Empowering Students Through Personalized Academic Support
Iaomai Academy works with middle and early high school students who want to do well in school, but are quietly buckling under the pressure. Many of the students we support are motivated, thoughtful, and invested in their success, yet find themselves overwhelmed by workload, organization, or rising expectations. Some are falling behind despite great efforts to keep up. Others are quietly exhausted from pushing themselves without the skills or structure they need.
At Iaomai Academy, we help students understand that their struggles are not a personal failure or a lack of ability. They are often a signal that the way a student is navigating school no longer fits their needs, their workload, or their stage of development. We serve students in grades 6-9 who need targeted, restorative support to regain academic stability and build sustainable habits for high school and beyond.
Through our Virtual Writing Coaching program, middle school and early high school students who are struggling with writing or overwhelm receive clear guidance, structure, and direction to improve writing clarity and move forward with greater self-confidence. This work is informed by direct experience supporting students through critical academic moments, including one-on-one academic support that helped a previously struggling middle school student complete the school year successfully with renewed confidence and consistency.
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Our Iaomai Advantage Virtual Saturdays program provides dedicated, engaging support specifically for high schoolers in grade 9, helping them build strong foundations early and develop the tools to thrive amid increasing academic demands.
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Iaomai Academy has paused its microschool program indefinitely to focus on serving students who need to build foundational skills in reading and writing.
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Mission Statement
Our name, Iaomai (pronounced ee-ah'-om-ahee), comes from a biblical Greek word that means to restore, to heal, or to bring back from the darkness. That spirit of restoration guides everything we do.
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We support middle and early high school students who are struggling academically by offering virtual writing coaching to become more confident and less stressed about the writing process. The Virtual Saturdays program offers 9th grade students an opportunity to build on these skills and incorporate them with reading comprehension and note-taking exercises. Our approach emphasizes clear planning, practical tools, consistent accountability, and personalized guidance to help students regain direction, reduce overwhelm, and make realistic progress.
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Our aim is to help students move from academic difficulty toward stability and confidence, leaving them better prepared to manage future demands with stronger habits, perspective, and self-awareness.
About Our
Founder
Our founder, Shavonne, spent over seven years of experience working in K-12 independent day and boarding schools, as well as higher education, on the east and west coasts. In that time, she held multiple roles including registrar, academic adviser, and students with disabilities (SSD) coordinator. While employed at a boarding high school, she built strong relationships with students and learned that many of them felt pressure to earn high grades or faced learning differences that brought about physical and mental health issues. The rigorous setting affected their overall confidence, making them feel inadequate compared to their peers. The interactions with these students reminded Shavonne of her own experience as a high-achieving student with an undiagnosed learning difference, anxiety, and chronic asthma that led to regular absences from public-school student and overcompensation through high marks to make up for what she felt were personal deficiencies. Teachers and classmates believed she was a good student, but did not know that her quiet nature covered up a growing disdain for school. Shavonne earned a bachelor's and master's degree, as expected of her, but quietly faced internal struggles and often procrastinated as coursework grew more difficult. An official diagnosis of inattentive ADHD in her early thirties provided much needed clarity and the ability to move forward with grace. Iaomai Academy was originally founded to provide a relaxed academic environment for bright students with diverse learning needs to work at their own pace and unlock their potential. Following a successful year helping one student improve five grade levels in reading and math, she realized her passion lies in coaching pre-teens and teens who may be suffering with increased academic demands and burn out. She is also passionate about filling in literacy gaps that often hold teens back from succeeding in academic work. It is her mission to partner with students to provide a space for acceptance, accountability, and hope as they rebuild their confidence and learn to skills to thrive in school and beyond. Thank you for considering Iaomai Academy and we look forward to learning more about your academic support needs.