Dec. 1997 Have You Met The Principal Yet?

by Ahmed Mapara

Well you will soon!  Adam Muhammad is the new principal for Sunrise Academy, which just turned a year old.  He took office on November 17^th, with all the confidence a leader of an organization like Sunrise Academy should be expected to have.  “My vision for this academy is more on the lines of a community educational resource, meeting the needs of not only pre-school-school-age children but also adults and other members of our community and also the members of the non-Muslim community at large.”

Br. Adam (formerly known as Brian Clouse) has played an active role in the Islamic community of Columbus since he accepted Islam 5 years ago.  In addition to his sound background in the field of education, (nearing the end of his PhD studies), he has been involved in what he describes as “Grass roots level community development in rural villages of Latin America.”  He had the opportunity of working with people in villages of Brazil, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic, working in community development, sanitation, oral rehydration therapy, nutrition, and reforestation and other development related projects.

Asked how he plans to attract adults to this new school, Br. Adam responded, “We would like to introduce Arabic courses in our school, not only for the Muslim community but also for the non-Muslims, especially the business class.  Also we are planning to introduce English as a second language.”  This, in his opinion, will not only enhance the English speaking skills of our growing community, but will provide an alternative education program for the international community in Columbus, again including both the people within and outside our community, not forgetting the international student community around Ohio State University.  “This will also give us a chance of making our presence felt in Columbus and bring new people into our community and will be a form of dawah, as people will be coming to us in appreciation of our services to them, inshallah, though our emphasis will be more on elementary school to middle school to high school, running parallel to the pre-school children’s’ needs, and adult programs”.  

Currently Sunrise Academy offers pre-K, kindergarten, and grades 1 to 4 and expects to expand at least one grade a year.  With the staff of 8 full-time people and 5 part-time workers, Adam and his team are concentrating most on teaching math, science, social studies, language arts, Arabic, Islamic studies, Quran, art, music, and health.  “With time we are also planning to add computer related courses for the general public,” adds the principal, who not very long ago, himself was involved in teaching multimedia and internet related applications to teachers and trainers for interactive lessons.  “Our whole purpose here is to use this school facility as an educational resource for the entire community, not just serve as a school which closes its gates at 4 pm in the evening.”

Subhanallah with this spirit and goals in mind, looks like the Sunrise Academy is prepared now for a tall stand in the growing Columbus area, with the support from the Muslim community of course.