small class size – Sophia Academy

Largest Class Graduates with Gratitude

Graduations are always exciting. Graduating five seniors who have shown incredible growth and achievement in their years at Sophia is extra special. Seniors are moving on the college, trade school, and into jobs.

Our salutatorian had this to say on graduation day: “Sophia Academy helped us realize we have more potential that we had thought when we were younger.” He confessed that when the class came together in 9th grade, they had not always liked each other, but through the kindness of both teachers and other students, along with an encouragement to share vulnerabilities, this class formed a tight bond with each other. He also expressed gratitude on behalf of his fellow classmates for the patience of the faculty, the safe space that Sophia provided, the acceptance each student felt, and the educational help given to each.

Our valedictorian shared that for her, the “future is a collection of our hopes and dreams [that have been] slowly blossoming . . .the seed that we’ve planted throughout our time at Sophia.” She reminded her fellow classmates that no matter where each student goes, God has already gone before them and knows their future. She concluded by encouraging them all to keep planting, keep growing, and to embrace all there is to love and to fight for.

All the City Has to Offer

Sophia Academy loves to use the resources of our city to help students learn and prepare for the future. Here, junior and senior students visit a the Philadelphia Technical Training Institute where post-high school students learn one of seven trades such as building houses

And here the art students use watercolors to paint the Wissahickon Creek.

Whether we take trips to museums, check out geological features of local creeks, use the park behind the school for PE classes, or head to the Free Library’s central branch, Sophia students enjoy outside the classroom learning.

Community Changes Lives

Four years ago, four scared fourteen-year-olds arrived at Sophia Academy. They didn’t know each other and they didn’t trust each other. “Play nice,” their science teacher kept telling them. That first year, we had meltdowns and tears, anger and frustrations along with laughter and kindness, calm and encouragement. At some point the four became five and at another point five individuals became a cohesive, warm-hearted and tight-knit group of friends who supported each other, listened to each other, and cheered each other on academically. In their senior year, we found them discussing Physics together, teaching each other concepts. We saw them using skills learned in both Executive Function class and Social-Emotional Learning to navigate relationships. We heard them advocating for themselves when the content of a class made them uncomfortable, and then pushing through the discomfort to find meaning.

What made the difference? Honestly, a combination of warm-hearted teachers who believed that each student had great potential along with the student’s own growing maturity, prayers of family and faculty along with the students’ own perserverence have all played a part in changing struggling young teens into confident young adults.

The senior class of 2025 will be attending college, trade school, and entering the work force. We are so proud of who they have become and look forward to hearing of their successes in the future.

More Hands-on Opportunities

(JR intubating a “patient” prior to surgery)

The annual Minorities in Health Sciences Symposium, held at Esperanza College of Eastern University, provided students from Sophia Academy and numerous other high schools in Philadelphia with the opportunity to explore the many varied options in the health sciences field.

Morning speakers passed on great nuggets of information. What do our students remember?

–That when you feel a panic attack coming on, placing your right hand firmly over your chest will simulate the feeling of a hug. That four hugs a day are necessary for life, eight are necessary for growth, and a minimum of twelve hugs each day are necessary to thrive.

–That Jefferson Hospital and Esperanza College have a PACE program which gives students full-time jobs at Jefferson while they take pre-nursing or pre-med courses at Esperanza. And that Jefferson provides scholarships for tuition in addition to the jobs. Win-win.

–That there are many ways to the future and everyone can take the path that works best for them.

The afternoon sessions were completely hands-on as students could choose between dissection, virtual reality, healthy cooking, extracting DNA and much more. Our students compared healthy and diseased retinas under microscopes, used VR to rescue victims of a car crash, handled real human brains with the eyes still attached, and practiced forcing the brain and eye to work together while looking in a mirror to draw a star. Now, that was hard!

Welcoming New Teachers

For a school dedicated to awakening genius through creative discovery, it is important to find teachers who have caught the vision and love being pushed to be their best. Our new teachers this year fit the bill. Let us introduce Ms. Melody Heath (Temple U), new teacher of science and math, Mr. Aaron Vander-Collins (Liberty U, Rutgers), our new teacher of music.], and Mr. Jabarr Graves (Chatham U) new teacher of art.

Field Trips to Finish Well

Sophia Academy’s school year is hurtling to a close. As we continue to delve into history and science, math and literature, we also take time to learn outside the classroom. This spring, our field trips included an art-based trip to the Schuylkill River and its hiking trails, a science trip to Eastern University’s planetarium and observatory, and a hands-on trip to a New Jersey egg farm where we helped care for animals and made home-made pizza.

Looking for material for a natural sculpture a la Andy Goldsworthy

Learning to control the telescope from the computer

J-Term a Hotbed of Activity

Creating shields and crowns, trees, and costumes

J-Term 2022 at Sophia Academy focused on writing, producing, and acting in plays and videos. After studying myths and legends of the world, one class turned a classroom into a car repair and body shop as they brought the legend of John Henry to life. The other class started from scratch, writing their own script, then creating the props, costumes, and set, and finally producing a play for invited guests. Real-world skills learned ranged from sewing to video-editing.

Standing up for the little guy

Now Enrolling

Sophia Academy@ICHS, an arts-based high school for students with language-based learning differences is now enrolling for the 2017-2018 school year. Students entering grades 9-11 are encouraged to apply.

A hands-on, multi-sensory curricula that weaves visual and performing arts into standard subjects helps students with dyslexia and dyscalculia learn well. Contact us via this website or by calling 267-577-8020.