February 2017 News

Lilly Endowment Awards Indiana Academy $30,000 Grant

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

The Indiana Academy recently received a planning grant of $30,000 under Lilly Endowment Inc.’s Comprehensive Counseling Initiative for Indiana K – 12 Students. The aim of Lilly’s Counseling Initiative is to increase significantly the number of K–12 students in Indiana public school corporations and charter schools who are emotionally healthy, realize academic success, graduate from high school, obtain valuable postsecondary credentials, certifications, and degrees necessary for meaningful employment, and are prepared to compete and prosper in the global society in which they will live and work.

The Academy will use the grant for multiple counseling areas including student mental health, college and career advising, and professional development resources for Academy staff. “Having the best counseling department as possible is crucial with a school as unique as ours. A population of such high ability students combined with a predominantly residential school creates unique counseling situations,” said Dr. Vickie Barton, Executive Director of the Indiana Academy. “We are always looking for the best ways to meet their college and career counseling needs while also addressing their social and emotional needs.”

Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by three members of the Lilly family – J.K. Lilly Sr. and sons J.K. Jr. and Eli – through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly & Company. The Endowment is primarily committed to the causes of community development, education and religion and has a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and its home state, Indiana.

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2017 National Merit Finalists

Friday, February 10, 2017

The following seniors have advanced to Finalist standing in the 2017 National Merit Scholarship competition:

Kalina Harden
Skyler Kiefer
Hannah Komanapalli
Cassandra Pent
Juliana Qin
Sidra St. Rain

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Students Serve as Senate Pages

Monday, February 6, 2017

Indiana Academy students recently served as Senate Pages at the Indiana Statehouse. In addition to touring the historical Statehouse which includes the House and Senate Chambers, the Supreme Court, and the Governor’s Office, pages had the opportunity to observe the legislative session directly from the Statehouse floor as well as meet and assist their senators with tasks.

View our Facebook photo gallery from the visit. Below are photos of our students with their senators.

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Update on David Haynes Film

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

The movie Break My Bones by Indiana Academy instructor David Haynes continues to garner attention from film festivals worldwide. It will next play in Amsterdam, Netherlands, at the IMAGINE Film Festival, and then, in October of 2017, it will play in Barcelona, Spain, at the FILMETS Badalona Film Festival.

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Indiana Rising Stars

Friday, January 13, 2017

Four of our students were recognized by The Indiana Association of School Principals (IASP) for the 2017 Rising Stars of Indiana. The students are: Brendan Bale, Conner Partaker, Julia Newbold, and Sarah Heffner. Each Indiana high school was invited to recognize up to four students currently in the 11th grade, based on their academic achievement. Each student will receive a Certificate of Achievement and the program’s College and University sponsors will receive a list of the students who indicated an interest in their school, along with the possible fields of study noted on their submission form.

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Academy BPA Students Advance to State Leadership Conference

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Fifteen Academy students who constitute a Business Professionals of America club participated in the BPA Region 9 contest at Hagerstown High School on Saturday, December 10. Members of the club qualified in ten different events to advance to the State Leadership Conference in March.

Qualifying Events
Students advance to the State Leadership Conference from these events. Some events take the top 6 places, others only the top 3 places. Some team events take the top 2 places.

Event	Team Members	Placement
150-Financial Analyst Team	Angela Cardwell, Ben Hiatt	1st*
155-Economic Research Individual	Ben Hiatt	1st*
160-Economic Research Team	Juliana Qin, Kole McGinn, Isaac Taylor	1st*
165-Personal Financial Management	Katherine Klamer	2nd*
205-Intermediate Word Processing	Katherine Klamer	4th
225-Advanced Office Systems & Procedures	Allison Johnson	7th
230-Fundamental Spreadsheet Applications	Isabelle Turner	7th
245-Legal Office Procedures	Allison Johnson	1st*
250-Medical Office Procedures	Juliana Qin Nikita Kumar Jakob Barbour Georgia Coffman	6th* 7th 13th 16th
265-Business Law	Hannah Komanapalli Isabelle Turner	1st* 2nd*
500-Global Marketing Team	Nikita Kumar, Ritika Mehta	1st*
515-Interview Skills	Georgia Coffman	4th
525-Extemporaneous Speech	Zackary Swoboda	1st*
535-Human Resource Management	Ritika Mehta	1st*
* Advances to State Leadership Conference

Open Events
These events open to anyone and not classified as advancing events yet each top 10 individuals receive medals and certificates.

Event	Team Members	Placement
190-Financial Math & Analysis	Hannah Komanapalli Jian Tao (Isaac) Taylor Zackary Swoboda Nikita Kumar Ritika Mehta	1st 2nd 3rd 8th 9th
390-Information Technology Concepts	Jian Tao (Isaac) Taylor Nicholas Shaw Nikita Kumar	2nd 4th 9th
391-Computer Programming Concepts	Hannah Komanapalli Nicholas Shaw Jian Tao (Isaac) Taylor	1st 2nd 9th
590-Business Meeting Management	Nicholas Shaw Hannah Komanapalli	3rd 5th
591-Management, Marketing & Home Resource Concepts	Nicholas Shaw Nikita Kumar	1st 7th

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2017 Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Ritika Mehta, senior, has been named a recipient of the 2017 Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship. The scholarship grants full tuition to any accredited public or private college/university in Indiana as well as covering fees and providing an annual stipend for required books and equipment. Ritika has a 4.0 grade point average, and she plans to study finance and marketing possibly at IU Kelley School of Business or Notre Dame.

Ritika is the daughter of Rajeev and Rashmi Mehta. She is a volunteer and youth coordinator for the South Asian Muncie Association (SAMA). For several years, she has organized activities for younger children and choreographed and performed dances for the annual SAMA event. This has been a compliment to her practice of Kathak (Indian Classical Dance) which she has done for six years. Ritika is also a member of Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA), Model United Nations, Academic Super Bowl, Environmental Club and Student Parliament. She has won multiple awards in the Science Olympiad and in essay contests.

In selecting Delaware County Lilly Endowment Community Scholars, consideration is given to student activities and achievements, community and civic service, academic ability, and the potential for leadership. Ritika was chosen out of an applicant pool of 76 impressive candidates from high schools across Delaware County. After the field of school nominees was narrowed to two, the finalists’ names were submitted to Independent Colleges of Indiana, Inc. (ICI) for approval. ICI is a nonprofit corporation that represents 31 regionally accredited degree granting, nonprofit, private colleges and universities in the state. The scholarships are a result of a statewide Lilly Endowment initiative to help Hoosier students reach higher levels of education.

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Indiana Academy Instructors Awarded Robert P. Bell Education Grants

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Robert P. Bell Education Grants are awarded to teachers and counselors for innovative ideas, programs, or classroom projects. Administered by the Community Foundation of Muncie and Delaware County, four Indiana Academy faculty members, Michael Mayfield, John Marsh, Jennifer Robinson, and Les McSparrin were awarded a Bell Grant.

Students in the Human Anatomy and Physiology course taught by Michael Mayfield, instructor of life sciences, are studying the human cardiovascular system. As part of this study they will be dissecting a preserved sheep heart and illustrating the external circulation and internal structures. They will use computerized probeware to produce a three lead ECG (electrocardiogram) of their own heart. To help in mastering the material, they will transfer their drawings onto the front of a t-shirt along with a tracing of their ECG on the back. From this activity, Mayfield hopes the students will better understand the physical structures of the human heart and the flow of blood.

John Marsh, instructor of history, is another recipient of the Bell Grant. Marsh created a mock election process that expanded beyond the standard classroom teaching on the nomination process, electoral college, candidates, and issues. Students trained in the roles of the various poll workers, and then the polls were open during the nearly identical period as the official polls in Indiana on Election Day. Students followed the complete procedure when they came to vote. Through hands-on participation and responsibilities, the end result for students was a broad understanding of the election laws and procedures regarding this most central of citizenship rights.

French Instructor, Jennifer Robinson, instructor of French, had a variety of things happening during National French Week (November 4-10) and the grant assisted with and Arts & Crafts event during that week. For that event students focused on the hand-painted pottery traditions in the Brittany region of France. Their pottery pieces were decorated using permanent markers, and they created personalized signatures following the example of the true Quimper artisans. Finally, to extend the reach of this project beyond the walls of the Academy, each student made one pottery item for themselves and a second to offer to someone in the community. Each item includes a student-produced card explaining the Quimper tradition, an explanation of the significance of the chosen design, a brief biography of the student artisan, and some facts about the French language.

Students in biochemistry are embarking on a 5-7 week course with Les McSparrin, instructor of chemistry, to explore a real-world laboratory project that is problem based. The students will be isolating the DHFR protein from transformed E. coli colonies. What makes this a “real-world” project is that the students will be using the same procedures and apparatuses that are currently in use in biotechnology labs across the United States. Student won’t just be learning about the function of the protein itself, but they also will be learning techniques that will carry over to college and/or the workplace. Since the field of biochemistry and biotechnology is growing at such a rapid pace, students will have a considerable advantage over other students who don’t have this skill set upon graduation. He wishes to enhance in-class discussions of DHFR and other protein folding with hands-on experiences.

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Indiana Academy Ranked Best High School in Indiana

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

For the third consecutive year, the Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities is ranked the No. 1 Best Public High School in Indiana. In addition, Indiana Academy is ranked No. 3 Best Public High School in America (up from 21st in 2016), and our teachers are ranked No. 2 nationally for Best Public High School Teachers (up from 7th in 2016.)

The rankings just 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.

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Pan-Africa Youth Leadership Exchange Program

Monday, October 31, 2016

For the third year in a row, Ball State University’s Center for International Development (CID) was selected to host the Pan-Africa Youth Leadership Program (PAYLP), a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. Selected students travel to the United States in the spring, summer, and fall each year. From October 12 through 25, 72 African high school students and adult mentors from Benin, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger visited the Ball State campus and the Indiana Academy.

After four days spent in Washington, DC learning about U.S. history and culture along with our nation’s system of democratic governance, they spent two weeks at Ball State University. On the university campus participants discovered what classroom-based lectures are like, experienced training and simulations focused on social entrepreneurship, attended interactive workshops, and were involved in community engagement. The participants also had time for site visits, cultural and volunteer activities, and speaking engagements which provided hands-on learning opportunities for skills application and networking.

Early in their visit, Indiana Academy students joined the exchange students for lunch and attended a panel discussion with them. Our students and the visiting exchange students were able to get to know one another through conversations on their cultures, lifestyles, interests, and current events. For French instructor Jennifer Robinson this was an extremely valuable opportunity. “So often people don’t realize that French is spoken in over 40 countries around the world,” Robinson said. “So having student representatives from six francophone countries in Africa visit our school really makes learning French relevant.” Our students also benefit from the international interactions. Indiana Academy student Katie Kolozsvari summed up the experience, “I loved being able to use my French with native French speakers, and it was amazing to be able to learn about the different current events in the countries that were represented.”

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