Her ECS’s are still legendary.
Whether reading one of her published works, like The Fire Goddess, or being a student in one of Mrs. Heinrichsdorff’s courses in a variety of literatures including Travel Writing, Nature Writing, Sacred Literatures and others unusual at the high school level. She taught Creative Writing, Poetry, Journalism, Reading and Reviewing, Rhetoric, among other writing courses. Her students often won regional prizes. She a taught Speech, Logic and Argumentation, and interdisciplinary seminars such as Man and Nature, American Life (for international students), Grasslands/Outward Bound Leadership Course (involving winter camping on the Great Plains and related literature and ecology), and River Readings which included journey fiction from many cultures, riparian ecology, and a week-long whitewater raft trip. In her 30 years at CSS, she also taught Educational Philosophy, which became a graduation requirement, and courses in history, the arts, ecology, humanities, anthropology, and dance. Beyond her masterful teaching abilities, she also shared mini-courses in Mountain Horsemanship, Hungarian Cooking, and Clothing Design and Construction. She shared her passions and taught students to discover their passions.
Among other responsibilities at The Colorado Springs School, Ava chaired the Evaluation Committee (school evaluation by parents, alumni, students, and the community), the Curriculum Planning Committee; the Academic Affairs Committee; sponsored student publications and the literary journal; supervised apprentice teachers in her department; managed Public Relations for the school; and coordinated the Independent Study Program. Ava also taught English courses at Pikes Peak Community College.
The detailed involvement Ava has had in the world of education has included many prestigious honors, to include: International: Practitioner of the Year award given by the Association for Experiential Education in 1988, as well as being named one of the Leaders of American Secondary Education in 1971. And in 1990 she earned the distinction of the Outstanding Teacher Award by the Colorado Language Arts Society in 1990.
Ava moved from Budapest, Hungary in 1931 and learned English as a second language. She is married to landscape architect, Gernot Heinrichsdorff and they raised two sons. She took undergraduate courses from Standford University from 1948 - 1952 before completing her B.A. in English from The Colorado College in 1963. In 1972, she earned her M.A. in Teaching in the Humanities from The Colorado College.
Ms. Ava Heinrichsdorff will be honored as a 2014 Founders’ Day Honoree, the school’s highest award given to past faculty/staff and alumni.
Nominations for Founders’ Day honorees were solicited and reviewed. Finalists were chosen by a committee.
On September 26, 2014, The Colorado Springs School (CSS) will host a ceremony to install its 9th Head of School and to celebrate its Founders’ Day Honorees, Master Jay Kuk Lee ’99; Ms. Lesley King ’77; and Ms. Ava Heinrichsdorff at the Founders’ Day Hall of Fame celebration.
