“We’re working with our students and staff to make this a truly memorable event,” reports Jim Milligan, who has been the Head of School for the past two years.

The Academy opened in September, 2003, with five students in Grade 9 as an independent high school for students with learning differences. It offers an innovative, Ministry of Education approved, fulltime secondary school program.

The school now offers grades nine through twelve and of the seven students who will graduate this June, two have been with the school since its inception.

Forty-two students are currently enrolled at the Academy and the school is hoping for sixty next fall. A team of twelve staff work with the students to provide an individualized approach to learning.

The Academy features small classes, a wireless computerized environment and an extensive Co-op Education program to help students with a wide range of exceptionalities succeed.  Students choose from practical “streams” such as early childhood education, parenting, tourism, hospitality, technology and media.

“We were receiving feedback from employers that the high-school graduates they were hiring could not read and could not do basic math,” recalls Moira MacDougall, who is now Chair of the Teen and Young Adult Task Force. “The education they were receiving was not preparing them well for the workplace. We asked ourselves, is there something we can do?”

The Academy was created to work with youth whose needs were not being met in traditional academic environments.  Focus groups reported that increasing numbers of youth were not graduating at all. Students with learning differences were identified as being at higher risk for “early leaving” from high-school.

“Not to finish high school in this day and age puts youth at risk,” says Laura Palmer-Korn, Senior Vice-President, Employment & Community. “The unemployment rates for youth who do not finish high school are double those for high-school graduates. There is also a strong link between leaving high school early and engaging in behaviours that jeopardize their health.”

As the YMCA of Greater Toronto continues to fulfill its Strategic Plan to connect with youth in new ways, the Academy represents an important step forward—enabling more students to stay in school, proceed to graduation and continue to succeed in post-secondary education or the workplace.

Graduation and end-of-year celebrations will take place June 27, 2007 at the Metro Central YMCA. It promises to be a night to remember for seven proud students and their families, the staff of the YMCA Academy and an Association striving to make the grade for Toronto’s youth.

The Academy is considering applications for summer school this July as well as the new academic year starting in September 2007. For information contact Tracey Addison, Director of Admissions, (416) 928-0124 # 4146.