West Sound Academy Establishes Scholarship Fund to Provide Access to IB Diploma Education

Jan. 17, 2011 - PRLog -- West Sound Academy (WSA) has announced the establishment of an IB Access Scholarship Fund.  This news follows an announcement earlier this month that the school received authorization from the International Baccalaureate Organization to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme.  The goal of the new scholarship fund is to make an IB Diploma education within reach of qualified, worthy students in the Kitsap County area, both those continuing, and those beginning, their studies at West Sound Academy.

Joe Kennedy, Head of School, in a January 10th letter to school families announcing the IB authorization, wrote that having the IB Diploma Programme would allow students to “earn significant recognition for their accomplishments…[including] increased college acceptance rates, advanced placement in colleges … and some colleges giving major scholarships based on IB performance in high school.”  Kennedy emphasized that the type of education that an IB Diploma offers is its most important benefit.  “It is one that doesn’t focus on rote learning.  It requires students to think critically: analyzing data, synthesizing ideas, evaluating material, and applying their learning in and out of the classroom.   The combination of that curriculum, our incredible teachers, and our local and international students working together is what a world-class twenty-first century school should look like.”

The fund was established with a seed gift from a family of a West Sound Academy graduate along with contributions from others in the school community.  A significant challenge grant has been received, so additional fund-raising is planned in order to allow for more students to be offered scholarship assistance.  Kennedy sees this as an opportunity to continue the tradition of West Sound Academy having “an extremely diverse student body.”  The IB Access Scholarship Fund, bolstered by the new challenge grant, “will allow us to continue offering scholarships to deserving students who already attend and recruit other local students who are seeking admission for next year.”

Media Contact:

Joseph Kennedy
West Sound Academy
16571 Creative Drive NE
Poulsbo, Washington  98370

Phone: 360-598-5954
Cell:  206-979-6524
Fax: 360-598-5494
Email:  jkennedy@westsoundacademy.org
Web site:  http://www.westsoundacademy.org/

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About West Sound Academy: an independent college preparatory school for grades six through twelve located on the Kitsap Peninsula in Poulsbo, Washington providing a rigorous academic and arts curriculum. West Sound Academy is an IB World School, offering the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme. Its first Diploma class will start in the fall of 2011.