Mercer Island Martial Arts has been involved in the Mercer Island Community since 1997.  We are involved in many community organizations as well as donate much of our time to bettering our community. 

We are currently involved with Social Emotional Learning.  Social Emotional Learning has been something that we have always done here at MIMA we just didn't call it that.  For More information on SEL please click here SEL

2013: We are starting off the year by collecting donations for school supplies for Mawanga Rock Art School, on Mfangano Island, in Lake Victoria, Kenya.  

"Home Town Hero":

You have been selected to represent your community as a “Hometown Hero” in the 2011 Summer Celebration Parade on July 9^th, 2011. Because of your hard work and dedication to serving your community as a great advocate for youth and violence prevention, your anti-bullying curriculum available for free to schools and other organizations on the Island, and your participation on  the CTC board, we’d like to honor you!

http://mercerisland.patch.com/articles/readers-choice-mercer-island-martial-arts-tops-in-poll

Congratulations to Mercer Island Martial Arts, winner of our 2012 Readers' Choice poll for favorite Martial Arts School!

Mercer Island Martial Arts, which got just under half of the poll's 6,6,76 votes, practices a mix of traditional and modern martial arts, and is a proudly-local institution in the Town Center. Black-belt master instructors MeLisa Turcott Strongheart and Krista Wells also hold degrees in psychology, enabling them to incorporate positive psychology and recreation therapy into instruction. The school also offers a variety of classes for preschool-age children to adult, women's self-defense, anti-bullying, special needs and anger management.

To learn more about MI Martial Arts, check out its Patch Places listing.

Here's two examples of the glowing reviews left by several parents and students on our original poll story and on the Patch Places directory listing:

Free anti-bullying classes, food drives and fundraising for local shelters, homework challenges and rewards in September, teaching special needs kids and adults with specialized classes, encouraging families to take martial arts classes together...just a few extra ways that MIMA gives back to our community. We are proud to support and attend a small, owner-operated school which raises the bar for community involvement and improvement. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

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I have been a student at Mercer Island Martial Arts before I entered the second grade. I am now sophomore in college, and I have loved every year spent with MIMA. MeLisa Strongheart and Krista Wells have been two of the biggest inspirational figures in my life, as they have worked tirelessly with students before and after me to ensure our maturation into respectable figures in society. In addition to the rigorous-but scaled classes, MIMA has set the standard for promoting ideals ranging from respect to peers and instructors to their highly successful anti-bullying campaign. I believe that it is this kind of community involvement, and dedication to students that sets MIMA above its competition. I wouldn't train anywhere else.

Mercer Island also has several other excellent Martial Arts schools. Here's what several commenters had to say about them:

Fundraising

In Feburary 2011, Mercer Island Martial Arts hosted a movie night fundraiser for the Mocking Bird Society.  We raise over $600 for the Mockingbird Society.  Here is a little more about them:

At The Mockingbird Society we are dedicated to building a world‐class foster care system that ensures the care, support, and resources necessary for children, youth, and families to thrive.

The mission of The Mockingbird Society is to advocate for systems reform based on the personal experiences of children, youth, and families impacted by the foster care system.

Several times per year we host fundraisers for our local food bank and for Mercer Island Youth and Family Services.   Our biggest one was in October of 2011 were we collected over 600 pounds of food for the food bank.

News

http://mercerisland.patch.com/listings/mercer-island-martial-arts

http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/east_king/mir/sports/127880248.html

http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/east_king/mir/sports/99895279.html

http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/east_king/mir/community/105792723.html

http://www.mi-reporter.com/green_editions/

Here's a little blurb about us from the Chamber of Commerce:

News about Members