Garden School, an independent academy in Jackson Heights, set 100 goals to reach before celebrating the 100-year anniversary of its creation in 2023.
The head of the school, Christopher Herman, started his position last July and hit the ground running with new ideas. The school will focus on growing programs in visual arts, digital media, music, entrepreneurship, robotics, engineering, coding and programming.
On Monday, June 7, Garden School also started renovations to their building, located at 33-16 79th St., adding new technology, collaborative learning spaces, a theater and a fitness center.
Herman said this school really stands out among others in New York City.
“We really reflect our community,” Herman said. “[There are] many first-generation families. We’re not your quintessential private school. That’s a really special aspect of who we are: super diverse, really affordable and a really dynamic, individualized education.”
Tuition is about $23,500 for each grade level with opportunities for merit-based scholarships. Garden School includes nursery-level to 12th grade; the school is made up of about 250 students with 20 kids in each grade level. There is also a pre-K program serving over 200 3- and 4-year-olds on campus.
“The best outcomes come from nurturing close relationships between students and teachers,” Herman said. “By design, we are very small. Our program is dynamic and responsive. We think about the individual child [and] we have an amazing college acceptance track record.”
Herman also mentioned that interdisciplinary projects, where higher and lower grade levels interact for lessons, are vital to their school. One program gets eighth-graders to teach younger kids how to build rockets after studying the topic for themselves.
The school is open to any child in New York City. For more information, visit their website at GardenSchool.org.
