OUR STORY

SINCE 2013. The Innovation Academy started organically. A high school teacher, who had been at Roosevelt for several years, was inspired by the service work students were constantly leading through their clubs on campus. So he began asking himself how he could offer a learning experience for his students that was authentic, engaging and gave them more ownership of their learning. 
 
Turns out, he wasn't the only one who had been questioning education. In fact, both the principal and superintendent at the time--along with a small group of parents and students--had been as well. 
 
In 2012, their questioning gradually connected all of them around a shared purpose: to create a project-based, interdisciplinary program for high school students at the American School of Lima, Peru. Months of collaboration helped refine the initial idea for the Innovation Academy, and the program was officially launched with 15 courageous students and families in August of 2013.
 
Now, more than seven years later, that initial cohort has helped set the stage for the hundreds of students who have joined the IA Family since. And we could not be more grateful for every student, teacher, family member and administrator along the way who has helped create the IA culture that we have today.