ASPIRA Inc. of Illinois
News Bulletin                                         September 18, 2009


ASPIRA Early College High School

ASPIRA Early College (AEC) teacher Kristine Kurpiewski's 9th Grade Introductory Science project was featured as one of six "Spotlight Projects" selected from submissions from teachers across the country. The project, "Product Comparison" engaged the students in a learning process that, according to Ms. Kurpiewski, "exceeded all my expectations." She went on to say that although the project took three weeks out of the semester to accomplish, that the time was well spent. "The students learned the scientific method. They know exactly what to do when conducting an experiment and they have a template in their notebooks. Now when they have to do an experiment they say, 'We know how to do this, we've done this before. We know how to write a hypothesis. We know how to design an experiment.'"  Click here for the full project write-up.

Among other AEC highlights for the new school year:
  • In September 2009, 18 juniors began taking transferable credit courses at Northeastern Illinois University.  Students are taking a course in either English, Communications, Psychology, Sociology or Physics.  All the juniors enrolled in NEIU courses have placed in College English 101 and College Math 99 (or better) on the NEIU entrance test.
  • In June 2009, 5 AEC teachers - Mr. Nicholas Aquino, Mr. Alec Brown, Ms. Bethany Groff, Ms. Alexa Sorock, Mr. Thur - and AEC Principal Karen Ekpenyong, participated in WestEd's week-long annual workshop "Reading Apprenticeship for Academic Literacy" in San Francisco.
  • Over the summer 25 AEC students participated in a five-week Prairie State Achievement Examination Preparation Course in Math and Reading.
  • AEC Welcomes Mr. Michael Milllikan, our new Athletic Director who will launch the AEC sports & fitness program.
  • AEC Welcomes new faculty - Mr. Brezhnev Batres, Mr. Matthew Butler, Ms. Svetlana Goncharoff, Ms. Vilmarie Gonzalez, Ms. Julie Klein, Ms. Joanna Lasek, Ms. Danielle Lonie, Ms. Josefina Ortiz, Ms. Erika Selig, and Ms. Milena Walkowiak.

ASPIRA Early College High School, located in the Avondale neighborhood is part of the ASPIRA Charter school district and it serves students from 9th through 11th grade. Our school is located at 3986 W. Barry Ave. Chicago, IL 60618. For more information and to learn more about our school, please call ASPIRA Early College High School at (773) 252-0970 ext. 639 or visit the school's main website at http://aec.aspirail.org.



ASPIRA-Early College School
3986 W. Barry Avenue
Chicago, IL 60618
Extension 639
773-252-0970 (Main)
773-739-2350 (Fax)

http://aec.aspirail.org
Office Hours:
8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. 
School Hours:
8:30 a.m.. to 3:30 p.m