chicagoglobalcitizens.org - News and Events

November 19, 2007 (Chicago, IL) – A new grammar school on Chicago’s southwest side that will focus on empowering children to become active world citizens will open its doors next fall. The Chicago Board of Education approved the proposal for the Academy for Global Citizenship www.chicagoglobalcitizens.org at a board meeting on October 24, 2007. Officials at the board meeting approved 17 other separate specialty schools that will open around the city in the next two years.

Sarah Elizabeth Ippel, founder and executive director of the Academy for Global Citizenship, and her team of more than a dozen qualified educators and professionals, were thrilled to hear that their proposal was selected by board members under Mayor Richard Daley’s Renaissance 2010 program. The new public school, to be located in a loft building at 5101 S. Keeler Ave. will be the only Chicago Public School to incorporate an environmental and international learning experience into its daily curriculum. Ippel and educators hope the unique learning environment teaches children about how their choices impact their community and the world. Students at the Academy will also benefit from small class sizes – no more than 22 students – in a neighborhood where most public schools are over populated.

The school’s director, Anne Gillespie, 29, will implement the International Baccalaureate program. Gillespie explains that the International Baccalaureate organization is a nonprofit group headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and partners with schools around the world to promote intercultural understanding. Gillespie said this program will teach learning through asking questions. “This will teach students to create meaning out of what they’re learning and connect it to their own lives,” said Gillespie.

The school’s curriculum will place special emphasis on cross-cultural communication. “We are going to be integrating extensive globally collaborative opportunities within the students’ daily curriculum,” said Ippel. “Children will literally be interacting with other children from around the world through written letters, the Internet and personal visits.”

Ippel, 26, who earned a master’s degree from Cambridge University, has firsthand experience with the benefits of becoming an active world citizen. She has traveled to more than 60 countries to study foreign education systems. Ippel will use her contacts abroad to create a communication network with students at her school. In addition, students at the Academy will be required to study one foreign language. Also, all students will participate in at least one international field trip before graduation.

“The world is connected now more than ever,” said Ippel, who also used her international training to work as an education consultant for five years. At the age of 23, Ippel put together an all-volunteer team to help win approval by the Board of Education for her new globally interactive school. After three years, the hard work paid off. Ippel estimates that the Academy will have 88 students occupying two classes of kindergarten and two classes of first grade in the fall of 2008. One grade level will be added each year. The school is expected to grow to almost 400 students by 2016, the year of the school’s first eighth-grade graduation. Only kindergarten and first-grade students will be admitted each year unless an opening in another grade becomes available.

Regarding the smaller classroom size, Gillespie said, “Teachers are better able to get to know students on a more personal and individual level with smaller class sizes. All students in the classroom will clearly have their individual needs and skills to work on. It’s the role of the teacher to meet the students’ individual needs.”

One agenda item Ippel plans to implement at the school is a gardening program called The Growing Connection. As current vice president of education on the governing board of the United Nations Association, Ippel is committed to fostering implementation of an organic gardening initiative that was designed to cross-culturally connect children and educators. Ippel said the school will have an organic garden adjacent to the building.

“The children will exchange information about plants with other students from around the world using pictures, stories and other methods of international communication,” she said. “Programs like this will give children meaningful exchange opportunities. Not only will these children be empowered to become active in their own community, they will also become active citizens of the United States and of the world.”

The Academy will also provide students with a healthy breakfast and lunch. “Children learn better when they eat healthy,” Ippel said. “Some schools don’t provide breakfast. But breakfast will be the first assignment of the day.”

While the Academy is an open enrollment school, families who reside near the school in the West Elsdon and Archer Heights neighborhoods of Chicago are encouraged to apply. Parents living anywhere in Chicago can find and fill out an application form on the Academy’s website in January to enroll their children. Those students will then be selected by a lottery because officials are expecting a high number of applicants.

Mirza Gonzalez, who lives in the vicinity of the new school, hopes to enroll her five-year old son into the first grade class next fall. Gonzalez said she likes the school’s curriculum and the small class size.

“I’m keeping my fingers crossed hoping that my son will get in,” said Gonzalez. “The curriculum will expose him to so much more than he would get at a regular school. I really like that within his daily work, he will incorporate other traditions and cultures. We really need a school like this in the neighborhood.”

About the Academy for Global Citizenship:
The Academy for Global Citizenship is a prospective International Baccalaureate school that offers a relevant, engaging, and challenging educational program for all children. Every child is held accountable for achieving rigorous academic expectations. The Academy’s inquiry-based learning curriculum provides an opportunity for students to construct meaning through concept-driven units of study. Students become environmentally and internationally minded by learning how their choices impact their community and ultimately the world. The Academy for Global Citizenship places an emphasis on the total growth of the developing child by encompassing social, physical and cultural needs in addition to academic development. As a community of learners, professionals, and families, teachers work collaboratively to ensure the learning environment supports high achievement.