Global Prep Academy at Riverside 44 opens new middle school
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Hundreds of middle school students will be getting new opportunities at Global Preparatory Academy at Riverside 44, a dual language school.
On Thursday, Global Prep Academy celebrated the grand opening of their new middle school. It’s a modular school building located outside the main building.
Currently, Global Prep teaches pre-K to seventh grade students. Next year, they’ll be able to teach eighth grade students.
Global Prep says it currently has about 120 sixth- and seventh-graders and about 200 middle school students.
The new space includes six classroom, two restrooms, workspace for the teachers, and much more. The school has teachers from all over Latin America, Spain and the Caribbean.
Mariama Shaheed, founder and CEO of Global Prep Academy, says the student population has grown rapidly since the school opened in 2016.
According to Shaheed, the school started with 500 students in pre-K to sixth grade. That number grew to about 700 pre-K to sixth grade students.
“Once we added grade seven, we got to the point where the original building was well beyond… was not able to meet our needs, and so, in partnership with Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS), this facility was built, so that we could continue the program to be pre-k to 8th grade,” Shaheed said.
Shaheed says it takes five to seven years for students to become bilingual and biliterate.
“So, having a facility that allows that mission to be realized from the youngest grades all the way up to eighth grade is really the best way, and being in one location is best for families and is best for our community,” Shaheed said. “I’ve always been passionate about African American children working alongside Latino children to become bilingual and bi-literate, so to see that exact thing happening in the building is beyond words, and to know that we’re just poised to continue that work gives so much pride and joy.”
Shaheed says school leaders hope to obtain a second building in three to four years.