American International School of Vienna
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Image:Aisoldlogo.jpg The American International School Vienna is a not-for-profit school international school made up structurally of the parents of each student at the school, and located in Vienna, Austria. The school operates, in part, under the sponsorship of the United States Ambassador to Austria and awards the American Diploma, which all graduates receive. In addition, students can also earn an International Baccalaureate Diploma and/or an Austrian Matura by fulfilling extra requirements. AIS Vienna has an enrollment of approximately 800 students, from pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade.
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Graduation requirements and courses
Full-year courses at AIS Vienna earn one credit each, while semester courses earn half of a credit. A high school student must earn 24 credits to graduate. The following subject areas were being offered as of the 2005-2006 school year, most in various levels, including IB and AP.
- English
- General English Classes
- English as a Second Language
- Languages
- German
- French
- Spanish
- Social Studies
- Western Civilization
- Modern World Problems
- Early Modern European History
- United States History
- Austrian Studies
- Economics
- Model United Nations
- Psychology
- Arts
- Visual Arts
- Theater Arts
- Fine Arts
- Concert Choir
- Concert Band
- Mathematics
- Algebra
- Geometry
- Statistics
- Pre-Calculus
- Calculus/IB Mathematics
- Sciences
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Environmental Science or Geoscience (alternating years)
- Physics
- Electives
- Computing and Computer Science
- Yearbook
- Theory of Knowledge
- Physical Education
A full documentation of requirements and courses offered can be found here.
Campus
Image:AIS Vienna Southwest.jpg
The school is essentially a cluster of buildings that are interconnected. This is due to several expansions, and the fact that the grounds are very uneven. The original building is a historic residence known as the “Villa.” It contains the middle and high school’s art, music, English as a Second Language, and foreign language programs. Nearly all of this building’s rooms have been renovated to look similar to the school’s other classrooms.
The high school building and the middle school building contain many of these divisions’ classrooms. While their hallways are narrow and their classrooms are small, this does not cause too much of a problem as the classes are small and the school only has a total enrollment of around eight hundred.
The middle level of the high school building connects to the secondary library and the lower gym. Here a stairwell connects to a common area, which is used by all grade levels. The health office, cafeteria, and a student lounge (traditionally “belonging” to the senior class) are located here. A hallway connects to another set of stairs, which leads to the upper gym, and another stairwell, which leads back down again to locker rooms and an activity room. The common area also connects to the elementary school, which is located on another two levels above it.
Finally, between the Villa and the high school sits a modern science building that was opened in the fall of 2000. Its top floor was extended onto the roof of the high school building in 2004, giving the high school a third level, which has larger classrooms with modern teaching equipment. All in all the school has eleven different levels, yet because of the complex connecting patterns of the different buildings and the hillside, the individual buildings only have two or three floors. In addition, three additional structures, a large sports dome and two small huts are freestanding on the school grounds. A twelve-bus parking lot, two faculty lots, a playground, short track, and a soccer field with an adjacent basketball field fill up the rest of the fenced-in property.
Notable alumni
Thomas Stemberg: Founder and Former CEO Staples, Inc., Venture Partner with Highland Capital Partners
Interesting facts
- *NSYNC's music video for their song "Here We Go" was filmed in the Upper Gym of AIS Vienna.
- The campus lies in two districts of Vienna. The buildings lie in the 19th district of Vienna, Döbling, while the sports field is on the territory of the 17th district, Hernals. Approximately forty meters from the campus's southeastern corner is the border of the 18th district, Währing.
- Canadian singer/songwriter Bryan Adams attended AIS Vienna while his father, a military diplomat, was stationed in Vienna in the mid 1960s.