The Virginia Beach schools Office of Academy Programs is sponsoring its annual Academies and Advanced Academic Programs Night which is slated for Tuesday, October 30, 2007, to be held at the Virginia Beach Convention Center from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. The purpose of the event is to showcase the division’s high school Academy Programs and Advanced Academic Programs as well as its advanced placement programs. Current eighth-grade students and their parents are invited to attend.

Superintendent Dr. James G. Merrill will begin the program at 6:00 p.m. with brief remarks, and Kelly Hedrick, Director of the Office of Academy Programs, will introduce the academy and advanced academic program coordinators and give an overview of the evening’s events. A video about the programs will run continuously in the ballroom. Breakout sessions featuring each academy program and advanced academic program will be presented on the half hour, continuously until 9 p.m. Program coordinators, students, and teachers will be on hand to answer questions.

The academic programs and advanced academic programs to be featured include the Global Studies and World Languages Academy at Tallwood High School, Health Sciences Academy at Bayside High School, the International Baccalaureate Program at Princess Anne High School, the Legal Studies Academy at First Colonial High School, the Mathematics and Science Academy at Ocean Lakes High School, the Technology Academy at Landstown High School, and the Visual and Performing Arts Academy at Salem High School. Each academy/advanced academic program functions as a school-within-a-school, with a student body drawn from secondary schools across the city. Students must apply to an academy program or advanced academic program for admission and be accepted in order to attend. Each academy program and advanced academic program typically holds an open house in January for students and their parents to have the opportunity to see the facilities and learn more about the program in greater depth.

Academy program and advanced academic program applications will be available at middle and high school guidance departments as well as on the school division Web site. Completed applications are due to students’ guidance offices by Friday, February 1, 2008. For more information, please contact any middle or high school guidance office or the Office of Academy Programs at 757.263.1405.