About
Quick Facts
- We are a tuition FREE public high school.
- We offer the choice of a 4-day class week (Mon-Thurs) or very flexible class hours on weekdays and Fridays.
- Our teachers average more than 10 years of experience, with credentials equal to many elite, private schools.
- Our college prep program covers 4 years each of math, science, English and social studies.
- Students get ready for college and career, build habits of personal wellness, and network for success during 4 years in our unique Connections Center.
- We offer extensive tutoring and homework help at the end of each school day and on Fridays and weekends.
- Students get hands-on experience in real health care practice through student-run clinics, volunteering, part-time jobs, internships, and professional workshops.
- Students enjoy unlimited monthly metro transit passes.
- Classes will be held in a newly renovated school in a park-like setting in the Minneapolis “medical corridor.”
Mission & Vision
Mission
Augsburg Fairview Academy invites young adults from diverse communities to prepare for college, career, and life through an intense program of rigorous study and real-world connections to health care, education, and other human services.
Vision
Augsburg Fairview Academy supports, motivates and challenges high school students to achieve not only academic success but the habits of mind and body that will give them happiness, satisfaction, and wellness for the rest of their lives.
Culture
Augsburg Fairview Academy offers a teen-friendly (and family-friendly) atmosphere in which students are deeply respected and everyone is held to a high standard of personal honor. In order that they may grow in motivation and self-discipline, Academy students are treated like adults and given a great deal of trust and independence with the expectation that they will, in turn, conduct themselves as responsible and self-directed learners.
At the Academy, students find their place among people who care a great deal about them and their future. They encounter adults who are ready and willing to see the world from their perspective, and to use positive, strength-based approaches to help them if and when their troubled emotions lead to troubling behavior. At the Academy, we don’t resort to punishment when a student fails to be well-behaved, honest, curious and eager. Instead, we help “our kids” overcome their problem(s) by forging strong relationships grounded in the Circle of Courage and its four principles: belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity.
More than anything else, the Academy’s culture is characterized by caring and good citizenship. We don’t have a lot of rules and lists of what is not permitted. Instead, students, staff and faculty alike are expected to act in accordance with the Academy’s code of personal honor:
- Be caring, kind, and honest to myself and others, always.
- Do nothing that brings harm to myself or others, ever.
- Take responsibility for any harm I cause and heal it.
Ultimately, there isn’t much that isn’t covered by this set of simple rules.
Students find that Augsburg Fairview Academy is a good fit for them if they are looking to:
- Experience a college-like learning environment
- Explore health career and other caring vocations through mentoring with working professionals, receiving related training and certification, gaining work experience in professional settings, and earning early college credit while still in high school.
- Learn in a small class environment with guidance and support of caring teachers who will stay the course with them until they achieve their learning goals.
Two Paths to Learning: Many Choices
Integrated Studies Program (ISP)
- Extended class day, 4 days/week, Mon-Thurs
- College prep academics
- Coursework organized around “big topics” that meet the academic needs of future healthcare and other caring professionals
- Read more about ISP
Essential Studies Program (ESP) or Self-Directed Studies Program (SDS)
- Classroom-based on-line (Internet) courses with full teacher support
- Coursework individually designed to meet the needs of more independent students
- Very flexible class hours: day program, Mon-Thurs (SDS), evenings, Mon-Thurs, and Fridays (ESP)
- Read more about ESP and SDS
Our Story
In September 2004, the Minnesota Department of Education approved a new public charter high school focusing on medical issues and health care careers.
Augsburg Academy for Health Careers began with a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through the University of Minnesota’s Center for School Change at the Humphrey Institute, and with funds provided by the U.S. Department of Education. The school was sponsored by Augsburg College and co-sponsored by Fairview Health Services. In addition, the new school received support from Faith in the City, seven Lutheran-based organizations in the Twin Cities committed to working together and with others of good will to contribute to the well being of our cities and citizens.
The idea for the new school arose from Augsburg’s commitment to accessibility for traditionally underserved urban students and Fairview’s goal to give more youth a first-hand view of vocations in health care. Both sponsors felt that a program that prepares young people for post-secondary studies and a vocation in health care would greatly benefit the Twin Cities community.
The Academy opened in September 2005 and held its first year’s classes in Saint Paul. It shared a building with Great River School and served an enrolling class of 42.
In 2006-2007, the Academy relocated to downtown Minneapolis, closer to its sponsors and more accessible to the majority of the 72 students who enrolled that year.
In the following year, 2007-2008, the Academy’s enrollment grew to 85 students and the Academy, itself, broadened its mission slightly to add other caring professions, like social work and education, to its healthcare focus. In keeping with this evolution, the Academy changed its official name to the one it uses presently: Augsburg Fairview Academy.
In this same year, the Academy also expanded its commitment to programs and activities to connect its students to “real life.” This commitment extended not only to networking and readiness for college and career but also to deepening citizenship through community service and strengthening personal wellness through participation in the arts and community athletics.
Last year, 2008-2009, the Academy increased its enrollment, to 120, with the opening of the Essential Studies Program, designed to accommodate the needs of older, more independent students who may or may not be on track toward on-time graduation. In this same year, the Academy also formalized and expended its “Out-of-School Learning Opportunities”, or OSLO, program, which provided eligible students with financial support for extra-curricular coursework, drivers education, YMCA membership, and, even, the purchase of a personal laptop computer.
In the current year, 2009-10, after three years at its Hennepin Avenue location, the Academy settled into its permanent home at 2504 Columbus Avenue. The Academy is now holding all of its classes in a classic small school building that has been beautifully renovated over the summer. The new Academy is situated in a park-like setting in the middle of the Minneapolis “medical corridor” and offers expanded opportunities for our students to participate in health care service and college prep learning.
Audited Budget and Finance Awards
In 2009, Augsburg Fairview Academy won the Minnesota School Finance Award again for the 2008 fiscal year. This is the fourth year in a row that the Academy has won. Less than 5% of Minnesota school districts have won this award as consistently as the Academy.
The Academy’s audited Revenue and Expense Report for FY2009 is also available.
