Dubai American Academy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dubai American Academy
DAA
"Lead Kindly Light"
Location
Al Barsha, Dubai, U.A.E. P.O. Box 32762, UAE
Information
Superintendent Dan E. Young
Students 1500+
Faculty 150+
Type Private Elementary/Middle/High school
Mascot Leopard / Diego
Color(s) Blue and red and silver
Established 1997
Homepage www.gemsaa-dubai.com

Dubai American Academy is a PreK-12 school in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is an international school, representing over 75 different nationalities.

Contents

[edit] Classes

The Dubai American Academy logo is two sails next to each other. The school provides education from KG1 to Grade 12. The school provides American high school courses and the International Baccalaureate Diploma. The cost to attend DAA is AED 58,000 which is approximately USD 16,000.

[edit] Uniform

The DAA uniforms consist of a light valued blue collared shirt with the DAA logo on the pocket, navy blue pants(or skirt), and a navy blue tie with the DAA logo. In 2005-2006 year, a new option was available to seniors (12 Grade) as an alternative for a uniform: a short sleeved, light blue collared shirt with the phrase "Class of 2008" on the pocket, allowing seniors to wear it without a tie and not tucked in.

[edit] Student Activities

It has various different activities made to happen throughout the year which includes dances, proms, The Genie awards which is a large scale talent show, charity/fund raising activities such as the annual Swimathon and many more.

DAA also has various clubs and organizations which includes the Student Council, Senate, STC [Student Tech Crew], MSF (Medecins Sans Frontieres), Operation Smile, Like? (Art Club), Mobius Loop (Math Club), Green Team, DubaiWood (movie club)and various clubs in the fields of music and drama, and many more.

A DAA Student Government operates under two branches: the Student Council and the Student Senate. The Student Government is the voice of the Student Body and it is the function of the members to represent the opinion of the students and address their needs.

[edit] Pawprint

The Pawprint is a student oriented newspaper written by the students. It is separate and different from the Spots, written by the school administration for parents. The Newspaper was first established in 2005 with the help of the student government president Billy Lobo and the treasurer Nima Hairy. The first editor of the school newspaper, Rikhil Bajaj, along with assistant editor Amanda Fakhredine underwent the task of establishing a newspaper on par with a respectable high school newspaper. The first edition of the Pawprint was printed in December 2005.

[edit] Sports

Dubai American Academy is a full member of the Eastern Mediterranean Activities Conference (EMAC), which includes American schools in the Eastern Mediterranean and Persian Gulf regions. DAA participates in a variety of arts, music, and debate events with EMAC as well as in EMAC sport competitions. The mascot of DAA is Diego the Leopard.

[edit] Volleyball

Volleyball is one of the most popular sports in the school. The team begins conditioning for the sport beginning in the summer. In 2006-2007, the Varsity Girls team came in 5th place and the Varsity boys 3rd place at the EMAC Varsity Volleyball tournament held in Bahrain.

Tennis Team

Current Coach Ms. Linda Olsen for the girls since 2005. DAA offers JV as well as Varsety tennis for boys and girls with max. eight people on each team. They also participate in EMAC.

[edit] Cross Country

The team began with a single runner 6 years ago. At the beginning of the 2007 season, DAA had over 40 runners turn out for the team.

After the annual Hatta Invitational, the team qualified its top 5 runners in each category. Edgar Alejandro Mujica took first in the Varsity boys race defeating Asa Weiss as the defending Hatta course record holder. Mujica's time was 2 seconds over the record for the 5k race. The second day of races Mujica placed 3rd behind DOHA at 2nd and Asa Weiss at 1st. Jenny Tave took 1st place in the Junior Varsity Girls race. Imran Khoja took 2nd place in the Junior Varsity Boys while Kai took 3rd. At the 2006-2007 EMAC competitions, hosted by the American School of Dubai, Jenny Tave ran for two gold medals, Edgar Alejandro Mujica for two silver medals, and Imran Khoja for a bronze.

[edit] Soccer

In 2006-2007, about 80 students tried out for the boys Varsity Soccer team. A highlight of the year was the win at home against local rivals, the American School of Dubai. The team finished second in the tournament in Abu Dhabi, after a controversial game against hosts American Community School of Abu Dhabi.

[edit] Basketball

Basketball is one of the more popular sports at DAA and also one of the more selective. The female varsity team placed 2nd at the EMAC invitational tournament, whilst the varsity boys' team placed 1st in the Ras al Khaimah Mustafa Al-Radwan Tournament where the highlight was Dain Hemmerich's three pointer at the buzzer in their final game of the season.

[edit] Track & Field

The track & field is a relatively young team. Despite the fact, the team placed 7th overall at the 2006 EMAC Cairo invitational amongst 16 teams, improving drastically from the 12th place in the previous year. The sport is still not enthusiastically accepted amongst the students but is slowly becoming a more competitive sport. The members of the team are Stephan Muller, Sulafa, Keegan O'Meally, Joseph Jang, John Cracking, John Leine Martin, and steve brownson.

[edit] Awards

As well as honoring Most Valuable Player and Most Improved Player's for every team in the year, at the end of the year special awards are given to athletes at DAA. This year's awards recipients were the following:

JV Female Athlete of the Year: Sulafa (Football, Cross-Country, Track & Field)

Varsity Female Athlete of the Year: Ashlley (Volleyball, Basketball, Soccer)

Male Athlete of the Year: John Martin (Volleyball, Football, Basketball, Track & Field)

Academic Athlete of the Year: Imran Khoja (Volleyball, Swimming, Cross-Country)

[edit] School Philosophy

DAA is a completely student based school where the students themselves are given the responsibility to make their year a memorable one.

[edit] References

 This article does not cite any references or sources. (April 2008)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

[edit] External links