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...e? Well, we tell the teenagers that they are "special," and "smart," and "talented." We tell them over and over and over again just like parents do, we encourage them to experiment in a chosen field of specialty. This is a "feel good" tactic: we really believe it. Within the first four months, Academy students develop a sense of identity and belonging. They become a CIRCLE of special, smart, talented, self-assured, friends. There isn't anything negative in that. We applaud it and it is a Central Piece of our Academy life. We also tell them that their talents require them to develop high moral and ethical values. Their intelligence is only as good as it is used to help others both in the school and those outside the wall of the Academy The basis of our teaching method is that Students learn best by doing. Students will get long term projects and short term projects. Students will need to learn to budget their time and pick good team members to complete a project and demonstrate high performance results. As one 17 year old told me last week: "I want to graduate with a resume, not a report card." The Academie is a technologically saturated environments – The Academy of IISD campus has one of the most highly dense technological infrastructures of any school on the globe. What do we expect from the class of 2006? We expect you to be serious students who do serious work.Your curriculum is a rigorous academic preparation in core subjects, i.e., English, math, science, history, languages, and computers. Your Academy academic preparation is MIXED WITH the application of knowledge and information to real world projects. You will: · Do Rapid proto-typing engineering projects · Do Medical research – in school labs and in local hospitals · Build and operate a Cyberstore using e-commerce · Enhance and operate an Online student health clinic · Write and distribute an school-wide teen newspaper · Cook gourmet meals, manage a restaurant, and build a working steam engine. · Create artistic paintings and play your musical instruments with members of the philharmonic. Today, I am most pleased to announce that new members of the National Society of Black Engineers will represent the Academy. We were recently notified from the National Merit Scholarship Committee, that an astounding 58 of the 209 member junior class are eligible for eith...