Grants Partner Profile
INFINITY: Minnesota's Digital Academy
Sarah Rutherford, a junior at Greenway High School in Coleraine, took classes last year through the Virtual Itasca Area Academy of Learning (VITAL). This online learning community for high school students was created three years ago by the Itasca Area Schools Collaborative, with the help a $525,000 Blandin Foundation grant awarded in 2005 that provided funding to develop curriculum and for start-up and initial operating activities. VITAL has grown from a pilot program serving 34 enrollees and 12 courses, to 433 enrollees and 28 courses. In July 2008, VITAL merged with an online learning program in Brainerd to create INFINITY: Minnesota's Digital Academy. The new organization will offer more than 50 courses to about 1,000 students in 40 Minnesota school districts.
That's the kind of news Wade Fauth, director of grants at Blandin Foundation, likes to hear. "I've been blown away by their success," he said. "They're on the verge of doing what they said they'd do – create a strong regional online educational option – and more. And they're finding ways to reach out and leverage their strengths to keep it going."