Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56“It takes an extraordinary student not only to attend Orme, but to also embrace the culture and use it to grow into a global citizen ready to embrace the world.” 16 17 in which they lived. While the school grew its international population during the 2015- 16 school year, the team also focused on growing the local population. This year Orme had more than twenty students from Arizona. Some from as far as Bullhead City, while others were from as close as Prescott or Cottonwood. “While there are many options for schooling in Arizona, such as Charter Schools, there is still a large population of families looking for something different for their children,” explains Jessica. “These families want their children to have a more challenging education with smaller classes. They want their children to have the opportunity to sit in a classroom with other students from around the country and world.” The result of these directed local and worldwide student recruitment efforts cannot be more apparent than in the classroom. A World History classroom discussion in a room consisting of students from Phoenix, AZ, Barcelona, Spain, Knoxville, TN, Buga, Colombia, Samsun, Tukey and Houston, TX, takes on a very different feel than a traditional classroom consisting of a majority of students from the same location. “To be able to listen to several different students explain how their home countries view major world events, such as World War II, is invaluable to all of us as students,” explains Lera Voronina, a Senior Orme student from Russia and President of Orme’s International Club. “Diversity within our classroom promotes creative thinking by expanding our capacity for viewing world issues from multiple perspectives, angles and vantage points.” Rather than viewing the world through a single-focused lens, this diversity within the classroom allows students like Lera to expand their views and consider multiple opinions when weighing issues such as morality and ethics on a global scale. As Orme’s Advancement Team continues to travel the world, growing the diversity of the school, creating a global culture on campus has also posed challenges and opportunities. “Any time you bring together a group of people who are unique and diverse, you must look for ways to find common goals and opportunities for them to share in order for the population as a whole to successfully co-exist,” explains Ross. “As we increased enrollment dramatically over the past two years, we have worked hard to develop leadership and mentorship programs that have supported this exponential growth in the school.” One new program that the team developed based on the ranch heritage of Orme is the “Old Hands, New Hands” mentoring program. Through this program returning students, identified by the faculty to show leadership potential, are provided the opportunity to mentor new students just beginning their Orme journey. Over the course of several weeks, the “Old Hands” welcome the “New Hands” by teaching them about values and traditions that make Orme unique and helping the new student feel comfortable with the day-to-day routines of the school. “Think about it from the new student’s prospective. You are 14 years old. You are in a new country or a new state. You are excited to begin your Orme journey, but you are also scared and lonely. This program aims to alleviate that student’s fears and allows them to focus on the excitement and possibilities presented in front of them,” explains Ross. With close to forty new students beginning their Orme journey this past September, the team also introduced a new orientation program, “The Orme Way”. Structured to be an in-depth introduction to The Orme School, this multi- week program provided a set schedule of culture building activities throughout the first few weeks of school, allowing opportunities to begin to strengthen this new global community. “With this large growth in our population at the beginning of the school year we actually had more new students coming onto campus than returning students. It was important that we presented a carefully planned out, extended orientation period for our entire student body,” explains Jessica. “Not only were we challenged with having a seamless welcome to the new students, but we also realized that the returning students would be encountering a very different community when they came back in August as well.” Throughout the first two weeks of school, “The Orme Way” introduced all students, new and returning, to the 2015-16 school year. Students were able to learn the smaller day- to-day expectations such as curfews, room cleaning check-lists, and study hall procedures, while also have time to learn about some of the traditional programs at Orme that have differentiated Orme from other schools such as Caravan, Fine Arts Festival and the Sustainability Program. The result of this extended orientation program was a community of students from around the world having the ability to come together and take advantage of the opportunities presented to them at Orme and focus on these opportunities, rather than stress over the smaller details such as what to wear to Vespers or if they would need to sit alone at lunch. Looking forward to the 2016-17 school year, Orme is continuing to embrace the notion that the world is shrinking through emerging technology and will be continuing to bring local and global diversity to the classroom through targeted student recruitment efforts. “Orme is a special place. There are a lot of great boarding schools in the United States, but very few can boast of a campus that embraces the spirit of the American Southwest while nurturing a cognizance of a global diversity at the same time,” explains Ross. “It takes an extraordinary student not only to attend Orme, but to also embrace the culture and use it to grow into a global citizen ready to embrace the world. Our team will continue to travel the world finding these students and share Orme with them in the months to come. Whether it is through the addition of a new flag hung in Founders Hall, or a new discussion led on the varying world views of politics in World History, the world is shrinking and Orme is embracing this by offering a true global community within the small oasis of Mayer, Arizona. “