June 17, 2015                                                                              

Dear AMHS Faculty & Fellow Parents, Family, and Community Members,

THANK YOU (AGAIN!) for your support of the Academic Magnet Foundation! As we finish our 2nd year, we have so much to be thankful for - and great changes to welcome in the future. Thanks our many volunteers and supporters, we are building a strong Foundation for Academic Magnet High School. Below are highlights of our 2nd operating year, and a glimpse of positive changes to come:

Current Commitments:

The Foundation's first investments were unanimously agreed upon with the School Improvement Council (SIC) and Partners in Education (PIE), and made following specific direction and requests of Principal Judith Peterson. With your support, the Foundation has helped AMHS by making the following long-term funding commitments:

• College-level Chinese language courses.   In 2014/2015, the Foundation funded AMHS's addition of Chinese Level I. This coming year (2015/2016), the Foundation is funding Chinese Level I and Level II. (These are college-level courses, taught at the AMHS campus by a College of Charleston professor.)

• The Summer Scholars Institute - AMHS's four-day, academic- and team-building, freshman orientation. AMHS faculty designed this program to enhance the success of all new high school students. Summer Scholars began in 2014 as the Foundation's 1st investment and it is a cooperative effort with PIE. This year, Summer Scholars is 80% funded by corporate sponsors through the Foundation. It takes place July 13-16th!

• Professional Development for Adding AP Capstone and Other Workshops.  AMHS has filed with the College Board to add the "AP Capstone" program to its curriculum starting in the 2016/2017 year. This multi-year program of advance placement courses, AP Seminar and AP Research, would replace AMHS's Theory of Knowledge and Senior Thesis courses. Extensive training is required to teach this program. While AMHS will seek funding from CCSD, the Foundation has committed funding to help ensure this new program can succeed. At Principal Peterson's request, if Foundation funds for professional development remain available, we will also help pay for an annual, full-day workshop for the entire faculty.

Upcoming Improvements:

Your school's support groups are helping AMHS develop its Strategic Plan. An early outcome of this work is that one group - PIE - will focus solely on "internal" fundraising to continue helping AMHS fulfill its day-to-day needs. By contrast, the Foundation shall focus "externally" - developing support from corporations, non-profits and other entities and from alumni and others - to help AMHS continue fulfilling its academic mission.

In other words, it is now even easier for you to support AMHS. (You only need to write one check!) PIE is the primary fundraising entity within our parent community; and those funds will benefit AMHS through PIE and the Foundation. We are all on the same team. When you support PIE, you support the Foundation. While PIE and the Foundation help AMHS fulfill different needs - we all work together to support AMHS.

You have helped us help AMHS so much in just two short years! Thanks to you, AMHS has a stronger Foundation - and a simpler, more coordinated support group structure - to help ensure its future!

Sincerely,

The 2015-2016 ACADEMIC MAGNET FOUNDATION Board of Directors, including Doug Berger, Lisa Gehlken, Susan Leadem, Lara LeRoy, Jimmy Rawls, Hallie Seibels, Jennie Smith, Michael Soltys & Cliff Woods.

www.AcademicMagnetFoundation.org

5109-A West Enterprise Street, North Charleston, SC 29405