Charter school for minority students finding success in West Valley


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WEST VALLEY CITY — A new public charter school is the first of its kind not only in Utah, but in the nation.

Mana Academy is focused on closing the achievement gap among minority students by bringing culture into the classroom. Kindergarten through 12th-grade students can choose between learning Tongan, Samoan and Spanish; but learning the language of their ancestors is key to what Mana is all about.

“They can add, subtract, multiply and divide in their native languages,” Principal Adam AhQuin said of his students.

“Being able to validate their cultural heritage and validate who they are as individuals and their cultural identity is a pathway to academic success,” said ‘Anapesi Ka’ili, the school’s academic director.

Ka’ili is a former professor at the University of Utah and spent years studying Pacific Islanders. She says from the years 2003 to 2005, state records show a 62-percent dropout rate among Pacific Islanders. Today the graduation rate is at 87 to 89 percent, but only 15 percent of those graduates make it to college. Ka’ili wants to change that.

Administrators say test scores have improved since September, as they've integrated a standard curriculum with cultural classes.

“We really are representatives of our family, our names and our communities,” said Yamila Martinez, a third-grade teacher at Mana Academy.

“I, like them, was stereotyped and labeled as a student that wasn’t going to succeed academically,” Martinez said. “Here, I’m just like them … and I experienced the same things that they did, and so I think that they feel safe.”

Stand together, stand and shout, that's the translation — and it's what faculty and staff hope these students do in the future.

“Here at our school we have a theme, and it says: learning today and leading tomorrow,” said Jocelyn Maluia.

They’re also changing stereotypes to achieve success.

“My dream is that every student that comes out of this school, we can take them and put them anywhere in the world and they will be successful,” Ka’ili said.

“It’s not about the brown, it’s not about the white; it’s about who you are — whoever you are — own it, learn it, develop it. Grow your own personal mana,” AhQuin said.

Email: idanielson@ksl.com

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Irinna Danielson and Nadine Wimmer

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