Salt Lake City—As has become tradition for the past several years, City Academy once again hosted a special Thanksgiving feast for students and parents at the school on Nov. 21. Food for the feast was provided by many parents and students at the school.
According to City Academy Executive Director Sonia Woodbury, “For some of our families, this is the only Thanksgiving feast they will have. In addition, for some of our refugee students, this will be their first and possibly only exposure each year to this American holiday.”
Salt Lake City—City Academy charter school is restructuring its educational model for the 2020/2021 school year. According to the school’s executive director, Sonia Woodbury (who has a Ph.D. in education), the changes are being made as part of City Academy’s goal to help transform education for the 21st century.
City Academy, located at 555 E. 200 S. in Salt Lake City, is a tuition-free charter school serving students in grades 7 through 12. The school is now accepting applications for the 2020/2021 school year.
According to Woodbury, “I believe that our new school model does a lot more than just offer students a late starting time. For the past few years, I’ve been looking at examples of innovative approaches to public education, and have not found any good, comprehensive models. So, we really are developing a unique, 21st century model of public education. Next year, we’ll be uniting the best of in-person and online learning, personalized for each student.”
Woodbury said that City Academy will work with students to design a daily schedule that can allow for later start times based on their needs and preferences. “We’ll expand on our meaningful issues-based and technology-enhanced curriculum that includes investigations of learning topics, hands-on work in labs or with modeling, virtual and in-person field work that engages students in the real world, and interesting classroom discussion and debate to develop depth of understanding and knowledge. In addition, we’ll integrate in-person learning with online options, allowing students to work at their own pace while earning graduation credits anytime and anywhere.”
Woodbury added that students’ educational experiences will be strengthened by City Academy’s caring teachers, committed school mentors and a vibrant and safe school community.
City Academy’s new direction is the result of work done by school officials, teachers, students and parents.
City Academy was founded in 2000 by Woodbury and a group of University of Utah educators as one of Utah’s original charter schools. City Academy is the only school in Utah recognized as a Cambridge University Cambridge International Centre. As such, City Academy offers an advanced placement program that is recognized by all Ivy League colleges and universities, as well as local and international educational institutions. All City Academy graduates receive up to $4,000 in scholarships for four years of post-high school education. This post-high school education can include colleges and universities as well as trade schools and other alternative educational institutions.
May 2021. City Academy 7th graders had the opportunity to visit the Natural History Museum of Utah and learn more about prehistoric life, evolution, and adaptations. Students had a great time interacting with the exhibits and running simulations. They got to see examples of real fossils and visualizations of what life was like millions of years ago! We really appreciate the opportunity to learn provided by the museum.
March 2021. While we were still learning together remotely, City Academy history students virtually visited Andrew Jackson’s Home for an online learning experience. They got so engrossed in asking questions with the docent showing them around that they didn’t notice they were online much longer than was planned. Our school has learned that these types of virtual learning experiences to places that would be hard for us to visit in person will be worth continuing even after we resume school in-person. We are grateful for all the museums and historical sites that have created virtual field work experiences.
Salt Lake City—City Academy was KSTU Fox 13’s Cool School of the Week on March 11. The station’s morning personality, Big Budah, visited the school and interviewed City Academy students live throughout the morning.
Big Budah’s coverage included five live two-minute segments that began at 7:15 a.m. and one taped segment that aired at 9:45 a.m. The segments included demonstrations of virtual reality with Henry Berber, a demonstration of a mousetrap car for the upcoming Science Olympiad with Leo Martin and Aidan Wann, a guitar duet with Elena Lopez-Velez and Diavan Koruh-Coho, a demonstration of packing tape sculpture with Tristan Wann, and a gesture drawing demonstration with Nakaiya Wiley and Leo Le Bohec. The taped segment was a performance of the song, “Seize the Day” from the musical, “Newsies,” with Abigail Taylor, Nicole Crocker, Nora Genovese and Gabriel Hurd.
February 2021. Congratulations to our City Academy Cambridge staff and students! We are thrilled that the North American Regional team at Cambridge Assessment International, has recognized the spectacular performance of City Academy’s stellar students. They specifically honoured one of our Cambridge students for their exceptional scholarship, Samantha Pedersen. She earned a Merit Award for 3 grades of A’s or B’s on her A-level exam scores.
February 2021. City Academy senior Caranina White’s modern art piece, Sparrow’s Sacrifice, was selected for the Utah All-State High School Art competition at the Springville Museum of Art.
Salt Lake City—City Academy, the tuition-free public charter for grades 7 through 12, will host Art Night this coming Friday, Sept. 20 from 4:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. City Academy is located at 555 E. 200 S. in Salt Lake City.
Student art will be on display. In addition, City Academy art teachers, Jo Bradbury and Kayla Sudweeks will be holding an arts workshop to“Spray Paint on a T-shirt.” According to Bradbury, “All are welcome to spray paint a T-shirt using a professionally designed stencil. The stencil was created to celebrate our 20th anniversary and will look great on any fan of City Academy’s Art Department or of City Academy itself. T-shirts will be provided at $4 a piece or bring your own! You could also bring tote bags, hats or anything else you’d like to spray paint. Come join us to have fun and celebrate our 20th anniversary!”
Bradbury has been teaching art in public schools for 12 years. She was an art Sterling Scholar at Weber High School in Ogden. After high school, she was accepted into the University of Utah’s art program specializing in painting and drawing. She also received a scholarship to the University of Utah. Bradbury designed the dragon piece that currently adorns the retaining wall in front of City Academy.
Sudweeks is also a graduate of the University of Utah with a B.F.A. degree in art education and a minor in English literature. She currently teaches sculpture and 2D art classes at City Academy.
Art Night is the first of many events to be held on the 20th of each month throughout the school year as part of City Academy’s celebration of 20 years. City Academy was founded in 2000 by a group of University of Utah educators, including Dr. Sonia Woodbury, who serves as the school’s executive director.
Salt Lake City—City Academy 7th graders have been polling Utahns on the topic of “Renewables, Nuclear or Old King Coal: What’s the Best Way to Power Utah?” The charter school students will release their findings and discuss the ramifications of the poll on April 16 at 6:30 p.m. at City Academy (555 E. 200 S.).
City Academy is a public, tuition-free charter school fozr grades 7 through 12. The school is one of Utah’s original charter schools. It was founded by a group of University of Utah educators.
The public is welcome to attend the presentation. The school and the Utah Association of Public Charter Schools are also inviting state legislators and officials, as well as industry leaders to the discussion.
The polling project was assigned by social studies teacher Gareth Orr. Orr said, “The seventh graders continue in fine form as they explore the best way to meet Utah’s growing energy demands. This will be a great opportunity to share their work, ideas and arguments. They have a lot to say! I hope that you will come to see our seventh graders in action. What these students already get to do at City Academy in 7th grade is not typical of most middle schools or junior highs. Students here begin the ever- expanding process of investigating real-world issues, learning to think for themselves and knowledgeably defend their positions.”
Salt Lake City—City Academy 11th grade student, Sam Pedersen, won first place in the Dynamic Planet category of the Utah Science Olympiad held at the University of Utah on March 30. Sam won this award after spending the past five months learning about glaciers.
Science Olympiad is a national program for grades kindergarten through 12.
City Academy Executive Director Sonia Woodbury said, “Sam’s victory reinforces the fact that even though our school is small in size, our students excel in academics. In fact, I believe that City Academy’s small classes, personalized attention from teachers, and focus on getting students to really think rather than just memorize facts, really puts our students at an advantage as they prepare for college and after.”
According to the Science Olympiad website, “In grades 6-12, Science Olympiad functions much like a football or soccer team, requiring preparation, commitment, coaching and practice throughout the year. Each school-based team is allowed to bring 15 students who cross-train for a variety of events in their skill set, but some school clubs have more than 75 members, allowing for an apprentice and mentoring system.
“Science Olympiad competitions are like academic track meets, consisting of a series of 23 team events in each division (Division B is middle school; Division C is high school). Each year, a portion of the events are rotated to reflect the ever-changing nature of genetics, earth science, chemistry, anatomy, physics, geology, mechanical engineering and technology. By combining events from all disciplines, Science Olympiad encourages a wide cross-section of students to get involved. Emphasis is placed on active, hands-on group participation. Through Science Olympiad, students, teachers, parents, principals and business leaders bond together and work toward a shared goal.”
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