MARLBOROUGH – If you haven’t caught any of the streaming CBS News series, America ByDesign, be sure to tune in on Dec. 10 when Marlborough’s newest independent school, the New England Innovation Academy, (NEIA) will be featured.
The show, which is in its third season, highlights imagination, creativity, and entrepreneurship across America, presented in a competitive format. An innovation will be selected at the end of each episode as a finalist, and the top innovation of the season will be chosen at the end.
“We’re honored to be featured alongside some of the top innovators and designers in the US,” Founding Head of School Tom Woelper said.
NEIA has 95 innovators enrolled
The unique opportunity to showcase the school through the CBS ByDesign program is not lost on Woelper.
NEIA opened in 2021 and offers unique opportunities to students in grades six through 12
Located at the end of Locke Drive, the campus had been home to a corporate training center as well as an international boarding school in the past.
Woelper said that Marlborough was a front runner as a location choice.
“Even if this 26-acre facility hadn’t been available at the time, Marlborough would have been a natural choice for its proximity to the 495 Biotech corridor, easy access to Route 90, and the number of opportunities for internships at local companies,” Woelper said.
Head of Innovation and Trustee Matthew Kressy, who is also the founder of MIT’s Integrated Design & Management master’s program, encouraged a curriculum based on innovation, human-centered design and entrepreneurship.
At NEIA, there aren’t traditional classrooms where instructors lecture to students seated in neat rows. In fact, once applicants are enrolled, they are referred to not as ‘students,’ but as ‘innovators.’
Admission is by application only, and it includes an interview with NEIA staff.
“We look for applicants who are independent, comfortable with experiential learning, and who enjoy group work,” explained Woelper.
NEIA is a design school that encourages an empathetic approach to determining stakeholder needs before launching into a production phase. An integrated curriculum is applied across all aspects of the learning experience. Its assessments are competency-based and illustrated through papers and projects instead of examples of rote memorization.
The school’s maker spaces are equipped with cutting-edge technology, and learning labs foster free thinking and collaboration.
It culminates in a gala where the innovators unveil their finished projects. Business partners offer opportunities for discovery and eventual internships.
In its inaugural year, there were 65 innovators enrolled, including 18 who boarded. Currently, NEIA’s enrollment is made up of 95 innovators and 28 boarders.
The regional accreditation board, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, is planning a spring visit and then again next fall before the process is complete. With that accreditation, NEIA will be able to offer student visas to international students, which staff anticipates will result in an increase in enrollment.
Viewers are encouraged to vote in the Peoples’s Choice Awards section of the American Standard America ByDesign. To vote for NEIA, visit here.
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