| First and foremost, the annual Academy Fund allows the school to stay true to its mission.
Successful students -- achieving their goals in school and in life -- are at the center of Staten Island Academy, and they always have been. Fund dollars allow the Academy to recruit the best students, hire the best faculty, and continue building on the historic facilities that house our program.
#1 Controlling Tuition
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The Academy Fund offsets the exponential increase in the cost of independent school education and keeps tuition increases at an absolute minimum, ensuring that parents can continue to send their children here with the reasonable expectation that tuition will not increase dramatically. Academy Fund giving makes it possible for our middle class families to afford to attend the Academy and opens our doors to families who do not have the financial resources to educate the Island and the City’s most promising students.
#2 Faculty Salaries and Benefits
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Salaries and benefits for our incredible faculty and staff amount to over $6.85 million each year. Teachers come from all over the city to teach here every day, and some have moved to the New York area from as far as Portland and Arizona to become Academy faculty members. These inspiring people are the reason our school is the wonderful place it is. They serve as teachers, mentors, and coaches to our students. Academy Fund dollars ensure that the school can continue to offer its teachers a middle-class lifestyle in the New York City area.
#3 Technology
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The Academy prides itself on being one of the most tech-savvy campuses in New York City. In addition to the resources of the Francis H. Powers Science and Technology Center, students have access to laptops, server space, Wi-Fi, SMART Boards, projection systems, and the latest Web 2.0 tools on our new website. Academy Fund dollars allow the school to replace laptop hardware on a three-year rotating schedule and make it possible for students to have access to the latest software applications.
#4 Athletics
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Go Tigers! We continue the school’s great legacy of athletic success every day at the Academy, and 2009 will mark the return of the Academy’s Alumni Athletic Hall of Fame. Our athletics programs and facilities remain premier, and our fields are as beautiful as ever. Academy Fund dollars contribute to the maintenance and quality of all athletic programs and ensure that all students in Pre-K through Grade 12 have access to physical education and team sports. We’re happy to note that when students participate in team sports, their uniforms, equipment, supplies, and travel are all included in the cost of tuition. The Academy Fund offsets these costs and allows these benefits to continue.
#5 The Gap
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As we all know, tuition and endowment income do not cover the cost of a Staten Island Academy education. The gap between income and cost for each student is over $6,000. Every school, college, and university has a similar gap, and each turn to the school community to fundraise. Every year, we work to expand non-tuition sources of income, such as our Summer Camp, Summer Institute for the Gifted, and space rentals. As we do so, we help the Academy to become less tuition-dependent so that there will be an adequate capital basis for unexpected needs and programmatic and capital improvements.
#6 Financial Aid and Student Scholarships
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As we recruit the best students, we must do so blind to their financial resources. Last year, the Academy was fortunate enough to offer over $1.8 million in financial aid and scholarship awards. More than 30% of the students at the Academy receive some level of need-based financial aid, and the school is committed to ensuring the vitality of this program. The William Winter Scholarships, which offer admission and scholarship assistance to students entering Grade 6 and Grade 9, are a cornerstone of our program, and Academy Fund dollars fuel these incredible awards.
#7 The Arts
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Student artwork can be found in almost every hall of the Academy, and our student-artists are excited each day to explore the fun and creativity of painting, drawing, ceramics, theatre, dance, music, and 2D and 3D visual and computer art. Over the course of the last fifteen years, our programs have distinguished the Academy as a leading school for the arts on Staten Island, and Academy Fund funds allow these programs to continue to evolve and blossom. With additional dollars, the Fine and Performing Arts Department has been able to expand programming, invite the general public to performances, and bring the production values of all works to levels that would amaze you.
#8 Campus Improvements
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Students and teachers alike share the community’s pride in the Academy campus. Students go to school indoors and outdoors, among trees and pools and patios, all thanks to tuition and Academy Fund dollars. Additional revenues from the Academy Fund allow the school administration to meet the increasing costs of maintaining this wonderful property.
#9 Diversity
Donate online specifically to Diversity Initiatives
In January 2006, The New York Times published an article about the gap between the richest and the poorest in New York City, citing that the wealthiest fifth makes 8.1 times more than the poorest fifth. The gap in our city is the widest in the nation, and it‘s ultimately making it harder for the middle class to survive. Staten Island Academy is proud to have a middle class, and we all want it to stay that way. Asking families to make generous contributions to the Annual Fund helps ensure that we can maintain socio-economic diversity on our campus. Such diversity teaches all of our students about the value of everyone’s contribution to a healthy society and prepares students for conversations and experiences about money, diversity, and economics in college.
#10 Endowment
It is always a goal for the Academy to expand its endowment. A larger endowment would drive down tuition, increase resources for campus building projects, and open the doors to an Academy education even wider. All funds above and beyond the annual operating budget go directly to the Academy endowment. We have not included a link to donate directly to the endowment, because it’s important to donate first to the Academy Fund, the overage of which will be sent to the school’s endowment.
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