November 2017 News
Japanese Instructor at the Academy Named a Rising Star
Monday, November 6, 2017
Indiana Academy Japanese instructor Clara Chi was selected by the Association for Indiana Teachers of Japanese for the 2018 Rising Star Award. The award recognizes extraordinary instructors with 5 or less years of teaching experience.
Ms. Chi has helped the Japanese department reach new heights during her short tenure at the Academy. She has helped students receive college credit by transforming Japanese classes into dual credit courses. Outside of the classroom, she is regularly involved with conferences. She helped the Indiana Academy place 2nd in the level 2 section at the 2017 Japan Olympiad of Indiana. One of Ms. Chi’s students won second place at the Chicago Consulate Japanese Speech Contest in 2017.
Ms. Chi will receive the award next year at the 2018 Indiana Foreign Language Teachers Association conference.
Indiana Academy Recognized as a Top Dual Credit School
Monday, November 6, 2017
In recognition of the Indiana Academy’s efforts to provide Indiana students with access to and success in Dual Credit courses, the Indiana Department of Education (DOE) recognized them at a ceremony on Monday, November 6th at the Indiana Statehouse Atrium. Dual Credit courses are classes in which students earn both high school and college credit for classes. About 97% of Academy seniors take Dual Credit courses, averaging 24 total college credits. Only schools who had at least 30% of their students pass their classes during the 2015-2016 school year were invited to the event. The Academy was one of six Gold level schools (75% percent or higher; Academy is at 85%) out of 130 schools that were recognized at the 2017 Indiana Dual Credit Recognition Ceremony, and the Academy was the only school from Delaware County to receive this honor.
National Merit Commended Students
Friday, September 22, 2017
The following seniors have been recognized as Commended Students in the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program. Commended students are being recognized for the exceptional academic promise demonstrated by outstanding performance on the Qualifying Test (PSAT) last October. Commended Students placed among the top 50,000 scorers of more than 1.6 million students who entered the 2018 competition by taking the 2016 PSAT.
Angela Cardwell
Ningmei Gong
Nils Hinniger
Ryan Martinez
Dione Miles-Morillo
Julia Newbold
Conner Partaker
United Way Day of Action
Monday, September 18, 2017
More than 50 Academy faculty, staff, and students participated in the United Way Day of Action on Thursday, Sept. 7. Volunteers worked morning and afternoon shifts outside on the Cardinal Greenway where they cleaned up trash, repaired asphalt, painted over graffiti, and weeded along the trails. Academy students who participated each earned a least four hours of community service depending on which shift they worked, and some students worked both shifts.
For the past four years, Academy instructor John Marsh has helped to organize the Academy volunteers. “The previous three times we were recognized as the group which provided the most volunteers, so we wanted to try to keep that honor again this year,” Marsh explained. “Students are not allowed to miss class for it, so they have to be available during the volunteer slots. So, our volunteer numbers would be even higher except there are students who want to participate but cannot due to their academic commitments.”
2018 National Merit Semifinalists
Thursday, September 14, 2017
The following seniors have been named Semifinalists in the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program:
Anna Beach
Michael Hu
Keith Murray
John Tade
Stanley Zheng
They now have the opportunity to continue in the National Merit Scholarship competition.
Indiana Statehouse Representative Donna Schaibley Visits Academy
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Representative Donna Schaibley (District 24) visited the Indiana Academy on Sept. 1 to learn more about the school. She toured Academy facilities and classrooms in addition to meeting with Academy administrators, students, and faculty. Schaibley (far left) observes Academy students Tessa Walters and Sophia Bysick as they share their list of daily activities in French. Also pictured are Academy alumnus Cassandra Grosh; Joe Turner, Director of Residential and Student Affairs; Jeff Smith, Director of Academic Affairs; Jennifer Robinson, French Instructor; and Vickie Barton, Executive Director of the Indiana Academy.
We’re #1 (Again!)
Monday, August 7, 2017
For the fourth consecutive year, the Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities is ranked the #1 Best Public High School in Indiana, and our teachers are ranked #1 Best Public High School Teachers in Indiana. We continue to be recognized as one of the best high schools in the nation with our rankings of #4 Best Public High School Teachers in America and #17 Best Public High School in America.
The 2018 rankings released from Niche (k12.niche.com) are based on rigorous analysis of key statistics and millions of reviews from students and parents using data from the U.S. Department of Education. Ranking factors include state test scores, college readiness, graduation rates, SAT/ACT scores, teacher quality, and high school ratings. Full rankings can be found at https://www.niche.com/k12/indiana-academy-for-science-mathematics–and–humanities-muncie-in/rankings/.
Additionally, the Indiana Commission for Higher Education (ICHE) released their 2017 College Readiness report that found 100% of Indiana Academy grads are ready for college-level courses. The Academy is one of only two high schools in the entire state of Indiana with that distinction. (See related article at Indy Star: http://www.indystar.com/story/news/education/2017/07/30/how-well-indiana-high-schools-preparing-students-college/453616001)
Class of 1992 Donates for Innovative Interactive Classrooms
Friday, August 4, 2017
During their 25th class reunion recently held in July, the Class of 1992 has committed to giving over $200,000 to the Indiana Academy. Their donations are specifically for making innovative updates and improvements to Academy classrooms, which includes technology as well as furniture and renovations to the space. Ball State’s foundation is setting up a separate fund especially for the Academy’s Innovative Interactive Classrooms.
Three Indiana Academy faculty members (Dain Kavars, Jennifer Robinson, and Megan Wright) are in Cohort 6 of Ball State’s Interactive Learning Space Initiative. As part of the ILS, our faculty are learning to develop classes for the space, and they will teach Academy students in the ILS during the 2018 spring semester.
AP Summer Institute
Friday, July 21, 2017
The Indiana Academy hosted approximately 170 teachers during two separate weeks of professional development in July for the AP Summer Institute (APSI.) Six different AP training workshops were offered during the first week and nine different AP workshops were available during the second week. Educators attending this year’s AP Summer Institute came from across Indiana as well as many different states and as far away as from Japan. The Academy is one of the longest running AP Summer Institute sites in the Midwest region and is endorsed by the College Board.
Academy Students Honored for Outstanding AP Results
Thursday, June 15, 2017
The Indiana Academy was recognized in a June ceremony by the Indiana Department of Education for significant achievement in Advanced Placement student access and success by having 60% of all graduates earning a 3 or higher on an AP exam in 2016. Academy administrators and faculty who attended were Vickie Barton, Jeff Smith, Susie Cunningham, Diane Kallmeyer, and John Raja.
The Academy was given a plaque that reads: The Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics and Humanities is hereby commended for significant achievement in Advanced Placement student access and success. The Indiana Academy has met or exceeded the goal of 25% of all graduates earning a 3 or higher on an AP exam.
Indiana DOE has been recognizing schools for earning 25% or higher mark for the last six years. The Academy is only one of a handful of schools in the State of Indiana that has received this recognition all six years.
Additionally, the College Board recently released reports for the 2017 AP exams. Academy students took 303 exams in 15 topic areas. The passing rate was 78.9% with scores of 3, 4 or 5. Twenty-eight students recognized were recognized as AP Scholars with Distinction. These students scored a 3 or higher on five or more AP exams. We also had 3 students recognized as National AP Scholars. These students scored a 4 or higher on eight or more AP exams.