College For All

Last week, Jennifer Mitchell and I attended a conference in Pharr, Texas at Pharr-San Juan-Alamo (PSJA) Independent Schools.  Our trip was a part of the Lilly Counseling planning grant that we received a few weeks ago.  Pharr, Texas was a high poverty community 6 minutes from the Mexican Border!!  (Interestingly enough, they already have a wall on the border – but a lot of the economic growth was dependent on Mexico.)

PSJA, even though a much, much larger school corporation, had a lot of similarities with Perry Central.  PSJA is in their third year of being an Early College High School.  They worked to build a culture at their school grades K-12 with the expectation that all students would earn an Associate Degree, Technical Certification or at least 15 hours of dual credit in an academic or technical area.  As you can imagine, with the population of students at this school, a very, very large percentage of students are first generation and/or come from high poverty homes.   The core leadership of this school realized that education was the ticket of making their community better.  Just 6 years ago, gangs were ruling the streets with drive-by shootings, fights, etc.  Now, as the school and community has evolved, they are a very safe campus with a rapidly growing population of students who are earning a college credential. POWERFUL!

Jennifer and I took away a lot of great ideas on how we can take our Early College program to the next level, but I think for me, it was just a reminder of how powerful education is.  I am reminded of Nelson Mandela’s quote, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”  Early College is more than a recognition of the programs we have in our school, but it is a ticket for many of our students to have a better quality of life.  This visit gave me a deeper drive to making sure we put supports in ensure students can be successful and a deeper appreciate for our faculty and staff and the change makers that all of you are.  You are providing a foundation that will last a lifetime.  Thanks for all you do!!     

School Notes: 

Boys Varsity Basketball team will play Forest Park Tuesday night in sectional play.  A pep session will be held on Tuesday!  Go Big Green!!

Mike Bishop is working on Career Day.  Career Day will be held on March 10^th during 3^rd and 4^th periods for students in grades 8-10.  More details will follow soon!

Thanks to some extra funds we received for the after school program, a group of 33 students will be traveling to Purdue University for a college visit.  Students will be leaving at 1:00 p.m. on March 7 and returning late on March 8^th.   A list of students will be posted this week. 

Important Dates:  

Monday, February 27 – ISTEP testing grades 7,8 10  (please see email for schedules)

Tuesday, February 28 – Boys Varsity Basketball Sectional/  Pep Session

Wednesday, March 1 -  ISTEP testing grades 7,8 10

Thursday, March 2 - ISTEP testing grades 7,8 10