May 2019 News
Twenty-Eighth Indiana Academy Commencement Ceremony
Sunday, May 26, 2019
The Indiana Academy held its 28th commencement ceremony in Emens Auditorum on the campus of Ball State University on Saturday, May 25. Mr. Ken Stuart, retired Academy instructor of history, was the commencement speaker and received the John E. Worthen Outstanding Contribution to Education Award. Retiring Academy instructor of math Mr. John Rajca was the recipient of the Dean Roy Weaver Indiana Academy Outstanding Contributor Award.
The Academy’s Class of 2019 was made up of 155 seniors representing 104 high schools, including seven international students from China and South Korea. Each graduate earned the Indiana Academic Honors diploma, and the class received over $11.2 million in scholarships and financial aid offers. The graduating class included 6 National Merit finalists, 11 National Merit commended scholars, 73 AP scholars (including 19 with Honor and 24 with Distinction), 3 National AP scholars, and one AP International Diploma recipient.
Below is a slideshow of photos from the commencement ceremony.
Recognition Reception for Top 10 Math Students
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
The Math Department at the Indiana Academy has established a tradition of honoring the top math/computer science student each year, usually giving the top student a small gift and celebrating with cake. This year there were so many outstanding seniors that the Math division couldn’t narrow it down to the usual one or two kids. Because there were so many students worthy of the honor in the Class of 2019, the department decided to recognize the Top Ten. These students have all taken extra classes along the way including in some cases some very high level Ball State classes, and the students have excelled in each of them.
The ten Academy students recognized by the Math department for taking a total of 65.5 math courses (equivalent to 210 hours of college credits) while at the Academy are:
Grace Allman
Charlotte Chen
Sage Hamm
Daniel Karagory
Darwin Kim
Hanbit Lee
Noah Migoski
Sterling St. Rain
John Replogle
Qifan Yang
The Outstanding Senior Award was presented to these students in appreciation for their participation and achievement in the mathematics and computer science program at the Indiana Academy.
Academic Super Bowl State Champions
Monday, May 6, 2019
Congratulations to the Indiana Academy’s Math and English teams that competed at the state championship of the Academic Super Bowl on Saturday, May 4 at Purdue University. The Math team won first place (for the third time in four years), and the English team took fifth.
Math:
Sterling St. Rain (Captain)
Darwin Kim
Kevin Gao
Qifan Yang
Nathan Buehrer
English:
Jill Hale (Captain)
Sam Shephard
Jacob Zeh
Jalyn Upshaw
Evan Jennerjahn
Sammy Walkley
To qualify for the state championship, twenty Academy students representing six subject areas competed at the regional tournament for Academic Super Bowl on April 16. Academic Super bowl is a multi-disciplinary academic competition that has a central theme; this year’s theme was the Fertile Crescent. Two of the Academy’s six teams, Math and English, qualified for the state championship that was held on May 4. This was the second appearance for both of those teams in the past three years.
Academy Students Take Home Gold and Silver at Russian Olympiad
Monday, April 29, 2019
On Saturday, April 27, a group of Academy students Russian competed in the Russian Olympiad hosted by the Global and International Studies School at Indiana University in Bloomington.
| Nathan Buehrer | Silver |
| Lillian Rogers | Silver |
| Isabell Reynolds | Silver |
| Jenna Littlejohn | Gold |
| Anand Rathinasamy | Gold |
| Bailee Wolfe | Gold |
| Jake White | Gold |
Registered but unable to attend were Grace Nelson and Katherine Kerr.
Additionally, Jake White won the ACTR Slava Award for Outstanding Achievement for a non-hertiage speaker, and Anand Rathinasamy won the ACTR Slava Award for Outstanding Achievement for a heritage speaker.
Congratulations to these students and their Russian instructor, Heather Rogers.
Indiana Academic All-Star
Thursday, April 25, 2019
Congratulations to Sage Hamm on his selection as a 2019 Indiana Academic All-Star. Sage was recognized at a luncheon on Thursday, April 25 in Indianapolis. The recognition is sponsored by the Indiana Association of School Principals and recognizes students for outstanding Academic performance as well as extra-curricular involvement and accomplishments. Each student nominates a teacher who has been most influential in their Academic progress and development, and he nominated Stephanie Nagelkirk who was also recognized at the event. Congratulations to Sage and Ms. Nagelkirk for this recognition.
Christine Ney Awarded Outstanding Teaching Award
Thursday, April 18, 2019
Congratulations to Indiana Academy instructor Christine Ney on being honored with the University Schools Outstanding Teaching Award during the Teachers College recognition reception on Thursday, April 18. Ms. Ney is retiring after 32 years of service to Ball State and the Indiana Academy.
Academy Students Give Outstanding Performance at Economics-Philosophy Competition
Thursday, April 18, 2019
Ten teams from three different high schools including the Indiana Academy competed on April 18 in an event put on by the Ball State University Economics Department. The Academy fielded three teams of seniors, and they all performed exceedingly well. After presentations and discussion, questions on specific moral dilemmas were put to the teams, and they had only 5 minutes to formulate an answer. All three Academy teams delivered answers that were strongly reasoned, supported by relevant philosophical concepts, creative, and very well-articulated. Participating students included:
Suzanne Brown, Francesca Clifton, Than Win, Magnolia Clayton, Hanbit Lee, Rachael Snow, David Stephens, Nathan Buehrer, Alex Newhall, Samuel Shephard, and Drew Wheatley
Medals were awarded to the first, second and third place teams in the competition, and Academy teams won first and third!
National Latin Exam Results
Thursday, April 18, 2019
The results are in from the National Latin Exam, and here is how Academy students placed:
Gold Medal
Natalie Williams
Meredith Fairman
Grace Allman
Silver Medal
Parker Clingerman
Seth Rubush
Lincoln Rutter
Judy (Yifei) Liu
Jacob Nichols
Paige Lang
Patrick Caron
Preston Dunithan
Nora Slaven
Magna Cum Laude
Cheyenne Brenton
Elliott Whiteside
Cum Laude
Micayla Roginski
Our senior Latin 2B students this year took the “Level 3” exam since we are an accelerated program (an Academy first!) which means that the seniors in this list are not only performing at a level above where they would normally be but are excelling at that level with respect to their Level 3 peers in other schools.
Academy Instructor of Life Sciences Receives Prestigious Award
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Academy instructor Michael Mayfield has been selected as the 2018-19 recipient of the prestigious Battey National Educator Award. The award provides a plaque, an honorarium of $8000 to Mr. Mayfield, and a grant of $2000 to the Indiana Academy to be applied to our programs.
Kiara Goodwin, an Academy alum and current senior at DePauw University, nominated Mr. Mayfield for the award. Her nomination expressed the inspiration and vigor of Mr. Mayfield’s teaching style.
Mr. Mayfield will be recognized at the annual Chuck and Joan Battey dinner reception at DePauw University.
Indiana Academy Students Win Midwest Speech Contest, Advance to Nationals in Los Angeles
Monday, March 25, 2019
Two Academy students, Kevin Gao and Sage Hamm, were recognized on Saturday, March 23 in Chicago at the Japanese Consulate’s 49th annual speech contest. Their Japanese speeches were among the ten best high school essays selected from the Midwest, and they were invited to give their speech at the contest. Sage Hamm won first place, and Kevin Gao won third. It is an incredible achievement as they beat out other students who had the same or more years of experience in Japanese. The first, second, and third place winners of this speech contest will be sent by the Chicago Japanese Consulate to represent the Midwest at the National Japanese Speech Contest held in Los Angeles in May.