O.A. Thorp Scholastic Academy

O.A. Thorp Scholastic Academy is a public Magnet school for gifted elementary students in Chicago, Illinois, located in one of the Community areas of Chicago known as Irving Park, Chicago. The school colors are blue and gold. The school mascot is an eagle. Its current structure is an historical Greek Revival building which was constructed in 1918. The school is named after a prominent Norwegian American business man and Chicago Board of Education member. Kathleen Bandolik is the acting principal.

O.A. Thorp

Born in the 1870's in Eidsberg, Norway, Thorp was the most successful Norwegian American business man of his day. He had a large import and export business in Chicago. Thorp was the first wholesaler in 1892 to attempt to transport goods directly from Europe to Chicago by having his steamship Henrik Wegeland bring a load of herring from Bergen, Norway. Thorp was a cultured man whose business success allowed him to support The arts and education. He later sat on the Chicago Board of Education.

Rankings and Statistics

O.A. Thorp Scholastic Academy has been a "School of Distinction" for the past three years. It has 820 students from K-8 grades and 44 teachers. 47% of the students are male and 53% of the students are female. On a 5-star scale, many parents rate the school as a perfect 5, and the school is officially ranked as a 4 with objective scoring. The academy received high scores in principal leadership, teacher quality, parental involvement, and safety & discipline.

Special Programs and Accomplishments

Thorp Academy has a complete educational program in the areas of art, athletics, and academics, beginning with kindergarten. It also has well developed non-academics clubs- such as its top-ranked chess club. Exceptional students demonstrating great ability early on may later be re-placed into the academy's Gifted Kindergarten Program- a program with a more advanced approach in academic and artistic development.

Older students may also take adavntage of the O.A. Thorp Scholastic Academy's Comprehensive Mathematics Program. Thorp's 2006-2007 ISAT math scores increased to 90.4% and the 2007-2008 goal is 95%. Thorp also received a 1st place standing in individual and a 2nd place standing in team for the Notre Dame Math Competition.

Recentley, 11 out of 16 possible students came from O.A. Thorp Scholastic Academy to be placed into the highly selective Shell Scholarship Camp for Chicago School 5th and 6th Graders. This program at Purdue University gave elementary students the opportunity to attend camp at Purdue in order to study engineering, animation, and forensic science in a collegiate environment. One of the engineering projects that the students did was to design and construct a structurally sound ramp for Hot Wheels cars.

Admissions

Admission to Thorp Academy is highly selective with a required application process and, at times, a testing process. There are a limited number of spaces available. Parents wanting to enroll their child into the kindergarten program are also not allowed to do so until the child is 5 years old. Admissions of qualified students are typically granted through a lottery process. Since Thorp Academy is a Chicago Magnet School, there are no boundary limits for those attending, and the school has a diverse range of students from various socio-economic backgrounds and Chicago neighborhoods. Students living in farther communities on the Near North Side, Chicago, such as those from the Gold Coast neighborhood on Lake Shore Drive, may take advantage of the Magnet School Transportation Program. Students in the gifted program also have their own Gifted Program Transportation Service.

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