A taste of the Inwood Academy's focus on community-focused leadership, character development, and college preparedness.
The days are getting longer, the coats are returning to the back of the closet, and all around NYC we can feel the joy of spring’s arrival. As educators, though, we admit we have mixed feelings as summer break approaches: while the time off is beneficial for some, lack of structure can be a real […]
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“I’m proud of the way our College & Career Success team and our teachers have supported each other to effectively serve our students.” – Hazel Pina, Alumni Success Manager Inwood Academy strives to open as many doors as possible for students during and after their time in our school, and we know that exposure to […]
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Inwood Academy strives to open as many doors as possible for students during and after their time in our school, setting holistic goals for student success that far exceed the norms in our community. In order to realize these goals, we need to begin orienting our students to their many options as young as possible. […]
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IAL Families celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with taste! September 15th to October 15th is National Hispanic Heritage Month! Last year, our team dedicated time to figure out creative ways to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month while students were remote learning. While we are now in person, we decided to kick it up a notch while still […]
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Student Orientation Week: An Overview It’s hard to believe that it’s been 30 days since our students started the academic year at Inwood Academy for Leadership Charter School. 30 days of in-school learning. 30 days of hearing the transition bells, seeing the hallways flood with students changing classes. This time, they are wearing masks, staying […]
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Celebration is so important to the culture of IAL. When we began the 2020-21 school year last fall, while the pain of sending off our 2020 graduates without in-person celebration was fresh and the future was uncertain, we made it a point to keep end-of-year celebrations a priority. Despite the many setbacks COVID-19 presented, we […]
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After tirelessly serving Inwood Academy students, families and staff for eleven years, Valerie Hoekstra will be passing off her role as Middle School Principal to Bianca Mercedes, a fellow founding member of IAL with a rich background in education and community leadership. We share this news with a bittersweet joy, appreciating all Mrs. Hoekstra has […]
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The extent to which we embody our mission of raising leaders who will advocate for themselves and others becomes especially clear when you look at our engagement with physical and developmental disabilities as a school. Ensuring equity for students and staff of all abilities is a longtime value of ours, as about one in four […]
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On April 19, we began our school-wide return to in-person learning, welcoming students into both buildings one grade level at a time in order to promote social distancing. Our goals for the spring in-person learning experience are to assess where students are at in order to plan for next year’s instruction, allow them to connect […]
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Our founding values create in us an unwavering commitment to protect the dignity of all human lives, promote justice and mutual respect, and advocate for those who are marginalized and vulnerable in our communities. We are committed not only to empowering our students as they fight injustice, but also ensuring equity internally through our leadership […]
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“Black History Month – which my 86-year old-grandmother celebrated as Black History Week – is something Black Americans have been fighting for for a very long time,” begins Middle School Drama teacher, Ms. Porter. “And that is simply for Black history to be considered American history.” It has been our mission as a school to […]
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“My mom and I moved from the Dominican Republic in 2013. I needed a lot of help with my English, and no other school had the right tools to help me learn and push me to where I am today. I earned awards that I never thought I would earn. I was pushed to succeed, […]
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“This school has not missed a beat. When you look at the year overall, we have some significant accomplishments. We gave Chromebooks to all of our students. We have an advisory program that now serves all grades. The staff has held countless virtual parent-teacher conferences, curriculum nights, professional development sessions – the list goes on. […]
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Though recent pandemic trends have brought more challenges and difficult decisions our way, this month has been full of gratefulness, generosity, and goodwill in our school – and we are confident there is more to come! In addition to dedicating our social media channels to reflections on gratitude, we have been working to put together […]
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While we have been hard at work ensuring the voices in our community will be heard on November 3rd, we are well aware that the work we do year-round has vast implications when it comes to advocacy, equity and justice. Here are a few ways we have been pursuing those goals this month. Each month, […]
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“I am so proud of our teachers for the tremendous amount of work they have put into planning and executing this very different school year, from leading Professional Development sessions to hosting one-on-one office hours with students. Thank you for dedicating your time and energy to make this the best remote experience possible.” -Christina Reyes, […]
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Jhoselyn Almonte is the mother of triplets and rising seniors Jassani, Jassiahs and Jayden Ruíz, who have all been students at Inwood Academy since fifth grade. Born and raised in the Inwood and Washington Heights neighborhood, Jhoselyn is a trained social worker who has worked for the Children’s Aid Society and New York Department […]
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We have been using our social media platforms to give shout outs to some of our families who continue to do incredible work in and for our community. When we started to list the many ways the family of Ryan and Raldy Reyes (5th and 8th grade) serve our community, it became much too long […]
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Coronavirus/ like a new dark energy/ which was always here./ It was tiny,/ not familiar,/ until it spread like a wildfire/ leaving only its dark energy behind…/ But a dot of light can overcome the darkness…/ that the joy of life outside is being realized…/ and the earth is healing itself. – excerpted from a […]
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Hear firsthand from one of our alumni about the ways he has overcome disappointments in his post-grad life and followed his own path to creativity, leadership, and lifelong learning. I have always respected the arts and the powerful impact they have on people emotionally and physically. It wasn’t until I found dance that I was […]
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“In our old high school building, there was an empty room we didn’t use, and I went in there one day with two kids and said, ‘what if we had a woodshop’? So I asked our principal at the time, and she was crazy, and she said yes.” -John Harrison, IAL teacher and founding member […]
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I’m grateful our school’s culture isn’t one that says, ‘I’m going to impose on you what I think you need,’ but it says, ‘We appreciate you and the amazing power that you have. If you have not tapped into that power, we can help you do that.’ – Tatiana Mahoney We love the community we […]
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can you print my resume? i’ll email it to you. i’m on my way. hey quick question. if i change my major, will the credits I’m taking right now go towards my major? Yo bro what building you at tomorrow? I need help with my LinkedIn. I’ve got some good news, I got the job! […]
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“There are a lot of equity issues in our community when it comes to school buildings. You can walk into a school in Lower Manhattan and be blown away by how beautiful it is, and then you walk into a school in Upper Manhattan and things are falling down, there are holes in the walls. […]
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“This isn’t about Broadway or the movies; this is life. This is us exploring ourselves, finding our voices, discussing relevant issues. This is cool.” -Rachel Bingman, High School Drama teacher Photo from IAL’s production of 12 Angry Jurors Student Ginelly Rodriguez accepted into competitive playwright program This month, Ginelly participated in the TDF […]
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