American School Foundation of Monterrey
Encyclopedia
The American School Foundation of Monterrey is a private, international, nonprofit, and co-educational Nursery-12 school located in Monterrey, Mexico. It is one of a few American-style educational centers in this city and is notable for being the oldest one of that group.
The school is governed by a Founders' Board which meets twice a year and that elects a Board of Directors serving as the school's Board of Education. This Board is constituted of 9 members serving 3 year terms each with an alternate member. All instruction is in English except for Spanish classes. For grades 10th to 12th there are two courses of study, one leading to a Mexican Bachillerato and the other to a U.S. High School Diploma. Students can choose either to follow just the U.S. Diploma or both courses. The option to do the Mexican Bachillerato alone is not offered.http://www.state.gov/m/a/os/1555.htm
It was during this re-establishment that the Founders' Board was established with four founding individuals and thirteen sponsoring companies. The organization was created as a non-profit society, hence the inclusion of the word Foundation in the name. In 1948, ASFM received accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Texas Education agency. The school moved to its one of its present locations, the Missouri Campus, on September 1958, when its enrollment had exceeded 450 students.
The school's reputation improved over time and it remained the school of choice for the children of foreign workers that relocated to Monterrey. As the city's influx of foreigners increased, the need for an international education became paramount. Thus in 1996 in order to accommodate this increasing demand, ASFM built a new campus for Middle and High School students. This new state-of-the-art facility built in the Huasteca Canyon attracted many new students and launched ASFM into its present era. The Missouri Campus was used for Nursery through 5th Grade students, however beginning in the school year of 2010 these students switched campuses and are now attending the Huasteca Campus in the newly constructed Elementary School and Kindergarten.
100% of the most recent graduating class is attending 4-year universities or colleges after 75% applied to universities in Mexico and 34% applied to universities in the United States. Some of the universities that these recent graduates are attending (or were accepted to) include: Tufts University
, Columbia
, the University of Texas, Brown
, the University of Michigan
, Cornell
, New York University
, Princeton
, the University of Chicago
, Yale
, Purdue
, Stanford
, the University of Pennsylvania
, and Harvard University
. Most students attending university in Mexico chose to go to Instituto Tecnologico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) or the Universidad de Monterrey
.http://asfm.edu.mx/main/about_us/asfm_prof_1.pdf
The High School is notable for its Advanced Placement program. It offers around 15 AP courses and its students year after year take more AP exams than any other school in Latin America. 330 exams were taken last year with 247 scoring passing grades of 3 or better. The School's mean score was 3.461 while the global mean score was 3.015. As for SAT
scores, the school's averages are 553 Reading, 581 Math, 536 Writing for a Composite Score of 1670.http://asfm.edu.mx/main/about_us/asfm_prof_1.pdf
The Missouri Campus http://asfm.edu.mx/main/about_us/asfm_prof_1.pdf is for students in nursery-grade 5 and has 66 classrooms, 4 state-of-the-art computer labs, counseling offices, a maintenance building, 2 houses, one currently used for the administrative offices and the other for a developmental nursery program, a 250-seat theater, 3 playing fields, 2 outdoor tennis courts and an instrumental music room.
The School also issues several awards each year.
The school is governed by a Founders' Board which meets twice a year and that elects a Board of Directors serving as the school's Board of Education. This Board is constituted of 9 members serving 3 year terms each with an alternate member. All instruction is in English except for Spanish classes. For grades 10th to 12th there are two courses of study, one leading to a Mexican Bachillerato and the other to a U.S. High School Diploma. Students can choose either to follow just the U.S. Diploma or both courses. The option to do the Mexican Bachillerato alone is not offered.http://www.state.gov/m/a/os/1555.htm
History
ASFM, as the school is known, was founded in 1928 http://www.asfm.edu.mx/about-asfm/our-school/history by the ancient dweller from the Monterrey Foreign Club in reaction to the need for children of foreign (mainly American) workers in Monterrey to have an American-style education in order to eventually return seamlessly to the United States. The school received its charter on October 13, 1928 and was re-established as the American School Foundation of Monterrey in April 1944 http://asfm.edu.mx/main/about_us/history.html.It was during this re-establishment that the Founders' Board was established with four founding individuals and thirteen sponsoring companies. The organization was created as a non-profit society, hence the inclusion of the word Foundation in the name. In 1948, ASFM received accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Texas Education agency. The school moved to its one of its present locations, the Missouri Campus, on September 1958, when its enrollment had exceeded 450 students.
The school's reputation improved over time and it remained the school of choice for the children of foreign workers that relocated to Monterrey. As the city's influx of foreigners increased, the need for an international education became paramount. Thus in 1996 in order to accommodate this increasing demand, ASFM built a new campus for Middle and High School students. This new state-of-the-art facility built in the Huasteca Canyon attracted many new students and launched ASFM into its present era. The Missouri Campus was used for Nursery through 5th Grade students, however beginning in the school year of 2010 these students switched campuses and are now attending the Huasteca Campus in the newly constructed Elementary School and Kindergarten.
High school profile
For the 2007-2008 school year, the high school enrollment is 561 students (128 Seniors, 134 Juniors, 136 Sophomores and 163 Freshmen). 90% of students are Mexican, and the remaining 10% are American and of other nationalities. The High School has a faculty of 45 people, all of whom hold teaching certificates or degrees with around 54% of the faculty and administrative staff having advanced degrees.http://www.state.gov/m/a/os/1555.htm According to some parents, the children are very "exclusive" and don't include the international children. It is also said that many students "gossip" about others, making it hard for students to "fit in".100% of the most recent graduating class is attending 4-year universities or colleges after 75% applied to universities in Mexico and 34% applied to universities in the United States. Some of the universities that these recent graduates are attending (or were accepted to) include: Tufts University
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...
, Columbia
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, the University of Texas, Brown
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, Cornell
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, Princeton
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, Yale
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, Purdue
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
, Stanford
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, and Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. Most students attending university in Mexico chose to go to Instituto Tecnologico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) or the Universidad de Monterrey
Universidad de Monterrey
The University of Monterrey is a Roman Catholic institution of higher learning located in Monterrey, Mexico....
.http://asfm.edu.mx/main/about_us/asfm_prof_1.pdf
The High School is notable for its Advanced Placement program. It offers around 15 AP courses and its students year after year take more AP exams than any other school in Latin America. 330 exams were taken last year with 247 scoring passing grades of 3 or better. The School's mean score was 3.461 while the global mean score was 3.015. As for SAT
SAT
The SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is owned, published, and developed by the College Board, a nonprofit organization in the United States. It was formerly developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service which still...
scores, the school's averages are 553 Reading, 581 Math, 536 Writing for a Composite Score of 1670.http://asfm.edu.mx/main/about_us/asfm_prof_1.pdf
Facilities
The Huasteca Campus, presently housing High School and Middle School students, features 10 fully equipped science labs, 6 computer labs, 62 teaching classrooms, a black-box theater, a 500-seat auditorium, and a 14,000-volume library with 28 eMacs and 13 wireless iBooks for student use. The Athletic Department features an indoor gymnasium with two parquet-floored basketball courts, two regulation-sized soccer fields, one 8-lane athletics track, 3 outdoor concrete-floor basketball courts, a fully equipped conditioning gym and several other training rooms as well as four full locker rooms.http://www.state.gov/m/a/os/1555.htmThe Missouri Campus http://asfm.edu.mx/main/about_us/asfm_prof_1.pdf is for students in nursery-grade 5 and has 66 classrooms, 4 state-of-the-art computer labs, counseling offices, a maintenance building, 2 houses, one currently used for the administrative offices and the other for a developmental nursery program, a 250-seat theater, 3 playing fields, 2 outdoor tennis courts and an instrumental music room.
Model UN Program
ASFM houses one of the largest international Model UN conference in Mexico: IMMUNS (International Monterrey Model United Nations Simulation). IMMUNS was established as a brand in 2003 when the high school and middle school Model UN conferences fused into one large event. Traditionally, IMMUNS is held in late February, and involves around 500 local and international students. Previous keynote speakers include Jane Goodall (2003).Traditions and athletics
The school's mascot is the American Bald Eagle and the colors are Red and White. ASFM participates in yearly sports tournaments sponsored by the Association of American Schools in Mexico (ASOMEX). It competes in Soccer, Basketball, Track and Field and in several other sports. The school has a healthy rivalry with other bilingual schools in the city, the Colegio Inglés and AIM, stemming from the continuous success of both schools in Soccer tournaments held by ASOMEX. ASFM is deeply committed to ASOMEX and during the tournaments held in Monterrey the entire school comes out in support of its teams.The School also issues several awards each year.
- Steve Fordham Award: The most important all-around award is the Steve Benjamin Award for the student at each grade level that best exemplifies leadership, citizenship, responsibility, friendliness, academic excellence, sportsmanship, and cooperation http://asfm.edu.mx/main/awards/fordham.htm. Two nominees are named along with the winner. This award was established in memoriam for Steve Fordham, an ASFM graduate who earned a Purple HeartPurple HeartThe Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York...
during the Vietnam WarVietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
and who held the qualities that the Award recognizes.
- Aguirre and de la Garza Evia Quiroga Awards: Two other memorial awards have been established in recent years. The Alejandro Aguirre Award is given to an exceptional 9th Grade student in the Athletics Program http://asfm.edu.mx/main/awards/aguirre.htm. The other memorial award is the Carlos de la Garza Evia Quiroga Memorial Award given to the 9th grade student displaying humanitarianism and service.
- Graduation Awards: At Graduation, ASFM recognizes the ValedictorianValedictorianValedictorian is an academic title conferred upon the student who delivers the closing or farewell statement at a graduation ceremony. Usually, the valedictorian is the highest ranked student among those graduating from an educational institution...
and SalutatorianSalutatorianSalutatorian is an academic title given, in the United States and Canada, to the second highest graduate of the entire graduating class of a specific discipline. Only the valedictorian is ranked higher. This honor is traditionally based on grade point average and number of credits taken, but...
for each graduating class http://asfm.edu.mx/main/awards/index.htm. The Valedictorian gives a Closing Address while the Salutatorian recites the Invocation at the start of the ceremony. Also, the American Legion Award is given to the graduating senior http://asfm.edu.mx/main/awards/americanlegion.htm best exhibiting courage, scholarship, patriotism, honor, leadership, and service. This award is not given by ASFM but rather by the American LegionAmerican LegionThe American Legion is a mutual-aid organization of veterans of the United States armed forces chartered by the United States Congress. It was founded to benefit those veterans who served during a wartime period as defined by Congress...
Chapter of Monterrey.
- Eagle Awards: Lastly and in honor of its Mascot, the School issues the Eagle Award to students who have been at ASFM for 15 years and the Eagle of the Month Award to students exhibiting excellent academic, citizenship and overall performance.
Finances
For the 2007-2008 school year, the school had 2,317 students with 466 nursery through kindergarten students, 808 elementary school students 482 middle school students and 561 high school students. In terms of finances, 97% of the school's income stems from tuition at the following rates http://www.state.gov/m/a/os/1555.htm, in U.S. Dollars, for the school year 2007-2008:- Nursery and Pre-Kindergarten: $8,938
- Kindergarten through Grade 5: $9,708
- Grade 5 through Grade 9: $11,500
- Grade 10 through Grade 12: $12,708