In the days between Christmas 2012 and New Year’s 2013, Chris Lehmann declared, “We are starting a new campus.” A statement that did not surprise me as we had talked about it many times, but this declaration seemed more certain. I started poking around the statement with some questions, as I am known to do, when it became clear that he was 100% serious. One of my questions was, so we are shooting for a fall 2014 opening? To which he responded, no, we are opening in the fall, fall of 2013.  It was an ambitious plan and it would not have been possible without the immense support of the Science Leadership Academy community. The past 18 months have proven to be challenging, invigorating, exhausting and exciting. We will use this space to share the story of starting this second school and it all begins at the first school at the corner of 22nd and Arch in Center City Philadelphia.

Science Leadership Academy started in 2006 with a partnership between the School District of Philadelphia and The Franklin Institute. SLA spent eight years honing its craft as a school that focuses on inquiry-driven, project based learning in a 1:1 laptop environment.