Colorado Academy (CA) was founded in 1906 and is an independent K-12 college preparatory day school with an exceptional campus community.  CA challenges its students to become lifelong learners, thinkers, inquisitors, and contributors.  This is done through an innovative and rigorous curriculum, with a variety of artistic and athletic programs, opportunities for advanced work, student-organized service learning, and unique programs for learning beyond the classroom.   The high school consists of grades 9-12 and has 385 students.  Furthermore, 100% of CA’s graduates attend four-year colleges and universities.  It is important to explain about Colorado Academy as it is very similar to UAA in its philosophy and educational ethos.   That is why we have chosen to partner with CA.  Now we would like to explain the history of the exchange and why this program is unique for UAA students.

In February 2014, UAA hosted two Colorado Academy faculty members through a grant overseen by the American Turkish Society (ATS) and funded by SEV (Health and Education Foundation).   Founded in 1949, ATS is the oldest American institution dedicated to building bridges between the United States and Turkey in order to the achieve common goals of peace and prosperity.  The mission of the ATS is to bring together leaders from Turkey and the U.S. in government, business, and society with the intention to discuss and advance the relationship of the two countries.   

Through these exchange programs with US-based educational institutions, Turkish faculty and students are exposed to American culture and American educational practices and vice-versa.  A mutual understanding is nurtured and developed by students and faculty of both cultures and a favorable relationship between Turkey and the United States is promoted through strong professional and personal relationships.  After the successful February visit, UAA and CA agreed to have both a faculty exchange and a student exchange during the 2014-2015 school year.  The first step was to have four Turkish teachers from UAA visit CA for one week with a cultural orientation, school visit, and stay with CA faculty in homestay.  The second step is having the UAA student delegation visit CA in January 2015 and the final step in the program is for American students and teachers from CA to visit UAA for ten days in March 2015.    We are opening this opportunity for UAA students in grades nine and ten with the intention to select five to eight finalists to participate in a 13 day homestay program from Sunday, January 18th through Saturday, January 31st. 

This is a unique opportunity for our students to visit a prestigious private American high school and experience life at the school as a student.   There will also be multiple social trips for our students, from experience skiing in the Rocky Mountains to visiting university campuses in Colorado and see what a typical US university campus looks like, to visiting cultural attractions in Denver, Colorado the capital of Colorado.

We wish our students a successful and pleasant trip and we look forward to listening to their experiences upon their return.

Colorado Academy website:

http://www.coloradoacademy.org/page/Home