Honors piling up for Simon Youth Academy in Seattle

Our Simon Youth Academy at Northgate Mall in Seattle, Wash., is on a streak of success that one could argue is the academic equivalent of Linsanity, a term recently coined to describe the unprecedented success of the National Basketball Association’s newest superstar Jeremy Lin, a point guard for the New York Knicks.

The Academy’s streak started in late 2011 when Simon Youth Foundation named the school’s lead teacher, Beth Brunton, its National Teacher of the Year during the Foundation’s national teacher conference. The award included a $1,000 stipend for Brunton to spend on classroom enhancements.

 The latest accolades for the school, which operates in partnership between SYF and Seattle Public Schools, have come in the first few weeks of February, 2012.

 First, the Academy was included on the list of winners when the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and State Board of Education announced its 2011 Washington Achievement Awards on Feb. 7. Just 21 Seattle-area schools were named Achievement Award winners. The Academy at Northgate Mall was honored with Special Recognition for Improvement for student performance.

Read about the rest of the school’s recognitions at the SYF blog page.