Iman Academy

Iman Academy is an Advanced Ed/SACS Accredited Islamic K-12 private school system in Greater Houston with two campuses serving grade one through grade twelve.[1] Iman Academy was established in 1995 by a group of community members and families.

Iman Academy Southwest is located in west Houston on Highway 6 between Westhimer and Bellaire unincorporated Harris County, and has students that attend its school from all over Houston including Sugarland, Galveston, The Woodlands, and Katy. Iman Academy teaches IB PYP in the elementary school and teaches Pre-AP in the middle school followed by AP courses in the high school. Iman Academy Southwest Alumni are attending Harvard, Stanford, Davidson, University of Texas, Texas A&M, Penn State, Rice, and the University of Houston Honors Program and in the 2011-2012 & 2012-2013 academic were awarded over 3 million dollars in scholarships including students who were awarded the Bill and Melinda Gates Scholarship, among many others. Iman Academy Southwest has National Merit Scholars and AP Scholars scoring perfect scores on multiple AP exams.

Iman Academy Southwest also offers an international program dubbed "The Bridge" which is for transient students who travel between the U.S. and the Middle East. It is a special program that is taught completely in Arabic with the exception of English and History. The Bridge also focuses heavily on English as a second language skill sets and includes double periods of English labs and English coursework. The Bridge also adds additional maths, sciences and higher level Arabic in order to help Bridge any gaps that students may face when transitioning back into their home countries curriculum. Iman Academy Southwest also offers I-20s for incoming international students who may be interested in either The Bridge Arabic Immersion Program or the Traditional IB/Pre AP/AP track.

Iman Academy offers Arabic K-12 along with Quran and Islamic Studies in addition to its rigorous academic coursework. Iman Academy also believes in service based learning and requires all students to complete a minimum of 120 hours of community service before graduation. Iman Academy has certified teachers many of whom hold Masters and PhD's. Iman Academy has a little over 100 employees across the two campuses.

Iman Academy has between 700-1000 students across both campuses. The student body is very diverse made up of Arabs, Hispanics, African Americans, Africans, Indian, Bengali, Pakistani, Indonesian, etc. Many students are American born and raised along with students who are immigrants to the U.S. Iman Academy has students who come from single family homes and traditional family homes. Iman Academy has special needs students as well.

Iman Academy Southeast is located in the Clear Lake/Webster area Houston. Iman Academy Southeast is spread over two campuses with a K-5 program at the Almeda location and a middle school and high school program at the Jestream campus.

Iman Academy has a licensed early child care programs at both locations under the name of Faith Southwest Childcare and Faith Southeast Childcare, both are located on the same property as the school. The childcare offers centers based learning programs and teaches Arabic, Quran, English, Math and Islamic Studies. Faith Childcare takes children anywhere from 1 month to 5 years old.

Student body

As of 2012 Iman Academy Southwest had 500 students.[2]

Athletics

As of 2012 Iman Academy Southwest schedules its own athletic games against other schools. Some athletes from the school join city-based athletic leagues. In 2010 Iman Academy Southwest submitted an application to join the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS), the state's private school athletic and competition league. TAPPS responded by asking Iman to complete a questionnaire with questions like "Historically, there is nothing in the Koran that fully embraces Christianity or Judaism in the way a Christian and/or a Jew understands his religion. Why, then, are you interested in joining an association whose basic beliefs your religion condemns?" Iman Academy SW did, unlike other schools, fill out the questionnaire and the attached application, and TAPPS denied Iman SW admission into the league.[3][4] In 2012 the school again attempted to join TAPPS, but it was again denied.[2]

In 2012-2013 Iman Academy Southwest joined an All Girls Softball League, one of the four Iman Academy Southwest All Girls Softball teams placed second in finals. Iman Academy has a strong and competitive soccer team. Many Iman Academy students play in local baseball, soccer, karate, basketball, and fencing teams and are star players. Iman Academy has had Olympic qualifying students in different areas.

Iman Academy is not associated with any organization or mosque. None of the campuses are attached to a mosque, but prayer services are held on campus for students, teachers and staff online.

See also

References

  1. "About Us." Iman Academy. Retrieved on November 14, 2010.
  2. 1 2 Mulvaney, Erin. "Houston Islamic school’s rejection from TAPPS resurfaces." Houston Chronicle. March 6, 2012. Retrieved on April 11, 2016.
  3. Pilon, Mary (March 2, 2012). "Before Games, Religious Questions". The New York Times. Retrieved March 9, 2012.
  4. Mulvaney, Erin. TAPPS draws renewed criticism for rejection of an Islamic academy Houston Chronicle. March 7, 2012. Accessed April 16, 2012

External links

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