Latest News
National Merit Scholarship Program
Friday, September 19, 2025
We are excited to announce this year’s Indiana Academy students who were selected for the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program (NMSP). The National Merit Scholarship Corporation chooses senior students based on their PSAT/NMSQT exam scores taken the prior year. Of the over 1.3 million eligible students, only a small percentage are chosen. This year’s Indiana Academy NMSP participants are:
Finn Almandmoss (Commended)
Isaac Fischer (Commended)
Sarah Glunt (Commended)
Ayesha Khan (Commended)
Alex Overmars (Commended)
Rachel Ward (Commended)
Maria DeLong (Semifinalist)
Jason McGrew (Semifinalist)
Yohan Shin (Semifinalist)
As Semifinalists, Maria DeLong, Jason McGrew, and Yohan Shin are in a select group of approximately 1% of eligible high school students nationwide who will continue to compete for one of the prestigious National Merit Scholarships. Please join us in congratulating all of this year’s Indiana Academy NMSP participants!
Robert P. Bell Education Grant Award
Thursday, September 18, 2025
Earlier this week, the Indiana Academy was awarded a Robert P. Bell Education Grant by The Community Foundation of Muncie and Delaware County. The grant, spearheaded by Dr. Joel Olufowote, provides $2,500 in funds to support the Indiana Academy Student Government (IASG) in its first year. Funds will be used to purchase start-up items and provide professional development to this year’s IASG students.
Dr. Beineke – Who Published Maus?
Friday, August 29, 2025
Dr. Colin Beineke, Assistant Teaching Professor of English, has an essay titled “Who Published Maus?” included in the book Artful Breakdowns: The Comics of Art Spiegelman. This book was recently awarded the Comics Studies Society Edited Book Prize. Congratulations, Dr. Beineke!
Spring 2025 Directors List
Friday, June 6, 2025
Congratulations to the 108 students that earned a spot on the 2025 Spring Semester Directors List!
Academy Seniors Among Recipients of Community Foundation Scholarships
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
Academy senior Lily Ellis has been awarded the Arthur D. and Josephine M. Robling Scholarship and senior Alesya Rathinasamy has been awarded the Michael Brodhead Scholarship from the Community Foundation of Delaware County.
More details and other scholarship recipients may be found here. Congratulations!
Academic Super Bowl State Competition
Monday, May 12, 2025
Saturday, May 10th, the Indiana Academy’s Academic Super Bowl team competed at Purdue University for the state championship in Math, Science, and Interdisciplinary.
Our Math team successfully defended their state championship, bringing home a plaque and banner, now hanging in the student lounge in Wagoner Hall. Science and Interdisciplinary made respectable showings, especially in a competition where questions were thrown out and challenges were made on stage “for the first time in my experience,” according to sponsor Jessica Edrington.
It was an interesting day, capped off by a hurried return so students could attend prom, which was held Saturday evening. The team also expresses gratitude to Chris Buczek for driving the second van.
Congratulations to the Academic Super Bowl team!
Assistant Lecturer of English Position Available
Monday, April 14, 2025
The Indiana Academy currently has an opening for Assistant Lecturer of English, with an application deadline of May 5, 2025. Details about the position can be found at the link below.
Academy Alum Vanessa Svihla Receives Presidential Award
Thursday, February 27, 2025
Vanessa Svihla, Indiana Academy class of 1993, received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) for her National Science Foundation CAREER (Faculty Early Career Development Program) project, “Framing and Reframing Agency in Making and Engineering” (FRAME). The PECASE is the highest honor from the United States government on outstanding scientists and engineers early in their research careers.
As part of the FRAME project, Vanessa developed the Wrong Theory Protocol, an idea generation technique where students frame a problem, generate harmful ideas, then propose beneficial ideas to fix the problem. This unique method allows students to achieve a balance between empathy and creativity to solve problems. Vanessa’s research focuses on how people learn as they design various projects and, more specifically, how they frame problems.
After graduating from the Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities, Vanessa attended Smith College for her undergraduate degree, University of Texas in Austin for her master’s in science in Geology and PhD in STEM Education. She joined the University of New Mexico in 2011 as a professor of learning sciences and chemical & biological engineering. She is the fifth faculty member from UNM to receive this award.
Academy TSA Team Excels at Purdue University Competition
Wednesday, February 19, 2025
The Indiana Academy TSA (Technology Student Association) team traveled to Purdue University over the February 14-16 weekend. The team, originally comprised of nine members, was reduced to four due to illness and scheduling conflicts. Asia Genawi, Luv Patel, Eric Dinh, and Isaac Fischer were able to attend and compete in events against other TSA teams from around the state of Indiana represented by much larger delegations.
Academy team member Chris Holmquist was able to submit his essay on Technology and his audio podcast the week prior to the weekend event, and the committee did excuse Chris from the requisite in-person interview, since he was not able to attend. His essay won first place for the State of Indiana, and his audio podcast received fifth place.
Asia Genawi, TSA Indiana State Vice President, was given a plaque and special cords to wear at graduation in recognition of her hard work over the past two years in state leadership roles. TSA Indiana State Secretary Ethan Tomlin was also honored with a plaque and graduation cords, though he was unable to attend in person. Having two state officers from one school is rare, which “says a lot for the quality of the students at the Indiana Academy,” according to sponsor Ms. Susie Cunningham.
As an unexpected yet welcome surprise, the Indiana Academy was awarded the title of TSA Chapter of the Year. This award is based on points earned through activities a TSA Chapter completes in a one-year period. The Academy’s TSA team has worked very hard this year to complete these tasks and their dedication has certainly paid off.
Ms. Cunningham says, “I am very proud of this year’s team!”
Indiana Academy Shines at Model UN-University of Chicago
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
A fifteen student Model UN delegation from the Indiana Academy recently competed in the 2025 Model UN-University of Chicago (MUNUC) conference from February 6th through February 9th. MUNUC’s annual conference in downtown Chicago ranks as one of the best in the world, attracting over 3,000 students from across the United States and around the world. Students from the Academy participated across several committees with about half earning recognition for exemplar performances. Congratulations go to Alex Christman, Alex Overmars, Kenne Rasnick, Rori Hailey, Henry Godfrey, Kenny Gihozo, Keagan Brogdon, Christopher Holmquist, John Eenigenburg, Jeevisha Dhanda, A.J. Carter, Ella Robertson, Jackson Bales, Brody Chestnut, and Agastya Anand for a job well done! “Being recognized at a Model UN conference this large is usually reserved for the top 3-5% of schools and delegates that participate. Considering the global talent and staunch preparation we competed against, returning with seven of our students earning recognition is beyond impressive and almost unimaginable,” remarks Dr. Olufowote, Director of Academic Affairs and Academy Model UN sponsor. Award winners can be found below:
War of the Roses: YORK
Honorable mention – Ella Robertson
Planes, Trains, and automobiles: TRANSIT
Honorable mention – Jackson Bales
The Russian Constitutional convention: RUSSIA
Honorable mention – Brody Chestnut
The court of the Nizams: HYDERABAD
Verbal commendation – Agastya Anand
NATO: Belgium
Verbal commendation – Alex Overmars
EU: Belgium
Verbal commendation- Christopher Holmquist & John Eenigenburg