A Background on AQEMA
Introduction
The Academy of Quirk Enrichment for Military Application (also known as AQEMA) is a 4-year co-educational autonomous military boarding school located in the Sakha Republic, Russia. Founded in 2004 by the eminent hero OTZI, AQEMA is one of the oldest quirk training academies in the Russian Federation. Originally built on the premise of being a training ground for the nationâs then fledgling legacy hero families, AQEMA soon grew past its origins and became infamous for its lack of allegiance concerning heroes, villains, or otherwise.Â
AQEMAâs mission statement is to expand and advance the abilities of its students to their fullest potential. It is notable for its Squad System- a self-imposed hierarchy that promotes near total independence among the student body-Â and has been hailed for its innovative style of teaching and discipline.Â
AQEMA is located in an autonomous territory set aside for the campus. It teaches in both Russian and English, provides basic general education and advanced general education, and hosts a wide number of events and activities geared towards quirk advancement. To complement this AQEMA is home to state-of-the-art educational and medical facilities, and employs field-tested, well-trained, experienced staff as well.
AQEMA promotes itself internationally, and accepts over 40% of its students from abroad. It is a highly selective school that chooses its students based on family background, financial need, and âpotentialâ. As a rule, The Academy has less than 1,000 students attending at any given time. In recent years, AQEMA has adopted a youth outreach program aimed at rehabilitating juvenile delinquents. Requests can come from local or international courts, and candidates are accepted on a case-by-case basis.
History
Beginning from its inception in the early 2000s, AQEMA grew and maintained its reputation as a rigorous military-like school for the elite. It kept itself at the top through a combination of its rich and powerful alumni, regular attendance at the World Festival of Youth and Students, and constant bouts of controversies surrounding everything from its ties to the criminal underground to the efficiency of its Squad System. However, starting in the early 2020s AQEMAâs reputation began to deteriorate as other schools in the nation, notably hero academies, began to surpass The Academyâs own records.Â
Its popularity would only decline more. String after string of failure on the schoolâs part compelled many of its legacy families to pull out from the academy indefinitely. This, alongside budget cuts and the perceived notion that the school could not justify its existence anymore, AQEMA officially retired its Squad System in 2031 and moved towards the more conventional curriculums found at its rival schools.Â
AQEMA would fade into obscurity, clinging on to the vestiges of its glory to keep it afloat from inevitable shut-down.
Then Misha Medvedev bought the academy in 2044.
Known as a wildly wealthy and eccentric philanthropist, in one fell swoop Medvedev: Took control of AQEMAâs Board of Trustees, assumed the role as Headmaster after unceremoniously ousting her predecessor, presumably paid off SEVERAL russian government officials to convert the whole of the campus in to a permanent autonomous zone, and completely restructured the academy to resemble Otziâs original vision.
In the decade since, AQEMA has been ushered into a new Golden Era, reinvigorated by both Medvedevâs personal coffers and her efforts to rebrand the school as a âreturn to formâ, it is steadily on its way to reclaim its title as one of the nationâs top schools while still breathing a new life of its own.Â
AQEMA will be celebrating its 50th anniversary during the ongoing 2054-2055 school year.
