Compass Academic Highlights

Class of 2021 - The Highlights

The Class of 2021 By the Numbers:

48 Graduates - AIM's 10th and Largest Class
3 Student Athletes Pursuing Collegiate Athletics
4 Graduates Attending Drexel University
134 Colleges & Universities Accepting Graduates
34 Schools Welcoming AIM's Class of 2021
5 Universities With Multiple AIM Students Attending in Class of 2025
2 Senior Speakers - Watch their Speeches Here

Camp Senior

Providing our senior students with an opportunity to gather together each day for learning and face-to-face interaction would not have been possible without adding classroom space at the Girls Scouts facility. "Camp Senior" as it was quickly dubbed was the site this winter and spring to snowball fights, authentic Italian pizza making, our collegiate athletes Signing Day, Prom, Senior Bonfire and LOTS of learning culminating in the students' Capstone Project presentations.

Senior Spotlight

Before he attends Syracuse University in the Fall of 2022, AIM senior Jared Wilen will have traveled the world. Earlier this year Jared was elected the 96th international president of Aleph Zadik Aleph (AZA) a youth-led Jewish fraternal organization for teens. In his role as president Jared, one of our two Senior Speakers at Commencement, will travel to different regional youth groups to promote the organization Read more about his work here.

Thanking AIM

The Class of 2021 parent volunteers, Sue and Tom McGrath, solicited 2021 parents to give in honor of their child's graduation to support and furnish the new Innovation Hub. A Class of 2021 Grandparent has offered to match up to $50,000 which includes all Class of 2021 gifts already made throughout the year. So far, the Class of 2021 has donated over $75,000...surpassing the match milestone.

You can enjoy a slideshow of commencement photos, check out our list of college acceptances and watch the Commencement ceremony video here.

"Oscars of Education" Award for AIM Pathways

In December, AIM Pathways received the Science of Learning Gold Award at the Reimagine Education conference. The platform was among more than 1,000 Reimagine Award submissions for this global event and was one of just 13 category gold award winners. Conference panelists shared this about the professional learning platform. A copy of our video submission for the conference can be viewed here.

"Literacy is the foundation upon which all subsequent academic attainment rests: there are perhaps few educational interventions more impactful than effectively reducing the reading gap. To do so, teachers need to be empowered by scalable, affordable solutions – but these solutions also need to be based upon rigorous learning theory. AIM Pathways' solution meets all of these criteria. We commend it, in particular, for the work that they have done to ensure that their digital platform is based on insights from leading neuroscience and literary researchers: in doing so, they offer a model that all digital learning platforms should follow."

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AIM - Going Global

AIM is working with former staffer Jamie Stratton, who is now working at a school in Kenya, to not only provide STEAM learning opportunities but also to provide teachers with education in the science of reading.

This winter, students in Middle School STEAM class worked through the design process starting with empathy to create an equitable project for Jamie's students in Kenya. The students designed, laser cut, personalized and painted box kits for each student in 8th grade so they could share in the same project as our AIM students. They also sent solar lanterns and solar oven kits.

This summer, Jamie will return to Africa with 15 new MacBook Air computers for the community which will not only allow for continued cultural exchanges between our students, but will also help in the education of their teachers. The AIM Institute will be providing pro-bono training in the Pathways to Proficient Reading course to all of the teachers this fall.

Read More about AIM - Going Global

Trek Bikes Design Team Outfit's Sam's Place

Last month the store design team from Trek Bikes spent the week at AIM bringing color and life to the interior of Sam's Place.

The construction of Sam's Place has been supported by generous donors to the Sam Ozer Fund, the Outride Fund - which provided AIM with a matching grant to support Sam's Place and Trek. Trek has generously donated their design expertise for this project and will be outfitting Sam's Place with needed equipment. (Sam worked at Trek of Manayunk before his death).

The visitors enjoyed lunch with Sam's parents Sid Ozer and Mindy Maslin, got to bike the area trails and created a space that will let future AIM students thrive as they learn bike tech skills as well as honor Sam's memory and love of tinkering. You can see more in the news story shared by 6ABC Action News during the team's visit.

We are also following the biking experience of another Sam's Place donor who is currently participating in the Trans Am Bike Race from Oregon to Washington, D.C. Philadelphia-area biker Mark Croker is donating all funds raised for his ride to Sam's Place and is chronicling his travels on Instagram @markecroker.

AIM Students Wins Drexel Entrepreneurship Award

In May, Jackson S. '22 competed among other area high school students in Drexel University's Close School of Entrepreneurship's Rising Starters business competition and placed 3rd winning $1,000.

Jackson, who worked on his presentation with entrepreneurship teacher Andrew Wakelee, presented his plans for a tag using NFC technology that can be mounted on historical monuments and sites that allows anyone with a smartphone to easily access information about the location. Jackson developed the tag idea as part of his Eagle Scout project and will use his award money to fund the rest of the project and his business Jcorp Tech. Jackson sees "potential in using NFC tags as wildlife identifiers. People don't often stop to read trail signs and this would make for a much faster and interactive approach."