Ken Ramberg's letter in today's paper opens with a question we hear a lot: what does AEF actually do? AEF does its best to share “what we fund” but our goal in the coming months is to explain that in a more meaningful way and why it is so important. It isn’t just that these [...]
Calling all AHS visual art enthusiasts!! In its third year, AEF, in partnership with Anderson Ranch, is thrilled to create a unique mentorship program for high school students who are passionate about the arts. The 2025 mentorship program included an immersive experience across six professional studios: Photography, Painting & Printmaking, Sculpture, Ceramics, Digital Fabrication, and [...]
JANUARY 30,2026 Thanks to the incredible generosity of our local community, Flamingo 2025 was our most successful fundraiser ever. We are deeply grateful to every donor, parent, educator, and supporter who helped make this achievement possible. Each year, AEF commits funding to specific programs and positions that directly support students and teachers across our Aspen [...]
Thank you to the Chapin Wright Flatirons Foundation for their generous support of our Outdoor Education Endowment. The Flatirons Scholarship was established more than 60 years ago by Sue and Chuck Hall of Boulder. When the Halls moved to Aspen in the late 1960s, they brought the scholarship with them, continuing its mission of supporting [...]
Flamingo 2025 raised a record amount of money - $2,500,000 in the room that night and $3,000,000 overall. This is simply remarkable, especially as the ticket and table prices did not increase, nor the number of people. The live auction was a blast with spirited bidding and the paddle raise was nothing short of incredible. Truly inspirational. [...]
In partnership with AHS, AEF is thrilled to announce publication of The Skier, Aspen High School's first-ever alumni magazine. Published annually and written largely by AHS alumni (Roger Marolt and Lo Semple included), the magazine is full of alumni features, class notes, and other articles and photos that update the alumni community on the latest news [...]
AEF is proud to support the ASD Aeronautics program. The aviation program at Aspen High School is one of very few aviation schools in the country. This program exposes students to all areas of aviation - a huge industry and future career path. The students in the aviation program will go on to work in [...]
Our third graders had an unforgettable day of hands-on creativity at Anderson Ranch! They explored five different professional studios and experienced a wide range of artistic techniques. In the wood studio, they bent wood using heat to create sculptural forms. Over in photography, they experimented with cyanotypes and took instant photos using polaroid cameras. The [...]
AEF is thrilled to announce that the Outdoor Ed/ExEd Endowment has been launched with a combined $1,000,000 gift initiated by the Penner Family Foundation and matched by Melony & Adam Lewis. Our goal is to fully endow this program with $10,000,000. This will ensure that Outdoor Ed/ExEd never gets cut from the school budget. [...]
At the Colorado state robotics competition in December, our Aspen Middle School “Lightning Strikes Twice” team took second overall and was invited to compete at the world championship competition in April, in Houston, TX! The team, composed of Nicco DiMaria, Tamir Finesilver, Sam Gilmore, Ember LaPenna, Lorelei LaPenna, and Hailey Ward, competes in the FIRST [...]
