Readers' Choice: Mercer Island Martial Arts Tops in Poll

[Krista Wells]

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 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.