What’s New at Marine Military Academy for 2012-13

The 2012-13 school year has begun at MMA and returning and new cadets will be seeing some changes and some new items for enhancement of their experience and improve their education. The staff and faculty have been busy throughout the summer break installing new equipment, learning new programs and improving the facilities.  Changes are found in a variety of areas that the cadets will immediately begin using or will be used to enhance their experience or assist them as we move through this year.

Of course, the newest “What’s New” item at MMA will be the new cadets that are beginning their education.  New cadets arrived for registration on 11 August and are already involved in training.  The new cadets, known as “plebes,” will be undergoing Plebe Training their first month so check back to see how their training goes and look for their Plebe Graduation in September.

What’s New in Academics

    Reading Assistant and FastForward

Recognizing that reading skills are critical to success in all academic pursuits, the Academy has embarked on a new reading program. This semester, the English Department will begin using the Reading Assistant and FastForward programs for the first time. These programs will be used to assess all incoming eighth and ninth-grade cadets to first determine their current reading level. Those determined to have a reading level below their current grade level will be assigned to either the Reading Assistant or FastForward courses.

“Reading Assistant” is an online program designed to be used by beginning readers, English language learners, and struggling readers who have attained basic word recognition and decoding skills and are now building their vocabulary, fluency and comprehension.” The FastForward program is also an online program that” increases processing efficiency and build critical reading skills so school districts get the most from their existing instructional approach.” FastForward is a five level program that covers the entire spectrum from basic reading skills to enhancing advanced reading skills and comprehension.

    Military History

This year Mr. Joe Sousa will be offering a course in Military History for those cadets interested.  This is the first time this course has been offered and we expect that it will be a popular selection for cadets.  Check back later this year for another article on this course.

    New Teachers

What’s new for the Academics Department would not be complete without mentioning our newest teachers. The Academy welcomes the following new teachers to the staff this year;  Mr. Parviz Ghavami who will be teaching Physics and Mr. Peng Li who will be teaching Chinese.

    New Technology in Classrooms

Another “What’s New” item in the Academic Department is the purchase of an additional document camera and projector setup for our Mathematics Department. Several Document cameras were first purchased last year for use in our English Department and one for our Mathematics Department and were immediately recognized as a valuable asset for the teachers. This past spring the Mathematics Department requested one additional such setup and will begin using it with the start of class.

 What’s New in the Military Department

The first “What’s New” item in the Military Department is the addition of two new personnel just prior to the end of the last school year. These two individuals, SSgt Diaz, (shown on the right) Delta Company Assistant Drill Instructor  and SSgt Gonzales, (shown on the left) Golf Company Assistant Drill Instructor have now had a couple of months to get situated and have now been seasoned by working their first full summer camp at MMA. Both of these assistant DIs are excited about the future at MMA and look forward to working with this year’s cadets. In addition to their normal duties, they are both looking forward to getting trained and certified to run our tower and high ropes this year.

What’s new for the Military Department will be introducing new and returning cadets to some new items on our Leadership Enhancement and Development Complex. Late last school year, work was completed on new Tire Swing, Cable Traverse and Rope Bridging events that were used extensively for the first time during summer camp. The first two of these events were added to our Low Ropes course and the last one is an entirely new event.  Those campers that are returning this school year will have the pleasure of showing some our old hands how it’s done on these events!

This year the west wall of the tower will also have all rock climbing holds installed so that it can also be used for climbing.  This work was begun earlier in the year but due to summer camp the work was not able to be finished.  The Rockclimbing Team will have the pleasure of getting to set all routes on this wall.

What’s New in Athletic

The Athletics Department welcomes two new coaches to the staff this year.  Fermin Munoz will be an Assitant Football coach and also an Assistant Basketball coach this year and John Tucker will be taking over as the Head Coach for Swimming.

What’s New in Admissions

The Admissions Department is looking forward to bringing a new online application process into use within the next couple of months.  This project has been underway working on all the technical issues related to activating the online applications and is expected to be in use for enrollment for the spring semester.

    Late Registration

If you are still considering enrollment at Marine Military Academy we are still accepting late registrations for the fall semester.  Click the image below to request an information packet about attending.

What’s New in Computer Services

The Computer Science, SAT Prep and Chinese Language labs all received new computers during this past summer.  Additionally, new computers were installed in the Library for cadets to use in conducting online research. A project to complete the full fiber optics loop at MMA was completed during the summer which will ensure redundancy to Internet access across the campus. The Computer Services Department has also upgraded our Microsoft Office suite to the newest version during the summer break.

 What’s New in Facilities

The Facilities Department has a number of what’s new items for this year which include: repainting of the Iwo Jima Monument, remodeling of the Iwo Jima Gift Shop/Museum, installation of a sprinkler system at the Chosin Few Gate, new carpet in the CAC theater, repair to the Echo Company roof and replacement of Echo Company windows with new double pane, high efficiency windows, new flooring in the Coleman Hall teachers lounge and the upcoming replacement of all cabling on the High Ropes Course.  During the summer months the Facilities Department also went through all barracks repairing and replacing all reported damages.

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