Rose Santos isn't surprised her students want to organize a real soccer team for their school.
While many students at St. Paul's International Academy-LEAP program already play soccer together informally, the atmosphere at their games isn't exactly casual.
"When they play it's like they're playing for the World Cup," said Santos, the school's principal.
As the St. Paul public schools open for the first day of school today, the International Academy will occupy all of the former Wilson Junior High. The academy's 250 students include immigrants ages 16 to 20, all relatively new to the United States and still learning English. This year, those students also will enjoy the addition of a newly built gymnasium and media center.
The heavy interest in soccer at the school is no wonder, considering the global mix of students, many from countries where "football" is the sport of choice. Forty-five countries are represented at the school.
The International Academy is adding seventh- and eighth-graders to its high school program as it takes over the Wilson building. The academy's enrollment also is expected to expand this year with new arrivals from Hmong refugee camps in Thailand.
Enrollment trends "all depend on what's going on in the world," Santos said. "The state of Minnesota has always been a welcoming state, so they seem to gravitate to us."
The past two weeks have been busy for Lee Yang, the school's intake coordinator. He's met with 28 new students in that time, 24 of whom recently arrived from the Hmong camps in Thailand. Though in their teens, some of the new students have never attended school of any sort.
"I tell them to bring paper and pencil. A backpack is a good idea," Yang said, adding that he warns them about the looming change in Minnesota's weather.
The school was formerly known as LEAP Academy, with LEAP standing for Limited English Academic Proficiency. The program, which immerses the students in English and doesn't teach them in their native tongue, has been around for a decade.
Aklilu Tamirat, 18, was at the academy last week to get oriented before today's start of school. He arrived in the United States from Ethiopia at age 14 and needed to learn English. Though he's attended schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul, he sees the International Academy as best suited to help him get through a few remaining courses and help him pass Minnesota's Basic Skills Test, also required for graduation.
Teachers at the school adjust coursework for students who arrive with varying degrees of skill. Bronwen Lu, a science teacher, has science-based children's books for students brand-new to the language. But she also teaches advanced courses and showed assignments done by students still relatively new to the language that used a wide range of science vocabulary.
"They should be pushed to excel, just like anybody," Lu said. "They have the capacity. They're very motivated."
The new gym and media center together cost $2.4 million and were originally intended for Wilson Junior High students, who shared the building last year with the academy. But Wilson's enrollment was shrinking, down to 170 last year, and those students have been moved to other schools.
The change in programs housed at Wilson brought some complaints from homeowners near the school's location at Lafond Avenue and Albert Street in St. Paul's Midway neighborhood. They said more of the academy's older students were driving to school and causing parking problems.
But last year, parking needs included teachers from both Wilson Junior High and the academy, students and about 90 construction workers. This year, more students will be bused, the construction workers will be gone and there's a new 56-space parking lot behind the school.
Many of the neighbors have welcomed the international program, said Jun-Li Wang, community organizer for the Hamline-Midway Coalition, a neighborhood group. "There's still a small group of neighbors that we've been meeting with," Wang said. She added that they're willing to wait to see how the parking situation shapes up this fall.
