St. Johnsbury Academy
St. Johnsbury Academy is a private, coeducational college-preparatory day and boarding Grades 9-11 school. It has accreditation from the Vermont State Department of Education and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. It is also a member of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the Independent School Association of Northern New England (ISANNE), the Vermont Independent Schools Association (VISA), and even the College Board.
According to the US Department of Education, St. Johnsbury Academy is one of the country’s exemplary schools. It combines the modern resources, state-the-art facilities, and curriculum of the leading independent schools with the personal support and attention of the best boarding schools. That is why the school enrolls about 1,000 students, and almost 260 of them are international students from 25 countries.
State Overview
But before discussing the programs of St. Johnsbury Academy in more detail, it is worth learning more about its location. Vermont is a state in the northeast New England region of the US. It borders Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and the Canadian province of Quebec. Vermont is the sixth-smallest state in the area and the second least-populated in the country. Its total area is 24,923 km2, and its total population is 643,503 citizens.
The state’s capital is Montpelier, while its most populous city is Burlington. Vermont is one of three states, along with New Hampshire and Maine, where French is the second-most spoken language at home. It is largely due to the state’s proximity to Canadian Quebec.
Vermont is home to quaint towns, farms, forests, lakes, rivers, and mountains. The geography of the state is marked by the Green Mountains, which span north-south up the middle of the state, separating Lake Champlain and another valley terrain on the west from the Connecticut River valley. The most popular tourist destinations are Burke Mountain resort and Craftsbury Outdoor Center, which offer Alpine and Nordic skiing. The Kingdom Trails is among the best mountain biking trail networks in the US.
Location of the School
One of the most exceptional parts of St. Johnsbury Academy is its location. St. Johnsbury is the biggest town by population in the northeast of Vermont, with almost 8,000 residents, and has long served as a commercial center for the region. The town is often named one of the best and safest small towns to live in the US.
St. Johnsbury’s Academy Facilities
The beautiful 0.6 km2 campus of St. Johnsbury Academy provides exceptionally complete facilities for international students. It has over 30 buildings, including academic halls, administrative buildings, a health center, a library, a restaurant, and dormitories.
The dorms for international students at St. Johnsbury Academy range from late 1800s mansions to modern environmentally friendly houses. Each week, dorm parents organize family-style dinners and outings. Every weekend, students take part in a variety of activities, ranging from outdoor wilderness excursions to shopping in nearby cities.
The Fine Arts department of St. Johnsbury Academy offers a comprehensive range of extracurricular courses in addition to more than 30 courses in the visual and performing arts. The Charles Hosmer Morse Center for the Arts has facilities for dance, music, 220-seat theater, videography, photography, painting, drawing, and foundational arts, such as fashion design and Intaglio printmaking.
At St. Johnsbury Academy, athletics is also an important part of daily life. International students participate in at least one sport each year, and some of them are three-season athletes. Among the most popular sports are football, basketball, tennis, swimming, mountain biking, and skiing. By the way, St. Johnsbury Academy competes in both the NVAC (Northern Vermont Athletic Conference) East Leagues and the NVAC Mountain.
The school is proud of its Colwell Center for Global Understanding. The center sponsors international clubs, such as Spanish, Japanese, German, Mandarin, French, environmental cubs, The Humans Rights Alliance, and the Intaglio Society. Two of the Colwell Center’s most popular programs are the Speakers Series, which sponsors talks and presentations from international speakers, and the International Programs initiative, which sponsors trips abroad and exchanges for students of St. Johnsbury Academy.
Overview of the Programs
Now it is time to discuss the study programs of St. Johnsbury Academy in more detail. The school offers 220 courses, which include 31 Advanced Placement (AP) classes, 40 fine and performing arts classes, five languages, and 20 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) classes.
St. Johnsbury Academy collaborates with Southern New Hampshire University to allow international students to earn early college credits while in high school. The high school courses meet the same content, rigor, and learning outcomes as that of the university. The peculiarity of the school is its seven signature programs.
Completion of the AP Capstone Diploma signature program at St. Johnsbury Academy involves an AP Seminar course and an AP Research course. The second signature program is the Biomedical and Health Sciences Certificate, which combines coursework, clinical experience, and the independent research of international students.
The post-Calculus Mathematics signature program offers a strong base with Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, and Precalculus. Since St. Johnsbury Academy has a semester-based schedule, many international students move on to take classes in AP Statistics, AP Calculus, AP Computer Science, Multivariable Calculus, and Linear Algebra.
Pre-University Engineering and FIRST Robotics signature program at St. Johnsbury Academy aims to increase the number of students in the STEM disciplines. Courses include Robotics, Design, Engineering, Digital Electronics, and Game Design.
The Arts Intensive signature program at St. Johnsbury Academy allows art students to take either a wide range of classes for a broad artistic experience or to concentrate their study on one medium for three or four semesters for an in-depth experience. The program is available in both visual and performing arts courses.
The Field Semester signature program at St. Johnsbury Academy is a concentrated study in environmental and field-based science. Agricultural and forested areas within the school’s property network are used as working landscapes for academic projects such as farming, maple sugaring, forest management, and recreational trail development.
International students can also pursue the Technical Career Intensive signature program at St. Johnsbury Academy. This program allows interested students to explore deeply a single area of study. As they work through their chosen concentration, international students obtain impressive experience and credentials that transform into a competitive edge in future study or the pursuit of a career.
By the way, the Guidance department of Johnsbury Academy plays an active role in the course selection process and college counseling of international students. Thus, graduates of St. Johnsbury Academy are admitted to top-rated colleges in the US, such as the University of Vermont, Boston University, Boston College, New York University, and Southern New Hampshire University.
Admission Requirements
Once the study programs are overviewed, it is time to find out the admission requirements of St. Johnsbury Academy. Parents and international students who want to apply to the school need to complete the following application instructions.
- They should submit the inquiry form on the school’s website.
- Parents ought to complete the online application form and pay the one-time non-refundable fee of $100. The application includes the required essay, permission to release records, and recommendation forms from the Math teacher, English teacher, and school counselor. International students also must upload all required documents. The online application form needs to be completed thoroughly to help the admission team of St. Johnsbury Academy learns as much about the applicants as possible.
- Parents and international students should contact the admissions office and arrange a personal or online interview.
St. Johnsbury Academy accepts students on a rolling basis until full enrollment, and then the admission team establishes a waiting list.
Tuition Fees for International Students
Since St. Johnsbury Academy has day and boarding students, the tuition fees vary for each category. Boarding international students need to pay $64,500 per year. Day international students ought to pay $20,855 per year. There are also additional fees for those who need ESL (English as a Second Language) courses.
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