Aspaen Gimnasio Iragua

Aspaen Gimnasio Iragua is a girls' school in Bogota, Colombia. It was founded in 1968 by ASPAEN, a non-profit organization founded in 1964 as a project to promote education all over the country with 24 institutions in 8 cities of Colombia, related by their philosophy to other educational institutes in 5 continents.

In Bogota, it works with Gimnasio Los Cerros, Prescolar Atavanza and Universidad de La Sabana, which still share the same ideals but have become independent organs. In Medellin with Gimnasio Los Alcazares, Gimnasio Los Pinares, and Preschool Carrizales, in Cali with Colegion Juanambú, Liceo Tacurí and preescolar Tayana; Manizales: Gimnasio Los Cerezos and el Gimnasio Horizontes; Neiva: Gimnasio la Fragua and Gimnasio Yumaná; Barranquilla: Gimnasio Altamar and Gimnasio Los Coreales; Cartagena: Gimnasio Cartagena, Gimnasio Cartagena de Indias, and preescolar Alborada with preescolar Pepe Grillo; Bucaramanga: Gimnasio Saucará, Gimnasio Cantillana and preescolar Yatay.

Gimnasio Iragua is one of the schools of ASPAEN and the result of the decision made by a group of parents concerned with the education of their daughters, willing to give them an integral education, personalized, and under the philosophy of the Opus Dei, with the following characteristics:

First parents, then teachers and finally students,Catholic education,Personalized education,School Government.

The school began working on January 20, 1969 with a staff of 7 teachers and 81 students. Today it has around 900 students, a staff of 65 teachers and a total of 130 employees. It has 14 grades beginning with pre-kinder (pre-jardin) to 11th grade in pre-school, primary, vocational middle school and International Baccalaureate. The socio-economic level of the alumni and their families are from high and medium-high classes. According to the information mentioned before the school divides itself in level A (preschool-school) that includes grades from preschool to third grade, level B (middle school) from grades 4th-8th and level C (high School) that includes grades 9th,10th, and 11th.

Important events in the institution:

The spiritual influence of the Opus Dei organization gives the school an integral perspective by balancing the knowledge acquired through religion, with the coherence between what is learned and an appropriate style of life, together, these should determine good habits that will be with the students throughout their whole lives.

The other institution which works in cooperation with Aspaen, is Corpaf -corporacion de padres de familia- born in 1968 and whose function is to provide the physical installations and logistics to the educational canters of Aspaen, being the economical support of the schools. on the other hand, it is also in charge of the families' growth process.

­ It is now a bilingual school, and in 2007 it will officially be a calendar b school. It has been affiliated to the IBO organization since 1989, which gave the school the opportunity to open itself to other cultures, a better academic performance together with a better preparations of its staff in order to assume coherently its institutional philosophy. In 1991 the National Ministry of Education approved this educative innovation with the permission to give the title of International Bachelors in Sciences with the resolution 12609 of November 1991. In 1993 the first promotion of International Bachelors graduated, with a diploma expired by the IBO (International Baccalaureate Organization). It has also been qualified as a Very Superior Level school according to the Colombian state exam (ICFES). By the way the class of 2006 has proved itself the best promotion the school has ever had, it is constituted by 82 girls that are already successful even though they just finished school.

Mission

Giving the students an integral education, personalized, catholic, the personal growth of parents, teachers, alumni, former students and administration staff, making the educative project possible, contributing to tha transformation of society through the enlightenment of each family in order to change its environment for the best.

Vision

The vision is to be an educative institution centered in principles and projected with advanced technology to make the education of role-model women real, with identity and an international vision, where the educational staff- parents, teachers, students, former students, administration and service staff- act as a team with the goal to fulfill the mission they have acquired.

Symbols:IRAGUA: Cauce de río.Iragua is an Indian (chibcha) word which means river channel, this supposes a dynamic movement of water, which flows from an origin to an end, through this road liberty is lived between the boundaries of responsibility in order to follow the natural law that will lead to form a better or more perfect person.

Flag:

White: purity,Green: hope and truth,red: love.

Activities:

The students can enroll themselves into artistic and sports electives that include football, volleyball and cheers, as well as academic activities in which they have succeeded such as Model United Nations, Math Olympics, spelling bees and others. Hopefully someday the school will leave behind its misunderstandings and really support its students in activities with other schools.

External Links

http://www.iragua.edu.co/

http://www.ibo.org/school/search/index.cfm?programmes=&country=CO&region=&find_schools=Find

Address: diagonal 170 #66-50, Bogota, Colombia, South America

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