The Vision
The Apogee School was founded in 2016 with a simple but powerful mission: To create an ideal school designed from the ground up to meet the social, emotional, and academic needs of gifted students.
Our founder, David Bonner, experienced firsthand what many gifted children experience today. Despite attending one of Indiana’s highest-performing public schools, something was missing. The academics were strong, but emotional support, individualized attention, and true understanding were often difficult to find.
That experience planted the seeds for what would eventually become Apogee.
For years, before the school officially existed, conversations took place with gifted students, parents, teachers, counselors, and specialists. One question guided those discussions:
“What would an ideal school for gifted children look like?”
The answers became the foundation of Apogee.
From the beginning, Apogee was designed differently. While many schools focus primarily on academic achievement, Apogee believes students thrive best when they first feel:
- safe,
- understood,
- connected,
- emotionally supported.
Our neuroscience-based model recognizes that emotional well-being and academic excellence are deeply connected.
Today, Apogee combines:
- small class sizes,
- personalized learning plans (for differentiated small group placement),
- mastery-based grading,
- educational neuroscience,
- occupational therapy support,
- counseling,
- a deeply relationship-centered culture.
The results have been extraordinary.
Our students consistently achieve among the highest academic outcomes in Indiana while also developing empathy, confidence, creativity, and resilience.
Families now seek Apogee not only from Indianapolis, but from across the country and around the world.
As we expand into a full high school program, our mission remains unchanged:
to help gifted students become not only successful learners, but healthy, self-aware, compassionate human beings prepared to thrive in the modern world.
Timeline
- 1994-2015 – David Bonner developed his identity as an educator. As it is with many gifted individuals, David had a heightened sensitivity and empathy for the plight of others, especially for children who struggled in the same way he did as a child. He felt a visceral need to see the world become a better place for these children, but the education system was too big and too established to make any meaningful changes. He mentored many of these children and began to see significant improvements in their lives. As David’s understanding grew, so did the outcomes of the students he mentored.
- July 2010 – David received the American Mensa Gifted Youth Coordinator of the Year Award. Only one individual nationally receives this recognition annually. He was also invited to and has been serving as a key member of American Mensa’s Gifted Youth Committee at the national level since 2010. People saw David’s success in mentoring the youth of Mensa through the thriving program he created, and encouraged him to start a gifted school. A group from Intertel approached David and asked him to consider being the headmaster of a residential profoundly gifted (PG) school they were envisioning. David was on board with the idea and began to develop a foundation for a school to serve the unique needs of profoundly gifted students. As it became clear that this PG school didn’t have the momentum and resources needed to become a reality, David shifted his focus toward designing a broader gifted school concept.
- October 23rd, 2015 at 6pm – This is the moment the idea of the school became a reality, and it’s the day recognized as Founder’s Day (although we celebrate it later in the school year for logistical purposes). On this day, David co-hosted a Mensa gifted youth event called Smart Science with Julie Conrad, a Mensa member and science teacher. As Julie and David enjoyed some pizza before the start of the event, David shared with Julie that he was considering starting a gifted school. As he described it to her, she immediately saw the potential and committed to getting on board. For about a year the two of them worked diligently and met often to get the school off the ground. While Julie ultimately needed to stay at her current job, she remains a friend and true supporter of Apogee. With her support, David continued the mission.
- November 24, 2015 – the name Apogee School became official. Apogee means “the highest point in the development of something.” We also registered our website domain.
- November 27, 2015 – We were originally going to be the Apogee Rockets. “Our mascot will be the Rockets. Our students have powerful minds, and we’re aiming for the stars. Rockets are complex machines that don’t always get off the launchpad as they should, so our teachers will be rocket scientists. The two co-founders are science teachers, so why not have a STEM theme for our mascot?“
- December 4, 2015 – We registered with the IRS as Apogee School
- December 9, 2015 – We registered for a Google for Education account
- December 21, 2015 – We launched our Facebook page
- April 7, 2016 – David tours Northwood Church on 46th & Central and a lease is established.
- May 20, 2016 – Our Board of Directors became official as we filed our Articles of Incorporation as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
- June 2016 – Room 105 is set up and tours begin.
- August 16, 2016 – We host our first parent session. Tamera Perry, MSW, LCSW, presents on the social and emotional needs of gifted children.
- 2016-2017 school year – We pilot a few advanced classes including Algebra 1 and computer programming.
- September 2016 – We launch our VEX Robotics Program and start the team Apogee Androids. A member of this team later started his own team and went on to be world champions.
- August 16th, 2017 – We launch our first full time class for the 2017-18 school year with six students and several part time teachers.
- September 19, 2017 – CBS interviews us on location and calls us “The perfect place for a Young Sheldon.”
- November 18, 2017 – Our robotics team earns a State spot.
- August 1, 2018 – Apogee became State Accredited.
- September 1, 2018 – We begin offering vouchers
- September 5, 2018 – We made a few refinements based on what we learned the previous year and launched an updated version of our school model that continues to this day.
- March 7, 2020 – Our robotics team wins 1st place in State and advance to World’s.
- 2021 to Present – Apogee students as a whole rank at the highest 1% in state standardized testing (IREAD & ILEARN) based on percent passing, often taking the lead in the state with 1st place in multiple core subjects.
- Summer 2025 – Apogee outgrew our space at Northwood and moved to our current address at 46th & Hoover.
