March 29, 2024

Lewis graduates from unique online-based school

Iowa Connections Academy part of national school

When Eli Lewis first enrolled at Iowa Connections Academy, he immediately found it helpful to get online support from his teachers. After becoming one of the 55 students of IACA who graduated in a May 21 ceremony, Lewis again expressed gratitude to his instructors for their help, and to his parents for supporting his efforts in a relatively new online school concept.

Lewis’s IACA Class of 2016, which met at a hotel in West Des Moines for graduation, is run by the CAM (Cumberland-Anita-Massena) School District, located near Atlantic. The online-based instruction allows students such as Lewis, whose family lives in Newton, to learn from home, traveling periodically to the CAM administration building in Anita for meetings or events, or to attend field trips.

“I think a school like this is for just about anybody who is willing to work hard,” Lewis said. “They want to cater to students’ changing needs. For example, if I were to uncharacteristically drop some easy questions, I’d get a phone call, asking what’s going on. The teachers taking pride in doing their jobs well, and their jobs at this school mean taking a lot of time to help each student.”

The Newton Daily News featured Lewis in a January 2013 story, when he said getting past roadblocks in a lesson was one of the biggest positive elements of IACA; he added in a recent interview that being able to be completely honest with an instructor is another attribute of an online school.

“Because the conversations are just between my parents, the instructors and I, and not a whole classroom, students can relax and be 100 percent truthful about exactly what they’re struggling with,” he said.

Lewis is headed to Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan., where he hasn’t decided on a major, but it will most likely be in a liberal arts field. Most of the IACA Class of 2016 has already been accepted at a college, according to a news release, and one of the graduates who spoke at graduation earned a full ride scholarship for academics from University of Northern Iowa. Another graduate is headed to the University of Washington.

IACA is a tuition-free public school serving students in grades K-12 across Iowa. The Class of 2016 spans the state, with graduates from Dubuque, Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Melbourne, Council Bluffs and Davenport. The graduates have earned more than $150,000 in scholarships so far.

Lewis’ class includes the first full set of 32 four-year seniors for IACA, which opened in 2012. It currently serves more than 430 students, with its major selling points being flexible individualized learning and unique electives and advanced-placement courses. The district receives funding from the state based on its enrollment, and is accountable to the Iowa Department of Education and federal standards.

Enrolled students are part of the CAM School District, able to participate in activities there. While this prevents participation in high school sports, it does allow students to sometimes graduate a year early, and to earn widely recognized accolades, such as membership in the National Honor Society.

Lewis took some tests locally, with Newton Public Library staff helping proctor his exams.

Jean Lewis, Eli’s mother, began homeschooling her children in 1995. Eli, her youngest child, has never attended regular school. She said while the socialization environment of a local school is very appealing, there are tradeoffs that must be made to focus on academic goals, and she praised IACA’s social activities.

“Eli has made some good friends,” Jean Lewis said. “And the face-to-face meetings with each instructor that happen in Anita from time to time helped out, too.”

Jean Lewis said the academy is not for students who are struggling in a traditional school environment; it’s for motivated students who want to aggressively move through their coursework.

“Some don’t realize how much work is involved,” she said. “You have to deliver. That taught him responsibility, and he knows what he learned in his courses, that’s his knowledge he owns now. This is his accomplishment.”

The school's website can be found at bit.ly/1VosWQd

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com