Wilmington Academy of Arts and Sciences

We are very excited to announce our 2027-2028 early admissions period at WAAS, starting in early September! We anticipate limited openings for 2027-2028, and encourage all interested families to register for one of our upcoming tours in either September or October. Visit wilmingtonacademy.org/admissions to sign up for your tour, and for all details. Go Owls!

Congratulations to our Wilmington Academy of Arts and Sciences 8th Grade Class of 2026!! 🎉 It was such a joy to celebrate this group at their graduation from WAAS on Wednesday evening. Thank you to our Graduation Committee, Graduation Marshalls, musicians, and faculty/staff for making this such a beautiful evening for our 8th Grade students and families. More professional photographs and graduation highlights coming soon! 🙌🦉

In more amazing social studies news, we want to give a big congratulations to 8th Graders Ben Robinson, Myra Shanker, and Perry Tennant who won first place at the North Carolina State NHD competition this past Saturday, and qualified for the National competition!

Myra won 1st place in the Junior Individual Documentary category, and Ben & Perry won 1st place in the Junior Group Documentary category. The national competition takes place June 14th-18th at the University of Maryland, College Park. This is an amazing accomplishment and opportunity for these students. Congratulations to you three, very well done!

8th Grader Myra Shanker has won the overall national first place prize for the top Project POTUS submission this year! Her project on Herbert Hoover, submitted in the annual Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site competition, was selected as a unanimous first place winner in the country by the committee of 100 college professors, historians, and media professionals. As the grand prize winner she receives $500, and will be featured in multiple media releases from the presidential site in the weeks ahead. Myra traveled to Indianapolis on Thursday to receive her first place award at the inaugural awards banquet! Her winning entry is now featured on the official Project POTUS YouTube channel and joins a permanent national archive used to teach future students about the American presidency.

The committee pointed to her excellent use of time-period styling with stand out design elements including her choice of music, her diligence and historical interpretation regarding Hoover's legacy, and the wealth of primary sources she used. She is also in the running for the Citizens Choice Award competition as well, which will be announced in the week ahead.

This is such an incredible accomplishment Myra, we are so proud of you!

Takoda Lac (8th Grade), David You (7th Grade), and Mira Hu (7th Grade) competed in the State High School Math Competition in Fayetteville on Wednesday, April 29th and had an incredible showing. Takoda won first place in the Level 3 competition and David won first place in the Level 1 competition! What an amazing way to finish our competitive math season at WAAS! We are so proud of these students, Mr. Simon, and all of our Mathletes! Way to represent Owls!

Congratulations to Mika Fain (8th Grade) and Jet Navejar (7th Grade) who have been selected as finalists for the Young Lawyers Division of the North Carolina Bar Association Law Day Essay Competition. Mika and Jet have been invited to attend the Law Day Luncheon on Friday, May 1st in Raleigh. Winners of the state Law Day Essay Contests will be announced at the luncheon. Way to go Mika and Jet, we are very proud of you!

Our Middle School Science Olympiad teams celebrated a wonderful season by using their decoding and teamwork skills. Not pictured- the Kilwin’s ice cream that may have spoiled dinner!

Congratulations to our Varsity Science Olympiad team on their 8th place finish at the NCSO State Tournament! The competition was fierce and our Owls rose to the challenge! We appreciate the support of our entire WAAS family in making SO such a wonderful experience!

Congratulations to our High School Math Team who competed in their Regional level contest at Coastal Carolina Community College on Thursday, April 16th. The team won first place in the Level 1 competition! David You, Mira Hu, and Lucy Yokubaitis competed on the Level 1 team with David winning overall, and Mira placing 5th overall! Takoda Lac won overall for Level 3! Ben Robinson finished in 3rd place in the team Sprint Round for the Level 2 Team, and Takoda Lac finished 2nd place in the team Sprint round for Level 3. The Level 2 team also included Harsha Bandapalli and Perry Tennant, and the Level 3 team also included Myra Shanker. David, Mira, and Takoda will advance to the State Competition in Fayetteville on Wednesday, April 29th. Go Owls!

Congratulations to our WAAS State MathCounts Competition Team of David You (7th), Takoda Lac (8th), Mira Hu (7th) and Harsha Bandapalli (8th), who represented WAAS very well at the State Competition in Durham this past Friday. The team finished 16th overall in the state, a very competitive field from all across North Carolina! David You finished 17th individually out of 150 individual competitors, one spot outside of the Countdown Round!

We are very proud of all of our WAAS MathCounts team members who have dedicated their Tuesdays throughout their year to their preparation for these events. Thank you to Mr. Simon for your dedication and leadership. Next up in Math, we transition to the High School Math Competition season, with the regional event taking place in Jacksonville on April 16th, featuring our WAAS middle school students competing at the Math 1, Math 2, and Math 3 levels against many Middle and High Schoolers from Eastern North Carolina.