On Monday, December 15, 8 of our staff members and 4 of our students were invited to attend the screening of the documentary film "I Learn America" followed by panel discussions at the Department of Education in Washington, DC. The film was made at one of our sister INPS schools, the International High School at Lafayette in Brooklyn, New York City. We loved the film which traced a year in the life of five recently arrived immigrants from different countries adapting to their new language, new culture, new school, and in many cases, new family. It was so uplifting to see how the INPS model supports these students who share so much in common with our students and who contribute so much to our communities.

Learn more about the film at their website: http://ilearnamerica.com

The pictures below show our students on stage with other international students that were invited to the screening from around the country. Also, Silvia and Wilfredo posed for pictures with Sandra, one of the students featured in the film.

On November 12 and 13, 90 of our IA juniors participated in our first annual internship fair. Students interviewed with representatives from 28 local businesses and organizations like the Alexandria Police Department, Hudson Studio, Northern VA Area Health and Education Center, Language Stars, and Hermitage of Northern Virginia to vie for the opportunity to intern with them for four months starting in January. Students spent time in their internship preparation classes creating their first resumes and cover letters and preparing to participate in their first professional interviews with confidence. Some students were so impressive that they were offered the positions on the spot during their interviews! Great job, students!

Many thanks to internship team of the IA, especially our internship chair, Jovita Gill, for organizing this great event. These are the types of experiences that our students will remember most after they graduate from high school and college and begin their careers. This internship fair would not have been possible without the further support of over a dozen other IA teachers who gave up their time to hold mock interviews with students, greet recruiters before the fair, and contact potential internship placement sites. Thank you for your efforts and congratulations on your success!

This is the first year we are offering physics to our students in the International Academy, and physics teacher Leigh Arscott is implementing some exciting new strategies in the classroom to engage all learners in constructing their own knowledge of both the underlying concepts and the mathematical applications of physics. Ms. Arscott is participating in the Content Teaching Academy hosted by James Madison University along with four other science teachers from TC Williams to learn about this research-backed set of best practices. The best thing of all? Modeling instruction is absolutely great for English language learners! Students collaboratively develop an understanding of concepts before assigning vocabulary terms to describe them - a completely natural way to learn the language of science. For more information about physics modeling, check out the American Modeling Teachers Association website and the Content Teaching Academy.

Here you can see some class of 2016 juniors creating their white boards prior to a class presentation and discussion. In every physics unit, students collect and graph experimental data then present their findings to the class via a "white-board-meeting". Socratic questioning and sometimes heated debate lead the class to a final conclusion and physics model describing a law of nature. How scientastic!

We now have 36 teachers in the International Academy - up from 14 our first year. It is incredible how fast we are growing, and yet how well we are doing it. Every teacher that joins the International Academy enjoys working collaboratively with our team and shares great knowledge and experience with us. Our students are so fortunate to work with such genuine, hard-working, caring adults.

In June of 2014, our freshmen and sophomores gave their portfolio presentations to a panel of judges including teachers and community volunteers. These portfolio projects give our students the opportunity to build 21st century skills of presenting information as a professional while also showing their growth in both academic content and English language from year to year. The freshmen present in groups of 3 or 4 students whereas all sophomores present individually. Next Spring, our juniors will present individually to share all that they've learned in their off-campus internship experiences.

One of our favorite things about portfolio is the professional dress that all of our students wear on the day of their presentations. Check out the photos below to see our future successful professionals!

You are invited to...
The International Academy Network Celebration and Awards Ceremony

WHEN? June 12 from 6:00-8:00pm
WHERE? TC Williams High School Cafeteria
WHY? To celebrate our success and to have fun!

If you wish, bring traditional food from your country to share. Also, bring the recipe for our cookbook!

Congratulations to Bezawit Mekonnen for winning the first annual Achieving the Dream Scholarship, a special award available only to amazing International Academy students. 

You can read all about it in the news article featured on alexandrianews.org. You can also see more information about the scholarship by clicking under the "Community" tab above. 

You'll also notice that we had a lot of fun at the scholarship fundraiser at Los Tios Restaurant and Grill on Wednesday, May 14. See more photos from this fun fundraiser on our facebook page. 

Community Stewardship Day on April 25, 2014, was a huge success all around. About 370 students and 26 chaperones attended this city-wide event to12 locations around the City of Alexandria. Expert volunteers from the National Park Service, Alexandria Seaport Foundation, the Department of Recreation, Parks, & Cultural Activities, Friends of Dyke Marsh, INOVA Hospital and more guided our students through a variety of activities in different parks around Alexandria. It is not an exaggeration at all to say that everyone had a great time. Every single student, chaperone, and volunteer was all smiles at the end of the trip and everyone was eager to share what they learned and how proud they were of the hard work they completed. 

With so many different stories to share, we have created a whole separate website to share our experiences, research, and photos with you. Though it is still a work in progress at this moment, it should be complete in the next week or so as students finish submitting their work. This website is almost entirely authored by the students of the International Academy - the true champions of the day. So check it out now at iastewardship.weebly.com!

Here is just a small sampling of our favorite photographs:

It was inevitable that we would become famous, don't you agree? We had a very successful Community Stewardship Day on April 25, and some photos from the day have been printed in our local paper, the Gazette, and are featured online at the link below:

http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2014/may/08/learning-about-nature-community-stewardship-day/

Our trip was also highlighted on the Alexandria City Public School's website "good news" section here:

http://www.acps.k12.va.us/news/good-news/gn2014050202.php

In the next two weeks, you can look forward to a link to the new student-generated website featuring many more photos, stories, research paragraphs, and quotes by our very own International Academy students, soon. Stay tuned!