Are you familiar with Nguzo Saba? If you’ve ever celebrated Kwanzaa, you know this is Swahili for the seven principles framing the holiday. If you’re a student at Imhotep Academy, not only are you familiar with these principles, but you will probably never forget them. For 30 years, Imhotep Academy has taught students in the South Fulton community with an Afrocentric educational philosophy, empowering them with the confidence to reach their highest potential.
Founded by Evette Jackson, Donzell Rosenberg, and Charlene Rosenberg in 1993, Imhotep Academy was born out of a shared dream to educate students in an Afrocentric environment. Named after ancient Egyptian architect, mathematician, and philosopher Imhotep, the central vision was to create a learning atmosphere that uplifts students so they gain cultural pride and self-respect. Imhotep Academy is a place where students are not just seen as test scores but as individuals with unique potential, who are encouraged to achieve anything.
A Unique Educational Approach
As Imhotep utilized his genius to construct the Step Pyramid of Saqqara, Imhotep Academy believes that all students can tap into their genius and learn at an accelerated rate. The unique curriculum is designed so that all students are taught a grade level ahead from pre-K to 8th grade. This approach, as Principal Dr. Lilian Harris explains, “allows them to become very strong students.”
Along with an accelerated education, Head of School Charlton Harris emphasizes the importance of representation in the classroom.
“Kids must see themselves reflected in the education they receive…and the teachers they have,” he explains. Some students had never experienced a Black educator until attending Imhotep Academy, and they now connect more with their education, creating more pride within themselves. Once students feel proud, “that pride is then turned into academic excellence,” Harris shares.
Celebrating Cultural Awareness
Imhotep Academy understands that the best education includes academic excellence and cultural connection. Each morning, students recite the seven principles of Kwanzaa and positive affirmations such as “I have the power to choose” to build a sense of community and personal responsibility among students. Students must also take a cultural awareness course each academic year from which they learn about notable Black figures who have been and are currently paving the way. In addition to images of Black excellence throughout school walls, Imhotep Academy offers enriching programs to celebrate Black history and culture, including a Heritage Celebration and African Pride Field Day.
Cultivating Family and Community
Many private schools tend to accept students they believe are already “the best,” but Imhotep Academy finds the success story within each child. Cultural differences are celebrated and understood, creating a sense of community and comfort that students may not receive at other schools. This personal understanding creates high achievers as students are empowered to “love themselves and love education,” says Harris. While students go on to succeed beyond Imhotep Academy, they frequently visit, as it has become their home.
“When there’s a culture present, there’s a sense of family.”
“The Next 30”
As Imhotep Academy looks to the future, it hopes to be the most elite school for Black education in the United States and continue to be a model of what it means to be a Black educator.
“We have the ability to be amazing and to stay amazing,” says Harris.
“The world is vast,” says founding member Evette Jackson, and they want to expose students to multiple avenues of success with diversity in academics and choices. “We teach everything, but everything with the flavor of Africa, always.”