A School That Saves Lives with a Goal
Fugees Academy in Clarkston
In 2019, every graduating student at this private school was the first in his or her family to make it past middle school, and these high achievers didn’t stop there: Every one of them was also accepted to college. The Fugees Academy recently opened a second school, in Ohio, and a third one is soon to follow. With any luck, they will all produce success stories like the girl who described herself in this biographical essay: “I’m sad when we get days off during snowstorms and holiday breaks. My name is Harwaa from Iraq and I lived past the age of nine.”
The academy’s name comes from the word refugees. All 90 graduates escaped extremely dangerous countries: Liberia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran. Their lives in the United States were often traumatic too. Psychological scars can make concentrating hard. Many reached middle school reading English, their second language, at a kindergarten level. Yet they thrive because of one woman, Luma Mufleh, and one game: soccer.
About 15 years ago, Mufleh, a coach who emigrated from Jordan and ended up in Georgia, stumbled upon some boys playing street soccer. As she got to know them and their struggles, especially in school, she kept thinking:
What would I do if this were my kid?
Her answer: open a school for the students unlikely to get help elsewhere. “You want the kids who have a huge disciplinary file, or who can’t read a word,” Mufleh says. Her formula is to speak to them in the language of their sport, which infuses everything. They read about it and write papers comparing superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The biggest tool: teamwork. Report cards are read aloud, and if a grade is slipping, the entire student body decides how to fix it.
“We want them to see that there’s no shame in struggling,” Mufleh says. “We’re going to help no matter what.”