American International School of Vienna

Infobox Private School
name = American International School Vienna


motto = "Our Mission is to provide a culture of educational excellence, a nurturing environment, and an atmosphere of open communication. We aim to prepare a diverse student body for higher education; to inspire our youth to realize their potential; to foster life-long learning, tolerance, personal integrity, and democratic values; and to prepare our students to become responsible adults, with respect for different cultures and beliefs."
established = 1959
type = Private
head_name = Director
head = Ellen Deitsch Stern
city = Vienna
state =
country = Austria
campus = Suburban
enrollment = 730
faculty =
class =
ratio =
year =
SAT =
athletics = 9 sports, 25 Teams
colors = Green/Black
mascot = Knight
conference = ISST & SCIS
homepage = [http://www.ais.at www.ais.at]

The American International School Vienna is a for-profit school international school made up structurally of the parents of each student at the school, and located in Vienna, Austria. The school operates, in part, under the sponsorship of the United States Ambassador to Austria and awards the American Diploma, which all graduates receive. In addition, students can also earn an International Baccalaureate Diploma and/or an Austrian Matura by fulfilling extra requirements. AIS Vienna has an enrollment of approximately 730 students, from pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade. The school was founded in 1959 by the American and Canadian Embassies in Vienna, with the United States Government allocating $468,000 the following year. At the time there were 247 pupils. [cite news |author=Staff Reports |title=U.S. aids school in Vienna |work=The New York Times |page=120 |date=1960-05-01 |accessdate=2007-02-11]

Graduation requirements and courses

Full-year courses at AIS Vienna earn one credit each, while semester courses earn half of a credit. A high school student must earn 24 credits to graduate. The following subject areas were being offered as of the 2005-2006 school year, most in various levels, including IB and AP.

*English
**General English Classes
**English as a Second Language

*Languages
**German
**French
**Spanish

*Social Studies
**Western Civilization
**Modern World Problems
**Early Modern European History
**United States History
**Austrian Studies
**Economics
**Model United Nations
**Psychology

*Arts
**Visual Arts
**Theater Arts
**Fine Arts
**Concert Choir
**Concert Band

*Mathematics
**Algebra
**Geometry
**Statistics
**Pre-Calculus
**Calculus/IB Mathematics

*Sciences
**Biology
**Chemistry
**Environmental Science or Geoscience (alternating years)
**Physics

*Electives
**Computing and Computer Science
**Yearbook
**Theory of Knowledge
*Physical Education

A full documentation of requirements and courses offered can be found [http://www.ais.at/hs/programs/HS_course_desc.pdf here] .

Campus

The school is essentially a cluster of buildings that are interconnected. This is due to several expansions, and the fact that the grounds are very uneven. The original building is a historic residence known as the “Villa.” It contains the middle and high school’s art, music, English as a Second Language, and foreign language programs. Nearly all of this building’s rooms have been renovated to look similar to the school’s other classrooms.

The high school building and the middle school building contain many of these divisions’ classrooms. While their hallways are narrow and their classrooms are small, this does not cause too much of a problem as the classes are small and the school only has a total enrollment of around eight hundred.

The middle level of the high school building connects to the secondary library and the lower gym. Here a stairwell connects to a common area, which is used by all grade levels. The health office, cafeteria, and a student lounge (traditionally “belonging” to the senior class) are located here. A hallway connects to another set of stairs, which leads to the upper gym, and another stairwell, which leads back down again to locker rooms and an activity room. The common area also connects to the elementary school, which is located on another two levels above it.

Finally, between the Villa and the high school sits a modern science building that was opened in the fall of 2000. Its top floor was extended onto the roof of the high school building in 2004, giving the high school a third level, which has larger classrooms with modern teaching equipment. All in all the school has eleven different levels, yet because of the complex connecting patterns of the different buildings and the hillside, the individual buildings only have two or three floors. In addition, three additional structures, a large sports dome and two small huts are freestanding on the school grounds. A twelve-bus parking lot, two faculty lots, a playground, short track, and a soccer field with an adjacent basketball field fill up the rest of the fenced-in property.

Public transportation

The school is a short walk from the Salmannsdorf terminus of the Wiener Linien's 35A bus, which provides connections to the Vienna U-Bahn and Vienna S-Bahn. There is also low-frequency bus service to the Hütteldorf railway station, line 35B.

Notable alumni

*Tamara Griesser Pečar, Slovenian historian
*Thomas Stemberg, Founder and Former CEO Staples, Inc., Venture Partner with Highland Capital Partners

Additional facts

* *NSYNC's music video for their song "Here We Go" was filmed in the Upper Gym of AIS Vienna.
* The campus lies in two districts of Vienna. The buildings lie in the 19th district of Vienna, Döbling, while the sports field is on the territory of the 17th district, Hernals. Approximately forty meters from the campus's southeastern corner is the border of the 18th district, Währing.
* Canadian singer/songwriter Bryan Adams attended AIS Vienna while his father, a military diplomat, was stationed in Vienna in the mid 1960s.
* In the morning hours of September 20, 1995, a group calling itself the "Cell for Internationalism" threw a molotov cocktail into the high school building. The fire was discovered by the head of the kitchen staff in time to be contained before causing major damage. The group was protesting NATO involvement in Bosnia and Herzegovina. [cite web | title=Cell for Internationalism attacked Educational Institutions target (Sept. 20, 1995, Austria) | work=MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base | url=http://www.tkb.org/Incident.jsp?incID=7856 | accessmonthday=26 April | accessyear=2006] [cite news |author=Staff Reports |url=http://diepresse.at/Artikel.aspx?channel=&ressort=NV%20%20&id=122732&archiv=true |title=Ungeklärter Anschlag auf American School |publisher=Die Presse |date=1995-09-23 |accessdate=2006-04-23 |language=German]
* In 1987 Clayton Lonetree turned himself in to American authorities, revealing himself to be a spy for the Soviet Union. His admission came days after he gave a speech to the students of AIS on what it meant to be a Native American. [" [http://www.dss.mil/training/espionage/1986-87.htm Espionage Cases 1986-1987] ", Defense Personnel Security Research Center] In 2010 an new theatre is planned to be opened

References

*
*Endnotes

External links

* [http://www.ais.at Official School Site]
* [http://aisvienna.com AIS Vienna Alumni Site]
* [http://ais2002.com AIS Vienna Class of 2002]