Impossible Dream Comes True

Dreams do come true. Even when they appear so grandiose that they are almost impossible to believe for any but its most ardent believers.

Jane Watt believed in her dream when she started her crusade to create Marco Island Academy in 2012. She dreamed of the day when Marco Island would have its own high school, with a gymnasium and ballfield. But even Watt couldn’t have imagined the striking beauty of the $20 million state-of-the-art public charter high school campus that she presented to donors, students, and community leaders Thursday afternoon in the school’s magnificent lobby.

Watt immediately thought to thank all of the people who helped her to make it happen.

"Today’s kind of the culmination of what I would consider a 13-year journey coming together,” Watt said after addressing key donors. Minutes later, Watt celebrated a ribbon-cutting ceremony with city council members, representatives of the island’s fire and police departments, the city manager, chamber of commerce, and members of the general public.

“It’s a celebration of all the people who helped to make it happen,” Watt said. "I think it’s really incredible to see all of the donors, the faculty, and the students who are leading the school tours all gathered together. Because it’s really that combination that’s made MIA so successful. I’m excited because this concludes the capital campaign. We are now completely done with the building of the campus. That’s exciting.”

Marianne Iordanou led the ambitious capital campaign. New to the island in 2014, Iordanou was led to Marco Island Academy by a local banker. It was a fateful meeting.

"My wife got involved purely by accident,” said Dinos Iordanou, Marianne’s husband. "When we came to the island in 2014, I was an executive with a company, traveling a lot, not being home. She was very lonely. She went to the bank, and she met Anna Gionet. She told Anna, ‘I need to get involved in something.’ And Anna said, ‘I’ve got just the thing for you.’"

"She gave me Jane Watt’s card,” Marianne Iordanou said. “I needed it.” 

The next thing you know, Marianne Iordanou is on the Marco Island Academy’s Board of Directors. She soon finds herself in charge of the new high school’s $15 million capital campaign. People tell her it’s going to be impossible to raise that kind of money. Husband Dinos is surprised but supportive when he finds out that his wife had boldly stepped forward to lead the charge.

"When Marianne came home,” Dinos said, "I asked her what happened today at the board meeting,” Dinos said. "She said, ‘Well, we decided to start a capital campaign.’ And I said, ‘What is your role?’ She said, ‘Well, I’m going to be the chairwoman.’” 

She said there were a lot of naysayers at first.

"Everybody told me that it’s going to be almost impossible to achieve all of these goals,” Marianne Iordanou said.

"I told her, ’Nothing is impossible if you believe in it,’” Dinos Iordanou said.  

"I would say it's a miracle,” Marianne Iordanou said, reflecting on the capital campaign. "Where we are now from where we came, it’s so unbelievable. I’m proud of everybody who worked on it. Everybody came together and worked so hard. I never thought it could be done in the beginning, but here we are. I’m so happy for all these kids.”

Mark Melvin is a big part of the MIA story. As a board member, he was intimately involved in the construction of the campus. Besides his hands-on involvement, Melvin is also the school’s largest donor. Melvin is so down to earth that he almost appears like one of the students as he weaves his way through every nook and cranny of the campus. As the saying goes, he has his finger on the pulse of everything Marco Island Academy. Melvin is philosophical about what MIA means to the community.

"The ribbon cutting symbolizes more than just the opening of the school,” Melvin said. “It symbolizes the opening of the endowment, which will provide a free education for all who want to go to MIA forever. The school was made possible by the tenacity of Jane Watt and those who believed in her dream as well as those who came to teach there and bring their love to the kids of the area. It is a representation of our community here on Marco and all the good that was the driving force to bring MIA to the Island.”

Kurt Lacks is one of MIA’s major donors. He was happy that everyone at Thursday’s gathering got to experience the school’s upbeat environment.

“This was a special event for the city and the donors and the students,” Lacks said, “You saw smiles on everyone's face, and that's all you ever see when you go to MIA. I couldn't be happier. It finally completes the educational cycle for Marco Island.”

Bill Young, who donated the land for the school, was happy to see the community turnout for the event.

“There were many more people there than I anticipated,” Young said. "It was really the core group of people that built the school. If you looked around at the crowd, I knew all of those people quite well after several years of putting that school together.”

"It’s sweet to see a community come together like that and actually build a school because otherwise, we wouldn’t have a high school, we’d still be using Lely,” Young said. “We’ve needed a school all along and we finally got one. I don’t think the average person living here knows that the school district didn’t contribute to the project at all. It was a struggle to raise the money to get the school built, but it came out beautifully, and I’m proud to be part of it."