Avistrum Academy of Sorcery

Thanks for Joining Us at MHC 40!

Prof. Aberfoyle — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 19:57:13 +0000

Thanks to everyone who joined us for MileHiCon 40! We hope everyone had as much fun this past weekend as we did. A full recap of our show, Tales from Avistrum: The Chalice of Khufu, will be up in a few days, hopefully along with photos. Our previously-scheduled show, Tales from Avistrum: Founder’s Prophecy, will appear next year at MileHiCon 41 instead. We hope to have pre-registration available for that show soon.

Only a Few Days Left for Pre-Registration

Prof. Aberfoyle — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 06:10:53 +0000

There are only a few days left to get registered for Tales from Avistrum: Founder’s Prophecy (October 24-26 at MileHiCon) at our special rate of $55 for adults and $35 for children. You can sign up now at EventBrite through October 14. Pre-registration, in addition to the discounted price, includes a custom-printed MileHiCon name badge.

After October 14, we will still take reservations at the full price of $65 ($45 for children) via email at tickets@avistrum.org. You will have to pay at the door.

Starfest 2008 Wrap-up

Prof. Aberfoyle — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 05:12:22 +0000

Thanks to everyone who attended our events at Starfest 2008! We had a great time, and we hope you did, too! Congratulations to our contest winners! We have Quidditch photos up in our new photo gallery. Check them out!

Wizard Jeopardy was the best matchup we’ve seen in the four years we’ve had the game at Starfest. Our winner, Tessa, won a very competitive game with a final score of 10,400 and received a full-weekend pass to Starfest 2009. Genieva, our runner-up, won a weekend pass to the Colorado Renaissance Festival, and Eddie, our third place contestant, took home a lovely witch’s hat and wand.

Our Quidditch champion was Thomas, who won a wonderful Gold Snitch medal after defeating Damion in the finals.

We hope everyone enjoyed the classes, the Quidditch, and the game show, and we look forward to next year’s festivities. If you missed out on your chance to get one of our NQL t-shirts, we’re working on making them available for sale here through the website.

Avistrum on TV and In Print

Prof. Aberfoyle — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:48:45 +0000

Did you get a chance to see the faculty and staff of Avistrum on CW2 Denver’s morning newscast Thursday? We were there to help promote Starfest 2008 (which starts today - come see us!). If you missed it, you can see the video by going to feature reporter Chris Parente’s page (http://www.cw2.com/chrisparente) and clicking on “Starfest invades Denver”.

Also, don’t miss the Headmaster in today’s Spotlight section in the Rocky Mountain News (not viewable unless you’re a subscriber).

We’re looking forward to Starfest - hope you are, too!

Schedule for Starfest 2008

Prof. Aberfoyle — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:27:51 +0000

We know you’ve been quivering with anticipation, so we are happy to announce Avistrum’s schedule of events for Starfest 2008! We are bringing back all of your favorite events from the past few years, including four classes, the PS2 Quidditch tournament, our life-size Quidditch photo set, and Wizard Jeopardy! Read on for details…

Friday, April 18

6:30 PM - Wizard Jeopardy in Main Events: Come try your hand at our world-famous Harry Potter trivia contest! Sign up to be a contestant at our table near the Concierge Lounge during the afternoon. We will draw three names to compete for some great prizes. Our champion will receive a free all-weekend pass to Starfest 2009! We will also have a few door prizes that anyone who signs up can win!

Saturday, April 19

All events for Saturday will be in the Avistrum Room (Concierge Lounge).

10:00AM - Doors Open: The doors to the Avistrum Room open at 10:00AM. Come visit us all day long! We will have snacks and craft materials for you to make pennants and posters for your favorite Quidditch teams! Don’t forget to get your NQL t-shirt!
10:00AM - 4:30PM - Quidditch Qualifiers: Coach d’Medici will be overseeing qualifying matches for the Quidditch Tournament. Come play Quidditch World Cup on the PlayStation 2. The top 16 scores will make the tourney!
10:00AM - 6:00PM - Quidditch Photos: Come take pictures on our life-size Quidditch photo set. We have costumes and props to make your photo complete. We will be offering prints of your picture (suggested donation of 50 cents per picture).
11:00AM - 12:00PM - Luck with Professor Aleator Boudreaux: Professor Boudreaux will talk about luck and lucky charms. Space is limited, so be on time!
2:00PM - 3:00PM - Defense Against the Dark Arts: Auror Training with Professors Dowling and Aberfoyle: The Headmaster and Professor Aberfoyle team up to teach you how to defend yourself against the monster in the closet. Once again, space is limited!
5:00PM - 6:00PM - Quidditch Tournament: The top 16 qualifiers from the day will compete in a single-elimination tournament for the Starfest Quidditch Championship. The winner will get a custom award designed and created by Coach d’Medici!
6:00PM - Doors Close: We’re done for the day. Go watch the costume contest and the play, and then come party with us at the Federation Ball!

Sunday, April 20

All events for Sunday will be in the Avistrum Room (Concierge Lounge).

10:00AM - Doors Open
10:00AM - 2:00PM - Quidditch Photos
10:00AM - 2:00PM - Quidditch Free Play: Since our day is so short on Sunday, there won’t be a tournament, but we will have the PS2s set up for everyone to play!
11:00AM - 12:00PM - Charms with Professor Kobiyashi: Everyone’s favorite Charms teacher gives a great lesson on useful spells. Come make a charm bracelet! Space is limited.
1:00PM - 2:00PM - Practical Magics with Mistress Craefter: Mistress Craefter will be teaching a class on Dry Potions. You’ll get to take home two concoctions of your very own! Once again, space is limited!
2:00PM - Doors Close: We’d love to stay longer, but the hotel needs the room back too soon! Enjoy the rest of the convention!

New and Improved NQL Shirts at Starfest

Prof. Aberfoyle — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 05:04:14 +0000

Keep an eye out at Starfest 2008 for our new and improved National Quidditch League t-shirts. Show your support for the greatest wizard sport there is! The all-cotton tees will be available in both black and white in all common sizes, from S to XXL, for $18 each. Proceeds go to help Mischief Managed Entertainment, the non-profit company behind Avistrum.

For those of you not able to come to Starfest, we will have the remaining shirts available for sale through our website shortly after the convention, and the design will be available on a variety of merchandise through our CafePress store.

Also keep an eye out for the official National Quidditch League website, usnql.com, coming soon!

Become a Friend of Avistrum on MySpace

Prof. Aberfoyle — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 04:20:34 +0000

Come check out our new profile on MySpace and add us as a friend! Make sure to send an owl on the Forums to Lady Viola Fey and thank her for her hard work on our profile!

Avistrum Returns to Starfest 2008

Prof. Aberfoyle — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:20:44 +0000

It’s that time of year once again, as Avistrum prepares for Starfest 2008! More details and schedule are coming soon, but we can confirm that Wizard Jeopardy is back for the third year in a row, and our very popular Quidditch tournament (using Quidditch World Cup for the PS2) will also run both Saturday and Sunday. We will be offering 4 classes this year - two on Saturday and two on Sunday. Don’t miss out - you can purchase your all-weekend pass at starland.com!

Our Apologies for the Disruption

Prof. Aberfoyle — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 04:49:15 +0000

On behalf of everyone at Avistrum Academy of Sorcery, I would like to apologize profusely for the message many of you encountered when you visited the website in the last 36 hours. We are still not sure how Persephone managed to seize control of the site, but please rest assured that we are investigating the matter thoroughly. We have re-established control of the website, and we promise no more disruptions of this kind in the future.

We know that Persephone’s letter may have scared some of you, causing you to question whether you wish to return to Avistrum for the Fall Term. Please rest assured that we are taking every precaution to guarantee your safety. As a gesture of thanks for your continued patience, and to help convince you to re-join us this year, we are going to honor the tuition discount (distastefully named though it may be) that Persephone hacked into the registration page. You can redeem the discount at http://talesfromavistrum.eventbrite.com/ with the discount code “NEWORDER” from now until October 15.

Thanks again for your patience and courage.

Compete for MileHiCon Fictional Guest of Honor and Win House Points!

Prof. Aberfoyle — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 19:16:28 +0000

As part of our partnership with MileHiCon 39 for Tales from Avistrum: Kings and Pawns, we would like to encourage our students to participate in the MileHiCon Fictional Guest of Honor campaign! We ourselves, the Faculty and Staff of Avistrum, are the reigning three-time champions of this award, but it is time to pass the torch. We will allow campaigning within the school before and after classes, and even better, we will award House Points for each participating campaign! All proceeds from the competition go to benefit the Literacy Fund.

One House Point will be awarded for every dollar raised by your campaign, and the winning campaign will earn an extra 50 points for your house! Team entries are encouraged. If your team includes students from multiple houses, the points will be split evenly amongst your team members. To be eligible to earn points for the contest, however, you must be registered for the Fall term!