East Valley · Chandler, Arizona · 2026 Yass Prize Contender
School should prepare boys for life.
Moreana Boys Academy is a small, personalized learning community for boys ages 10–18 in Chandler — serious academics with mentorship, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, practical skills, leadership, and real-world experiences.
Wisdom
Sapientia
Courage
Fortitudo
Justice
Iustitia
Temperance
Temperantia
The Pulitzer of education innovation
2026 Yass Prize Contender
In 2026, Moreana Boys Academy was selected nationally as a Yass Prize Contender. The $1 million Yass Prize is called the Pulitzer of education innovation — a competition that draws thousands of schools and providers. Contender status is a rare honor. It recognizes a model built on individualized academics, mentorship, experiential learning, and preparing boys for life.
Built for boys
We are not trying to make boys better at sitting through school.
We are building a better school experience for boys. That does not mean academics are secondary. It means academics exist inside a broader model of human development.
Boys are curious. They want to move, test themselves, build things, solve problems, compete, explore, and understand how the world works. Education should use those instincts rather than constantly fight them.
At Moreana, focused academics sit beside movement, mentorship, responsibility, practical skills, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, hands-on projects, and immersive Friday Excursions. The result is not school made easier. It is education made more meaningful.
Small cohorts. Coaches who actually know your son.
A Personal Academic Plan — not one pace for every boy in the room.
Twice-weekly Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Fridays spent learning from people who do the work.
The day
8:00 to 3:30. Academics first. Then the rest of a boy.
Campus days generally run 8:00 AM to 3:00 or 3:30 PM. The model allows flexibility — this is a rhythm, not a bell schedule.
Mornings
Focused academic work
The most concentrated part of the day. Boys work their Personal Academic Plan — independent study, individual coaching, and small-group instruction. Different students, different courses. That is intentional.
Midday
Social time, projects & Maverick Hour
Lunch, conversation, and space to pursue an interest beyond assigned work: building, reading, drawing, experimenting. Students should have chances to decide what they want to learn, not only consume what is assigned.
Afternoons
Enrichment, movement & workshops
The day opens up: projects, practical skills, guest instructors, physical training, and collaboration. Campus days generally run 8:00 AM to 3:00 or 3:30 PM. The model allows flexibility; no two days are rigidly identical.
2× weekly
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
A private lesson with Professor Quan Phu, twice a week, under the Gracie Humaita banner. Discipline, creative thinking, problem-solving, perseverance, and confidence — the work of a student-athlete, not a PE period.
Twice a week
Learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable.
Professor Quan Phu · Gracie Humaita
Twice each week, Moreana students train in a private lesson with Professor Quan Phu. We train under the Gracie Humaita banner — the lineage of the original Gracie Academy, founded in 1925, and regarded as the oldest Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academy in the world.
BJJ is not PE. For a student-athlete it is a laboratory: discipline to show up and drill, creative thinking when a technique stalls, problem-solving in real time, perseverance when you get stuck, and the confidence that comes from doing a hard thing well.
The Moreana week
Building our community
A strong sense of community is both important and doable. The program is designed to build it through collaboration, experience, and service.
Leadership
Tom Dowell
Founder & Program Director · Coach Tom
Anthony Corrado
Lead Instructor · Coach 2.0
2026–2027
Full Academy
5 days · Monday–Friday
$12,500
Core Academy
4 days · Monday–Thursday
$8,750
Part-Time Academy
3 days · Mon, Wed, Fri
$10,000
Come walk the campus.
Call 480.431.8410, write info@moreana-az.com, or schedule a tour. We’ll walk you through the campus, the day, and whether this is the right fit for your son.