Amelia Earhart IS History
Opened: 1980
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Amelia Earhart Intermediate School (AEIS) was built by the Japanese government in the summer of 1980. AEIS is located on Kadena Air Base and serves all branches of service and all ranks including non-commissioned officers, officers, and civilians. This school was one of two schools built to replace closing schools. It is a two-story structure that houses thirty-two classrooms, an information center, art room, host nation room, music room, gymnasium, and computer lab. Built on the site of former Kaden Riding Stables, the elementary school buildings have classrooms clustered around activity centers. This was done so the entire faculty could operate on a team-teaching concept.
According to the 1981 yearbook,
Amelia Earhart Intermediate School started with a lot of problems because all of the furniture and equipment had to be moved from Pacific Middle School which closed. In the beginning of the year, things were very bare. There was no grass and hardly any trees. Towards the end of the school year, the landscape of the school improved a lot. Grass and trees were planted so now things look a lot better.
Our EMC books came from M & K Primary School and Pacific Middle School, both of which closed. The books are wonderful. The EMC is now filled with books that we can all enjoy.
All the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th grade teams are clustered in groups around activity centers which have refrigerators, ovens and tables in them. In these activity centers, the students work on individual projects and other things with special permission. We all keep our lunches in the refrigerators.
We also have a Science Room downstairs which the 6th graders are allowed to use during their Science period. The Art room is filled with art supplies and the students have drawn beautiful pictures to hang up around the school. We also have a special Music room which is filled with many different kinds of instruments. The Gym is very advanced and used most of the time by the PE classes. Sometimes we use the gym for school assemblies.
We have a very nice student body. They seem to be good and cooperative. The teachers are very helpful and they seem to enjoy our school as much as the students do.
We all feel very lucky to have a beautiful new school. It's gotten better as the year has gone on and we’re sure it will get better and better each year.
The school was named by the students and faculty after special elections. They chose to name the school after aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, who was lost over the Pacific Ocean in 1937. Ms. Earhart was an aviator who was the first woman to fly long distances. Born in Atchison, Kansas, she studied at Columbia University after nursing wounded soldiers during World War I. She dropped out of school and worked in California to earn money for her flying lessons. In 1928, Amelia Earhart became the first female passenger on a transatlantic flight. In 1937, while on her attempt to become the first woman to circumnavigate the globe, her plane vanished near Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean. No trace of Ms. Earhart was ever found. Previously, DoDDS schools were only named for the location of the school, a war hero, a president, or a military base.
This school and its sister school, Bob Hope Elementary School, have their own administration, faculty and students, but they share the surrounding areas. Students were transferred the first year from a closing school, Pacific Middle, and from overcrowded Kadena Elementary.
The school colors are red and white, and the mascot is the firebird. The yearbook was named Aviator. The newspaper was originally Firebird and was renamed Earhart Times. The school motto is “Meeting the Challenge”.
The administrators for the 1980-81 school year were principal Richard Randolph and assistant principal E. L. Forbes.
By the 1981-82 school year, there were 750 students in grades four through six, with a staff that included fifty educators plus support personnel and paraprofessionals. During that school year, students at the school corresponded with Muriel Earhart Morrissey, the sister of Amelia Earhart. The school administrators for this year and several more were Richard Randolph and Emmalee Manning.
Students had many extracurricular activities available to them during the eighties. These included clubs for health, Spanish, Outdoor Education, safety patrol, chess, newspaper, and yearbook. Special events at the school celebrated the release of the American hostages by Iran and the arrival of Santa by helicopter. The school also had a student council, METRA tutors, a Young Author’s group, the 50 Books Club and several cultural programs such as the Kendo assembly.
The enrollment increased to 800 students for the 1988-89 year and then dropped to 700 students the next year. By the end of the nineties, the school housed the Developmental Center for moderately to severely handicapped children on the island of Okinawa.
By the mid-nineties the enrollment was just under 750 students. Rosemarie Armstad was the principal and Stan Hays the assistant principal. New student activities included the drama and video clubs.
Currently, the school serves a diverse population of students and sponsors. AEIS enrollment consists primarily of Air Force dependents, but dependents of the other three major branches of the military and DoD civilians are enrolled as well. A large percentage of the students are bussed to and from school. The school has a large after-school program offering a variety of cultural, tutorial, and fun activities.
In addition to the excellent classroom instruction, students are given the opportunity to participate in curricular study trips that reinforce and expand the classroom curricula. The school offers many cross-cultural experiences with our host nation of Okinawa as well.
For the 2023-24 school year there are seventeen regular education classes; four large group specialists (art, music, host nation, physical education); three special education specialists (and four paraprofessionals); two guidance counselors; three office staff; a technology specialist; two maintenance and supply personnel; and seven other support specialists (nurse, psychologist, English as a Second Language, gifted education, reading support, math support). There are two Military Family Life Counselors (MFLC) assigned to AEIS as well.
Dr. Cheri Hayes became the school principal for the 2023-24 school year. There are more than 500 grades three through five.
Amelia Earhart Intermediate School was recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School.
Information from the school website; a dissertation by Harold Clifford Brown, 1981; and DoDDS School Information Guides