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Education
Two KIPP Schools Expand to Meet Growing Demand for Top-Notch Education
Chris Caudle is an eighth-grade student studying at KIPP Gaston College Preparatory School in the northeastern part of the state.
In 2000‚ it was difficult recruiting students to attend KIPP Gaston College Preparatory School. After all‚ the school wasn’t even built yet – it was just a big field of soybeans and peanuts.
A year later‚ the school opened with 80 fifth-grade students. Today‚ the academy has 300 students attending grades five throught eight‚ and there’s a waiting list of more than 100 students who want to attend the prestigious school.
“KIPP Gaston Prep has become so popular that we decided to add KIPP Pride High School in 2005‚” says Brenda Shipman-Scruggs‚ development director at KIPP Gaston College Prep and KIPP Pride High. “For the 2006-07 school year‚ enrollment at the high school was 150 ninth- and 10th-graders. We will now add an 11th grade for 2007-08 and then a 12th grade for 2008-09.”
The middle school and high school are affiliated with a national academic initiative called KIPP‚ which stands for the Knowledge Is Power Program. KIPP was founded in Houston in 1994 to help children in rural‚ underprivileged communities attain the academic and character skills needed to succeed in school and life.
“KIPP schools are about high expectations‚ choice and commitment‚ a focus on results and concentrating on the power to lead‚” Shipman-Scruggs says. “We follow the North Carolina Standard Course of Study and then supplement the curriculum with more rigorous academic courses. We are a public charter school with no tuition and are open to the public‚ with enrollment on a first-come‚ first-served basis.”
The Gaston community became a candidate for KIPP in the late 1990s‚ thanks to teachers Caleb Dolan and Tammi Sutton. At that time‚ they were involved with the national Teach for America program‚ where college graduates commit to teaching for two years in a struggling rural community. In turn‚ the graduates get part of their student loans paid following their two-year teaching commitment.
“Dolan and Sutton finished two years of teaching at Gaston Middle School‚ and they saw great progress in their students but didn’t want to see those students fall off academically as they advanced in grades‚” Shipman-Scruggs says. “Dolan’s and Sutton’s good work was ultimately noticed by KIPP organizers‚ and a commitment was eventually reached to bring a KIPP school to Gaston.”
Today‚ Dolan is principal of KIPP Gaston Preparatory School while Sutton is principal at KIPP Pride High School.
“Besides academics‚ our two schools offer a variety of sports – we’re just like usual‚ everyday schools‚” Shipman-Scruggs says. “What we are especially proud of is that we are making a difference in the lives of a lot of kids who might never have gotten a chance at a top-notch education. That’s what makes each day even more worthwhile at our two schools.”
Story by Kevin Litwin
Photo by Ian Curcio
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