| Dear Friends:
Today, I’m giving thanks for what our families in Gary, Indiana are proving can be done when you put your mind (literally, your mind) to it. I just received a report from our wonderful high school counselor and we counted up the number of college credits each senior is on track to earn by May of 2019 and the number is astounding! We have 64 seniors and, on average, each will earn 20 college credits while in our high school. How about that? Wow! We have nine students on track to earn a full Associate degree–two years of college completed prior to graduating from our high school. And the news gets better. Our juniors are on track to have earned nearly 11 college credits by the time they end their junior year of high school. If our juniors do what they are doing this year next year, they should exceed 24 college credits by the time they graduate in 2020. Our sophomores are on track to earn nearly five full credits by the time they end their second year of high school. Imagine what they can do by the time they graduate in 2021. Our terrific school board in Gary has fully embraced our early college model, too. In fact, they approved a resolution earlier this year requiring each 2022 graduate to earn a minimum of 24 college credits and/or a career certification while in our high school. While it may have seemed to be quite a lofty goal at the time, it now appears we may far exceed that goal both in number of credits earned and time needed to earn the credits. I believe this is due to lots of great things happening in Gary. The community has fully embraced our vision. Families are choosing (indeed, lining up) to enroll in 21st Century Charter School because of the college opportunities we offer. We also have wonderful relationships with Ivy Tech Community College, Indiana University and Purdue University. And, of course, our students see that we believe in them and their future and they are doing the hard work doing well in their college pursuits. It’s really great to see. It really is! So yes, I’m giving thanks on this Giving Tuesday. Thanks to all who have joined us in our mission and supported us along the way. |
| Let’s keep changing the world together! |
| Sincerely,
Kevin Teasley President GEO Foundation 317-694-9985 Twitter: @teasleygeo P.S.: The picture above is of a recent visit to our school by Ivy Tech Chancellor Louie Gonzalez and his team with our school leadership and many of our high school students who are already taking college level classes at Ivy Tech. |