Superintendent, American Community School, Amman, Jordan
American Community School of Amman
Larry McIlvain is the superintendent at the American Community School (ACS) in Amman, Jordan. The school serves the educational needs of both the local and expatriate community living in Jordan. Students from approximately 45 nationalities attend the school and a wide range of languages and religious backgrounds are represented. In a region experiencing great turbulence, ACS strives to be a center for open dialogue, respect and understanding. ACS’s current efforts include raising funds to build child friendly spaces at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan so young Syrian children will have a safe place to play. The school is also working on a collaborative project to manufacture 3-D printed prosthetics for children in Gaza who have lost limbs.
McIlvain was born and raised in Wyoming, but part of his early education, due to parents work, was in a small missionary town in Peru and later at the American International School of Kabul, Afghanistan. He attended Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kansas, graduated from the University of Wyoming, and holds a master's degree in educational leadership and cultural studies from the University of Houston. McIlvain also spent summers working in an orphanage in Egypt and deep in the Amazon jungle. His life journey and job as an international educator has taken him to the Dominican Republic, Russia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Jordan.