Frederick Douglass Academy

Frederick Douglass Academy (also known as FDA), formerly known as IS 10, is a co-educational, public middle school and high school for grades 6-12 located in West Harlem. It is considered by many to be the best college preparatory school in Harlem as it offers programs such as SAT prep courses as well as internship opportunities. It is also one of the pioneer high schools in Harlem to make wearing a uniform in a public school mandatory.

History

Frederick Douglass Academy was created in 1991 by "Ms. Patricia Black, Manhattan Superintendent of High Schools, Dr. Bertram Brown, Community School District 5 Superintendent and Dr. Lorraine Monroe (former Deputy Chancellor of Instruction)." [http://schools.nycenet.edu/region10/fda/] It was created as a need to enforce better education in the inner-city area. More importantly, its mission is to have all its students graduate and matriculate. Regarding talk about increasing violence, current and former students say that it is not the school, but the ambiance outside of the school that contributes to the violence even though a student was shot in relation to school activities during that year. Views needing attribution|date=October 2007 The current principal is Dr. Gregory Hodge and it offers a wide variety of great staff and teachers.

Academics

Frederick Douglass Academy prides itself in its rigorous curriculum which aptly prepares students for college. It offers many Advanced Placement courses which offer the opportunity for students to receive college credit. Some of these AP courses offered are:
* Calculus AB
* Calculus BC
* Chemistry
* English Literature
* European History
* French Language
* Physics B
* Spanish Language
* U.S. History

Extracurricular Activities

Frederick Douglass Academy offers many extracurricular activities ranging from an anime interest club to robotics. As of 2006, it offers the following among many other activities:
* Anime club
* Chess club
* Building with Books club- This club (not created at FDA) that focuses on local community service simultaneously with building schools in third-world nations such as Nicaragua and Ghana. On average, two or three students go abroad to these countries to help build the schools from scratch with money raised locally.
* Robotics- FDA linked up with For Inspiration and Recognition of Technology (FIRST) robotics league. The inception of the school's chapter-- in 2005-- proved to be remarkable as the team finished in second place, displacing Stuyvesant High School and Bronx Science.
* School newspaper clubIn 2006 FDA students launched "The North Star" school newspaper named after Frederick Douglass' own newspaper. It addresses serious issues pertaining to the student body as well as advice on fashion complying with the uniform code.

Partnerships

Frederick Douglass Academy's partnerships are extensive as it encompasses many companies from HBO to the New York Times.
* HBOThe HBO mentoring program in FDA is an important asset to the school as it pairs high school students with HBO employees. In such manner, students gain insight to the professional world and receive advise such as how to write a resume or prepare for a college interview.
* GapThe Little Shop of Scholars is FDA's school store-- affiliated with Gap-- which has everything from school uniforms to holiday gifts. The merchandise are gifts from Gap. The monetary proceeds go to graduating seniors in the form of scholarships.
* Harlem Children SocietyThis program partners FDA with Harlem Children Society-- indirectly with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the renowned cancer research institution. FDA students part of the program are able to be paired up with research mentors and are placed in research labs. Students take part in research ranging from nutrition to neurology. This program gives students who have an interest in science and medicine a great hands-on experience. Students involved in the past have been able to assume important roles in the lab as they have done tasks ranging from performing perfusions on lab mice to DNA ligations.
* Columbia UniversityAs a college preparatory school, FDA spends a great deal of effort in providing SAT-prep courses catered mostly to juniors and seniors. With Columbia University, the school has a Let's Get Ready chapter. The program has been proven effective as it generally increases the students' SAT scores by placing the students in appropriate groups that target the students' specific problems, be it math or the verbal section.
* The New York TimesEvery year a senior is offered a scholarship for outstanding scholarly articles awarded by a New York Times affiliate. Thus, seniors are motivated each year to compile their most outstanding written pieces in hope of winning the prestigious scholarship.
* Sullivan & CromwellThis partnership is a very fundamental one given that the law-firm company is the main provider of Advanced Placement-course textbooks.
* Futures and OptionsThis nonprofit organization serves as an umbrella to several other programs in the school as it offers "paid semester internships at private sector and not-for-profit sites in the city." [http://schools.nycenet.edu/region10/fda/]

Varsity Sports

* Baseball (M)
* Basketball
* Fencing
* Handball (F)
* Indoor Track
* Lacrosse
* Outdoor Track
* Soccer (M)
* Softball (F)
* Tennis
* Volleyball

External links

* [http://www.fda1.org/ FDA homepage]