50@50: Starting a ‘high school’ on campus in 3 weeks


To celebrate the university’s 50th anniversary, FIU News is sharing 50 moments in FIU’s history as part of our “50@50″ series.

By Joel Delgado ’12 MS ’17 

Three weeks. That’s how long newly-appointed president Mark B. Rosenberg gave Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Studies William “Bill” Beesting to create a “high school” on campus in the summer of 2009.

Through massive collaboration between various entities at FIU and Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS), the Academy for Advanced Academics (AAA) was established just in time for the Fall 2009 semester.

The program began by offering an all-day university/high school courses on campus for 100 high-performing students – all juniors and seniors, from five local senior high schools. In 2011, a second chapter of the program was opened at the Biscayne Bay Campus that welcomed students from Alonzo and Tracy Mourning Senior High and Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School.

According to Beesting, 50 percent of the students who participated in the program during the 2012-2013 semester applied to go to college at FIU.

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