May 2017 News
Graduating Class of 2017
Sunday, May 28, 2017
Photo @2017 Event Photography Group
The Indiana Academy recently graduated 152 students (including the first group of international students) on May 27, 2017 in Emens Auditorium on the campus of Ball State University. Seventy-five percent of the class declared to attend Indiana Colleges and Universities with 21 students planning to attend Ball State. Students were offered approximately $13 million in scholarships and have accepted approximately $5.5 million. The Class of 2017 also had a 96.7% participation rate in the Indiana Academy’s dual credit programs with Ball State. The average number of hours taken was 24 hours, saving each student an estimated $7000.00 in tuition costs.
All Academy graduates earn the Indiana Academic Honors diploma. Thirteen students in our inaugural AP Capstone program also earned the AP Capstone diploma. These students scored a 3 or higher in the AP Capstone Seminar and Research classes and scored 3 or higher on a minimum of four additional AP courses. The Academy’s AP Capstone program is themed on biotechnology and was one of seven such AP programs in Indiana last year.
Students Receive Grant – Start “HealthyIsNow” Program
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
Two Academy students, Sakhi Shah and Ritika Mehta, were recently awarded a $1000 grant from AdVenture Capital (AdCap), an organization that aims to support a new generation of leaders and entrepreneurs through promoting health and wellness in the community.
Shah and Mehta received two grants from AdCap, one for $250 and one for $750. With these grants, they created a new program called HealthyIsNow. The students have already held an informational seminar with a physical therapist as the guest speaker before focusing on their main project of implementing a bike program for the Academy. With money from the grant, the students purchased four bikes as well as other essential equipment that can be checked out by Academy students. Shah and Mehta also worked with Ball State’s Office of Risk Management on creating a waiver for the program. The program started April 18th, and it allows for the bikes to be checked out by students for transportation and fitness around campus.
Shah and Mehta said one of the biggest challenges they faced was figuring out how to channel their ideas into reality at the Academy. “At first, we felt divided between addressing nutrition versus addressing physical wellness, both of which are incredibly important, as we have found that students who attend boarding school tend to develop unhealthy lifestyle habits.” After seeking advice for school administrators and counselors, the students eventually decided to promote physical activity though a bike rental program.
World Food Prize Youth Institute
Monday, May 1, 2017
Senior Jessica Gage and juniors Rachael Moore and Lily Fillwalk attended the World Food Prize Youth Institute at Purdue University on April 27-28. They presented individual research and recommendations on how to solve key global challenges in a short speech and small group discussion with local experts; interacted with global leaders in science, industry and policy; took part in educational sessions and interactive tours at Purdue to explore current research and issues in international development and life sciences; and met innovative researchers, professors and college students in Indiana working to end hunger and poverty and improve food security around the world.
Gage, Moore, and Fillwalk will have to wait until next month to receive detailed feedback from experts in the field, and the authors of the best papers will be chosen to attend the Global Youth Institute in Des Moines, Iowa, in the fall.
The World Food Prize was founded in 1987 by Dr. Norman Borlaug, the father of the “green revolution.” Because of his achievements to prevent hunger, famine and misery around the world, it is said that Dr. Borlaug has “saved more lives than any other person who has ever lived.”
You can learn more about the World Food Prize at https://www.worldfoodprize.org/.