Monarca Academy

One of the highlights of Monarca Academy's school year has been enrollment. Monarca Academy started with 40 students and now has 104 students attending. Monarca Academy has enrolled another 100 students for next school year so it will be at 200 students. Monarca Academy's board of directors projected 150 students by year three, but that number has been surpassed. While word of mouth has been Monarca Academy's most powerful tool, several activities have added to the success of its enrollment. First, Monarca Academy attends local events such as fiesta indianapolis, mariachi festival, haitian independence day, dia de los muertos and many other events. At these events, informational flyers are distributed to hundreds of potential families and conversations are had. Second, Monarca Academy has up to three media events with wish tv to share with the Community that they are open and enrolling students. Finally, when parents reach out, tours of Monarca Academy are scheduled. Once families see the safe and productive learning environment, they usually enroll on the spot.

Monarca Academy is at an early stage, but our parent meetings are yet another highlight. When asked to come to school for events, Monarca Academy has averaged about 50% attendance. Regular meetings are scheduled every other month and these have about 25% attendance. Parents in touch day, which is held on the same day as indianapolis public Schools, is held twice a year after grades are released, so the attendance is about 50%. Special meetings such as an "axolotl day" at eagle creek park had the least attendance at only 5%. And a "posadas" event that was not mandatory, but done in partnership with christ church cathedral drew 75% student/family attendance and many Community members. Parents are starting to feel more and more connected to Monarca Academy, so parent/community days will continue to grow and will continue to be Monarca highlights.

The unique visual & performing arts program is another highlight of Monarca Academy. Partnerships with Community artists have been developed to provide students with a robust selection of visual & performing arts options. 100% of the 104 students participate in the visual & performing arts program. The partners and programs students partipate in are as follows: capoeira - a brazilian martial art rooted in liberation. Iuri santos of capeoira angola in bloomington travels to Monarca twice a week to provide students with workshops and dance classes. World music - pavel polanco, a dominican musician provides music instruction to Monarca students. Ballet folklorico - ana hernandez and carol nunez of baie folklorico macehuani go to Monarca twice a week to lead dance classes. Hip hop - indanza, a local dance group provides students with dance instruction as well as popping instruction by koi tran. Art - samuel pealosa, a local artist leads students in exploring art. As Monarca will grow to 200 students next year, they will continue to partner with local artists to continue to grow the visual & performing arts program. A showcase of the talent will be on may 18th from 12-3.