A small, purposefully designed middle school is providing students with access, opportunities, and early exposure to college and career pathways. Innovation Academy of Excellence offers small class sizes and personalized learnin g to ensure no student is bored or left behind. Students learn on Tallahassee State College's (TSC) campus, using libraries, athletic fields, and shared spaces with adult supervision. The Academy is increasing enrollment numbers and moving to a new facility on TSC's campus to accommodate more students. Watch the video below to see how workforce exposure prepares students for what comes next. Innovation Academy of Excellence expands in size and location BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:As AI continues to reshape nearly every industry, one Tallahassee school is teaching students how to use it responsibly, starting in middle school.I'm Lyric Sloan, your Southwest Tallahassee neighborhood reporter, taking you inside the Innovation Academy of Excellence and their expansion on the campus of Tallahassee State College.Innovation Academy of Excellence is redefining what middle school can be, combining rigorous academics, character development, and ethical artificial intelligence inside a small, intentionally designed learning environment."Intentional, meaning it is in response to what we hear families are concerned with in their education, that their students are either being left behind or they're bored, but intentional learning is really where is my student, and then what do I need to do for my student to succeed?" Stacy Chambers, Innovation Academy of Excellence Founding Director, said.Guided by that philosophy, the Academy opened in August 2025 with fewer than 30 students.Now expanding into a new building on Tallahassee State College's campus, the school will serve up to 125 students, offering something rarely seen at the middle school level: a real college environment."You know, our students are able to go to the library here, the student union. It's all part of their school experience. It allows them to have what a lot of students just don't have, the opportunity to have a beautiful campus, beautiful partnerships, and the understanding of a lot of the early workforce development opportunity," Chambers said.But that access isn't just about buildings, it's about opportunity, and that's exactly what drew families like the Henderson's to the academy."Have them college-ready, and so that any help that I could get with that as a parent to encourage them to do better than I did, and this is a start," King Henderson, parent of two Innovation Academy students, said.School leaders say that hope reflects a much bigger issue facing education today."I often say with families, it's not an achievement gap, it's an access gap. Do they have access to high quality options for their student. Do they have access to great teachers? Do they have access to beautiful facilities? Do they get to see things that can be tipping points in their lives?" Chambers said.And parents say that access shows up in the classroom."You can't always necessarily have one-on-one time with the student when you have a lot of students, but with this, the class sizes are nice, and it gives me an opportunity to relax knowing that they won't be too shy to ask because there's so many students in the room with them," Henderson said.School leaders say the mission is simple: prepare students for college careers and responsible use of technology. Applications are now open for the 2026 - 2027 school year, but space is limited.In Southwest Tallahassee, Lyric Sloan ABC 27.LINK TO SCHOOL BELOW:Access Innovation Academy of Excellence's website here.Want to see more local news? Visit the WTXL ABC 27 Website. Stay in touch with us anywhere, anytime.Like us on FacebookFollow us on Instagram and X. ...read more read less