History
History of Skyline
Skyline was approved by voters in 2004 as a part of the Ann Arbor Public School's Comprehensive School Improvement Program. We opened our doors in 2008 to Freshmen only and filled the school one year at a time. Our first senior class graduated in 2012.
A naming committee made up of a group of a diverse group of students, parents, and educators formed. They mulled around a few ideas for what was temporarily called “New High School” or NHS. Some of the early ideas were North Crest High School and Bo Schembechler High School. The majestic views during the committee’s first tour of the unfinished building had the students unanimously choosing the name Skyline High School. The views on the tour were undoubtedly heightened as the windows had not yet been installed! The committee report is available here.
Another diverse committee of students were gathered to select the mascot and after briefly considering The Salamanders the students chose The Eagles and the Columbia Blue color to go with the Skyline theme. Our first Freshmen class even designed the logos that we still use today. Thanks to cooperation with the Leslie Science Center, Skyline is fortunate enough to have a live Eagle mascot.
Skyline was designed vertically to preserve as much of the wooded land owned by Ann Arbor Public Schools.
Skyline’s campus is on a land that has been owed by AAPS for a long time. Much care was taken to preserve as much of the woodlands and wetlands as possible. This is why Skyline is a 4 story building. A herpetological survey report and comprehensive wetland report were put together by the City of Ann Arbor Natural Area Preservation. Ultimately, a Salamander pond carefully moved and the Salamanders were relocated over the course of a few years to ensure their survival.
The Ann Arbor community, complete with parents, business people, higher education representatives, and K-12 teachers came together and selected what Magnet Courses we should offer. Ultimately, the decision came down to the most marketable careers combined with course trends in Higher Education.
While planning the school we took all of the preconceived notions of what school was off the table and carefully included only what students need to be successful. These decisions were steeped in research and followed the 3 R's; Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships. We quickly rearranged the 3 R's to put Relationships first knowing that we could better address the Rigor and Relevance once the Relationships were established.
Skyline uses Mastery Based Grading in an attempt to value knowledge acquisition and the process of learning. As a staff we are continually educating ourselves on the best practices of teaching, learning, and grading.
Since our inception, we have used a shared leadership model at Skyline. Our goal is to draw upon our diverse expertise and experiences to best serve our students and families. Our goal is to help every student find success and acceptance at Skyline High School. We hope these goals are reflected in our Mission and Motto.
Our Mission: The mission of Skyline High School is to build and sustain a community that promotes personal connections, inquiry, agile minds, and determination. We nurture these qualities every day in everyone.
Our Motto: Agile Minds. Big Hearts. Deep Questions.
