KIPP DC College Preparatory Celebrates Its Third Class of Graduates On June 5th, KIPP DC College Preparatory held the Commencement Ceremony for the Class of 2015 at Howard University. Every student in the Class of 2015 was accepted to college and they earned an impressive $3,391,856 in scholarships – the most scholarship dollars ever earned by a class at KIPP DC. The 2015 cohort boasts two Stephen Joel Trachtenberg scholars at George Washington University, two POSSE scholars who will be attending University of Rochester and Lafayette College, and four students with full rides at University of Maryland, Brandeis University, Davidson College, and Spelman College. To honor their hard work, the Commencement Ceremony included heartfelt speeches from Valedictorian Jade Polly and Salutatorian Amedeo Hines and words of wisdom and advice from Principal Jessica Cunningham, Dr. Jason Nichols from the University of Maryland, and Mayor Muriel Bowser. We can’t wait to see what these students accomplish in college and beyond!
S P OT L I G H T What is KIPP DC? KIPP DC is a network of high-performing, public, collegepreparatory charter schools in Washington, D.C., which serves the city’s under-resourced communities. At KIPP DC, there are no shortcuts. Outstanding educators, more time in school, a rigorous college-preparatory curriculum, and a strong culture of achievement and support helps our students make significant academic gains and continue to excel in high school and college. In the 2015-16 school year, KIPP DC will serve 5,200 students at sixteen schools throughout the District of Columbia.
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KIPPsters at Heights Academy participated in the Fire Up Your Feet challenge and were honored with the 1st Place Award and two Breakout Awards, finishing the challenge in the top 15 of participating schools in the nation! Fire Up Your Feet is a core program of the Safe Routes to School National Partnership aimed at increasing physical activity before, during, and after school. During the month long challenge at Heights Academy, any physical activity reported by parents, students, and school staff was logged using the Fire Up Your Feet online activity tracker. “Physical activity is so important to Heights Academy students. Walking, jumping rope, playing tag, and introducing various sports in PE class helps them get the wiggles out, giving them the ability to better concentrate on their studies, and establishing an early love of being physically active,” said Physical Education Instructor Jonathan McSwain. Heights Academy will use the award funds to purchase new gymnastics and tumbling equipment for its PE classes. Congrats and keep moving!
KIPP DC HEADQUARTERS: 1003 K Street NW | Suite 700 Washington, D.C. 20001 202.223.4505 | www.kippdc.org BENNING CAMPUS: 4801 Benning Road SE Washington, D.C. 20019
COLLEGE PREPARATORY CAMPUS: 1401 Brentwood Parkway NE Washington, D.C. 20002
BLAINE CAMPUS: 5300 Blaine Street NE Washington, D.C. 20019
SHAW CAMPUS: 421 P Street NW Washington, D.C. 20001
DOUGLASS CAMPUS: 2600 Douglass Road SE Washington, D.C. 20020
WEBB CAMPUS: 1375 Mount Olivet Road NE Washington, D.C. 20002
IN THIS ISS U E
KIPP DC Heights Academy Wins the Fire Up Your Feet Activity Challenge
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KCP Graduation & Heights Academy Win
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KIPP DC Alumni College Graduation & Robotics Team
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DoMore24 Recap & March Madness
KIPP DC Robotics Team Excels with the Support of Accenture Through a partnership with Accenture, students from KIPP DC participated in two competitions as part of the FIRST robotics program. This program is designed to motivate young people to pursue education and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math, while building self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills. With the help of their Accenture mentors, six KIPPsters participated in the Chesapeake Regional competition in April. The team placed fifth out of 58 teams! This is the highest that KIPP has ever ranked and KIPP DC was the only D.C.-based team to make the play-off round at the Chesapeake Regional. Team lead Richard Hill commented, “It was so wonderful to see the students apply their skills and that KIPP determination and grit. They saw it through and prevailed.”
“It was so wonderful to see the students apply their skills and KIPP determination & grit.”
Congratulations to Our College Graduates Kudos to all of our alumni who graduated from college this spring! You are proving the possible!
Erin Cross at Colorado State University
Yasmeen Newman at Trinity University (D.C)
Toria Bobbit at Mount Holyoke College
Keon Meritt at West Virginia Wesleyan University
Mujaahida Shakur at Wesleyan University
KEY Academy AIM Academy WILL Academy LEAP Academy Discover Academy Promise Academy College Preparatory Grow Academy Heig
NICE WORK! Six KIPPsters from KCP were selected to participate in the national Girls Who Code program this summer. KCP graduates Matthew Jenkins and Bruce Beuzard IV were selected as Stephen Joel Trachtenberg Scholars and will both receive full rides for all four years at George Washington University. KCP graduates Amedeo Hines and Michael Pearson were selected as POSSE Scholars and will attend Lafayette College and the University of Rochester on full rides.
Thank You for Supporting Our Book Scholarships
With your help, our DoMore24 campaign was a huge success! In 24 hours, we were able to raise almost $24,000 to provide book scholarships to our 150 alumni who are heading off to college this fall. Thank you to everyone who supported our campaign – whether you took a selfie, retweeted, posted, forwarded e-mails, or attended the happy hour – it took the support of all of our champions and friends to achieve our goal.
DID YOU MISS DOMORE24?
DONATE TODAY! www.kippdc.org/give
March Madness is a Slam Dunk for KIPP Through College KCP graduate Corey Hart will be attending the University of Maryland on a full ride through the Incentive Awards program.
KIPP DC’s annual March Madness fundraiser raised over $254,000! The funds raised will support KIPP Through College, a program that is critical to the success of our alumni in college and beyond. Nearly 400 people attended the event at the Hamilton Live and had the chance to hear directly from our alumni about the impact of KIPP Through College. Thank you to everyone who came out to support our KIPPsters!
KIPP DC’s first cohort of Fellows in Special Education successfully earned their Special Education Certification through KIPP DC this June. Students from KEY Academy were selected to perform with the Youth Orchestra of America’s Global Leaders program.
ghts Academy Lead Academy Connect Academy Spring Academy Northeast Academy Arts & Tech Academy Quest Academy Valor Academy
S P OT L I G H T 1003 K Street NW | Suite 700 Washington, D.C. 20001 202-223-4504 | www.kippdc.org