August 2017 News

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.

Graduating Class of 2017

Sunday, May 28, 2017

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/.

Regional Super Bowl Finalists

Friday, April 21, 2017

Academy students competed in the regional Academic Super Bowl that is sponsored by the Indiana Association of School Principals. The topic for this year’s Academic Super Bowl was the French Revolution, and the Academy competed in Division 4 with 67 other schools competing in the same division. The top six teams from each category qualified for the state championship, and the Academy finished 1st in the Math, Science, Fine Arts, and English categories. The Academy placed 2nd in Interdisciplinary and 3rd in Social Studies. The Fine Arts and English teams (students listed below) qualified for the state competition that will be held at Purdue University on May 6.

Fine Arts
Taryn Coyle
Isabelle Turner
Allison Johnson
Leah Turner
Amy Gong

English
Samantha Williams
Rose Winter
Victoria Smith

Robotic Surgery Demonstration

Thursday, April 20, 2017

The Indiana Academy hosted a robotic surgery demonstration on April 19 in Burris Laboratory School. Two local surgeons, Dr. Damer and Dr. Graybill brought the technology and robot they use for hip and knee replacement surgeries to campus, and our students got a hands-on demonstration to experience for themselves how it all works. Over 80 students attended the demonstration that was open to Academy students, faculty, and staff as well as Burris science students and teachers. In addition to the robotic demonstration, both doctors presented on orthopedic topics followed by a Q&A session.

See more pictures in our Facebook gallery of the event.

Academy Students Attend HOSA State Leadership Conference

Monday, April 17, 2017

The Academy had 19 students attend the HOSA State Leadership Conference from April 10-12. HOSA is an international student organization that promotes career opportunities in the health care industry and seeks to enhance the delivery of quality health care to all people. HOSA’s Competitive Events Program is designed to motivate students to improve their knowledge and skills in terms of health care. The Academy students were very successful with placing in their competitions and many qualified for Nationals in the summer. The results of the Academy students are as follows:

PLATO Essay Winner

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Academy Junior Keith Murray won first prize in the 2017 PLATO (Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization) High School Essay Contest. PLATO is devoted to introducing philosophy to students before graduating high school. Organizers believe that philosophy is a key resource for preparing students for the challenges of the 21st century. The contest itself was open to all high school students in the U.S. and the students participating in the essay contest were asked, “How do we define art or determine what things count as art objects?” Murray’s essay, “Art is More than Beauty: It’s a Whetstone” stood out in a strong field of submissions. Keith received a check for $250.00 from PLATO for his submission and his essay will be published in PLATO’s official journal.