Dear AAS Community,

My name is Pamela Della Toffola Andreoni and I am the Community Representative in the AAS Board, on behalf of which I welcome all of you to the new school year. I am sure it holds many emotions, experiences, and new friends that will build long-lasting and important memories.
I can assure you of this as a veteran of AAS. I have been an enthusiastic member of our community for the last 15 years, during which my kids have had the extraordinary opportunity to study at AAS, starting from kindergarten all the way to their graduation day (my son Matteo in 2021 and my daughter Chiara in 2023).
AAS has been the center of their lives, the setting of all kinds of milestones: here they built strong friendships, explored their talents, struggled with their weaknesses, traveled around Europe and even Africa, broke their arms, their hearts, and stood back up stronger and happier. Notice that I have not yet commented on the quality of the learning environment at the school; (this is no mistake as I do not want this message to be an advertisement for the School, but again from personal experience I can tell that our teachers gave my kids an inarguably high preparation) but what I really want to stress is that our kids at AAS learn how to learn, each one at their own pace, everyone according to their passions, nature, and strengths. In one sentence, at AAS our kids are fulfilled, and this state makes for an optimal environment for the learning process.
But AAS in these years has been fundamental in our adult lives as well. The community that revolves around our school is one tailored to help newcomers to settle, adjust, and integrate in this new reality, helping to alleviate the natural loneliness that often accompanies being a foreigner in a new country. It also allows us to discover and share our passions, hobbies, and interests with others by volunteering in many school activities that benefit both us and our kids. Several reasons outside of our control may have somewhat weakened this idyllic atmosphere, where AAS was a place of yoga and pilates lessons for parents on the campus grounds, English conversation groups run by native speakers for non-natives who wanted to improve their fluency, Saturday Boot Camp, Sunday family soccer/volleyball/basketball, Friday Hiking group, Thursday tennis group, Dads’ Evening Basketball. This list could go on for as many activities as there participants thereof, all in partnership with the AAS PTO.
Our campus is one of the best equipped and maintained (with the exception of the swimming pool—inside joke for veterans) and my dream is to see it as alive as it once was.
Today my call is to invite you all to join our community actively and bring in your ideas, your enthusiasm, your time, your expertise, your knowledge, your passion. Together we can make our community spirit stronger than ever—an environment that will benefit all of us, creating new synergies for the sake of our children, our families, and ourselves.
The AAS Board will have a booth tomorrow at the Welcome Back BBQ organized by our PTO to gather old and new members of our community and give the kickstart to the social part of the academic year. I will be there together with the other members of the Board to welcome you all, introduce ourselves and the work that we do as the Board, and answer any and all questions you may have.
Looking forward to seeing you all there!