2014-2015 ANNUAL REPORT WE ARE Collaborators WE ARE Teachers WE ARE Innovators WE ARE Students Innovative Teaching, Fearless Learning Dear AIM Family and Friends, What a wonderful year this has been at AIM Academy! As we enter our 10th year we are extremely proud of what has been accomplished and grateful to all of our donors whose important support is part of this annual report. You have played And on April 22, thanks to many generous supporters, AIM an essential role in AIM’s continued growth and success! broke ground on the new Community Center, a long time dream. As we write this letter the construction team is hard 2014-15 was a milestone year at AIM with community at work making this dream a reality for our students, faculty participation at an all time high - Thank You! Your generous and community! support has made a true difference for our students and faculty. Whether for arts and drama, athletics, faculty or We reflect on the words of Booker T. Washington who robotics and engineering, your thoughtful gifts close the stated, “If you can’t read, it’s going to be hard to realize critical gap between tuition and costs. We are deeply dreams.” That is a powerful statement for all of us at AIM appreciative of the many scholarship contributions that allow who support and teach literacy all day long. Our dream is more students to have the benefit of an AIM education. that all children can read and we are pleased that the AIM Integrated Literacy Model is now entering the second year in two School District of Philadelphia elementary schools. Thank you for your support to help more children reach their dreams! Best wishes, Pat Roberts Nancy Blair Executive Director Associate Director Your support enhances the AIM experience. Here are a few highlights of the year. Arts & Drama - Once again AIM students excelled on the stage Athletics - AIM students were excited to compete as members and behind the scenes in variety of performances. The Lower of the TCISL - Tri-County Independent School League and in their School Holiday Concert and Talent Show showcase the musical first year achieved important honors! The Girls Cross Country (XC) and performance talents of AIM’s youngest students. team won the League championship, a great accomplishment. Ciara ’16 and Corie’ 16 were named to the All Star League Girls The Middle School Drama Club staged Disney’s Jungle Book Basketball Team. The Golf team placed second in the League with Kids in the fall and the Upper School performed A Midsummer Casey ‘18, Jared ‘18 (who also earned second place individually), Night’s Dream in January, both excellent productions! Sam ‘17 and Tommy ‘16 all playing extremely well. The spring musical, Seussical was a smash success! Both AIM congratulates all of the team members for a successful Middle and Upper School students participated in this season. Everyone demonstrated commitment, growth and spectacular production with incredible costumes and a creative determination! Way to go Wolf Pack and great thanks to all of the set at the Arts Bank Theater at the University of the Arts. Kudos committed AIM coaches. to all of the students and Ms. Yoshida, Ms. Bolles and Ms. Seavey for their inspired leadership and guidance! Robotics & Engineering - What an incredible team! This new team that had never competed had an outstanding Rookie Season and a great performance at the FIRST – For 2 AIM Academy | 2014 - 2015 Annual Report Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology World Championship in St. Louis. In only their fourth competitive match in this inaugural season, AIM placed 17 out of 76 teams and was the TOP Rookie Team in its Division – a real accomplishment for Wolf Pack Robotics! AIM’s FRC team is a collaborative effort with students, faculty, staff, volunteers, families and community partners all working together for a common project and goal. Thanks to everyone are losing loved ones. David mourned a family friend’s loss but in the AIM community who has supported this team, with a instead of privately mourning the loss of this wonderful friend, he special recognition to coaches Rob Ervin and Rick Castorani has celebrated her life, learned new skills and is contributing to a and the team families. AIM Robotics is also proud to have large and diverse community in many meaningful and unforeseen the sponsorship of Vulcan Spring & Mfg. Co, Boeing, Oracle, ways. David was featured in several news outlets for this project. Lockheed Martin and Aspen Resource Group. AIM Academy is extremely proud of David and his great b.A.S.H. - The entire community came together for this contribution to the community! amazing day at AIM! Middle & Upper School Grandfriends Day was celebrated and then the entire school community was Clay ’21 was selected to attend AI Camp, an intensive invited to the b.A.S.H. 2015. The AIM ACADEMY b.A.S.H was aviation and aeronautics camp at Wright State University in a showcase of projects blending the Arts, STEAM and the Dayton, OH. He was featured in the Main Line Times for this Humanities. Guests experienced the amazing work that fosters experience. The program is a STEM Base curriculum with AIM students’ development into fearless learners. The b.A.S.H. science, engineering and math focused around aviation and exhibited creative and innovative work from all disciplines aeronautics. This program emphasizes scholarship, leadership, together in one exciting event. This school wide extravaganza citizenship and collaboration. featured the projects and initiatives of AIM students from the whole school year. All grades and all subjects were proudly Joshua ’22 is ranked 12th in the nation in Marbles. He exhibited in an innovative campus wide effort. competed again at the National Marbles Tournament, a 92 year tradition held in Wildwood, NJ. The “mibsters”(marble shooters) Congrats to Claire ‘18, Gabby ‘18 and Morgan ‘18 who compete for national honors, college scholarships and prizes. won first place in the high school Philadelphia Zoo Albert M. Josh and his fellow “mibsters” played more than 1,200 games Greenfield UNLESS Contest, a project-based partnership to over the four-day tournament. engage students in action to save wildlife. ISTE - Six AIM faculty members presented and exhibited at the The Philadelphia Zoo has partnered with more than 200 schools 2015 International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and over 10,000 students from the Delaware Valley region to global in June in Philadelphia. There were over 16,000 educators make positive change. As part of this year’s Albert M. Greenfield and 500 companies in attendance and 100 sessions at this UNLESS Contest, the Zoo asked students to rethink recycling. major educational technology event. Rick Castorani, Amy Holt Cline, Mike Dunn, Rob Ervin, Alli Gubanich and Chris Herman all The AIM students, working with faculty Susan Braccia and Shelly represented AIM. Johnston, created a children’s book called HOPE about a young polar bear cub. The students wrote and illustrated the book and Their presentations included: also designed and made games made of recycled materials • Learning Science through Building and Programming were entered into the contest. Circuit Boards • Makerspace: Informal Learning in a Formal Environment David ‘21 has created an extraordinary gift for the community • Delete Dyslexia: Technology Tools to Unlock Learning for and legacy of hope and joy through his incredible stained glass LD Students Bar Mitzvah project for Penn Hospice at Rittenhouse. • Merging Media and the Social Studies Classroom • Interactive E-Literature via Digital Annotation and David’s magnificent stained glass panels are featured in the Multimedia Storytelling Children’s Room at the Penn Hospice at Rittenhouse. This special room is where Penn professionals meet with children who (continued on page 4) AIM Academy | 2014 - 2015 Annual Report 3 (continued from page 3) AIM faculty and staff continue to be invited to present at global and Devon Sparks participated in this prestigious experience events and share their knowledge and research with others and thanks to the generosity of AIM donors Sally and Dick Brickman. bring back innovative ideas for classroom implementation. This program was an incredible learning experience with a P21 - Five AIM Faculty members were invited to present at the six-day session on location in Colonial Williamsburg and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) Summit in Washington, surrounding historic area. The AIM faculty studied with a Master DC on March 26 and 27. This prestigious global summit included Teacher engaging in an interdisciplinary approach to teaching high level policy discussions on the most pressing topics in 21st social studies focusing on American history. century learning. Lauren, Eilis, Caitlin and Devon had the unforgettable Susan Braccia, Amy Holt Cline, Mike Dunn, Alli Gubanich and opportunity to exchange ideas with historians, interact with Chris Herman presented Another Way: Doing it Differently at AIM character interpreters and experienced a rich immersion story that demonstrated a myriad of ways that AIM supports the 21st in Williamsburg. Throughout each day the AIM teachers worked century learner. AIM is proud to be selected as a P21 Exemplar collaboratively with Colonial Williamsburg staff and Master School by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21), the leading Teachers to examine interactive teaching techniques and develop organization advocating for 21st century learning for every student. instructional materials that bring history to life in the classroom. Williamsburg - AIM is delighted that four faculty members were These four AIM faculty members are eager to share their enhanced selected to participate in the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute knowledge with students in the fall and for years to come. this summer. Lauren Benjamin, Eilis McMahon, Caitlin Schlosser AIM Welcomes New Members to its Advisory Board of Globally Renowned Researchers The AIM Research Advisory Board was established to enable of Colorado.