This summer, I had the great pleasure of sitting down for an interview with Lakethia Hampton, the aunt of one of the girls on the Sci Academy volleyball team. Having coached volleyball for the past four years at Sci Academy, I had met Lakethia Hampton a few times at games; she had even refereed a game during my first season as coach! This year, Lakethia joined the Sci Academy Team to work in our Essential Skills Program, where she will be educating scholars with significant cognitive disabilities.
Why write a blog post about this? Many of our scholars’ family members participate in our parent groups, attend games, come to school functions and so on. Lakethia could have chosen to work at any school in the city; she chose to work for us, where her niece attends school. This was a very special moment for me and one I wanted to share and celebrate.
I sat down with Lakethia to ask about her choice to work at Sci Academy. Her reasons align with what matters most for our scholars and our whole staff: (1) unity and consistency among staff, (2) constant growth and striving for improvement, and (3) a deep commitment to ensuring that all scholars are truly prepared for college.
What were your impressions of Sci Academy before working here?
Prior to working here, I noticed the growth and maturity in my neice, Alexis, just throughout the different conversations we would have. She would come to me and ask me more questions regarding college. I saw that she started getting into sports more. Once she came here, she just started to blossom. She was always that special kid, but it was like [Collegiate Academies] brought out that inner beauty and confidence in her.
What it is like to interact with her teachers now that you are on the team!?
I thought it would be weird the first day, but it’s really not. I was in all of her classes my first day; she was answering the questions but also watching me! I don’t want her to be uncomfortable, I want her to be herself. I’m blessed that I am able to get this experience with her during her senior year. She’s like my baby; I remember when she was born, taking the bus to go see her. I couldn’t even wait to go see her! But the maturity in all of the students, how well they answer their questions, I didn’t learn that stuff until my junior or senior year. You all are teaching them how to speak in professional situations from a young age.
How did Alexis feel about you working at Sci?
She was nervous, especially after that first day. I told her to just be yourself; I’m not coming here to spy on you. You have to live your life. There are choices you are going to have to make and consequences for everything. If you get in trouble at school, I’m not going to go call your Mom because most likely your teachers have already called her anyway.
Can you tell me about the Personal Mission Statement you wrote when you joined our team?
When Rhonda [Rhonda Dale, Sci Academy’s Principal] told us that we had to write a Mission Statement, I didn’t really know how to go about writing it. I’ve never done something like this before. A MIssion Statement could go on forever! Rhonda gave us a few examples and each was slightly different. I knew I wanted to tell my story and say how I ended up here. I decided to start off with what happened in high school and how I got through my college experience. I wasn’t prepared for college though I thought I was and I had to persevere through a lot. Being from this community is hard. A lot of kids think they are the only one going through struggles like I did, but everyone does.
Could we share a few quotes from your mission statement in your profile?
That’s fine.
Note: The following passage was selected from Lakethia’s full Mission Statement:
Entering my freshman year of college, I was not prepared for the classes ahead of me. Even though I attended summer school, I needed a remedial writing class to prepare. It took me to fail this class to realize what I was missing and what I had to learn over my freshman year. At that moment, I realized I had to do something to change how I feel. I felt stupid. I felt like I let my family down. . . . But when I went back to high school, I knew I did just enough to get by. So when I looked in the mirror, I was the one to blame. I knew I had to change. I had to teach myself how to be a student. I had to grow the hell up. And that is what I did. I graduated with a degree in Media Arts and a minor in Business.
[When I read my mission statement] It was really emotional. I didn’t expect it, but I got really emotional and broke down when I read this in front of the team. This is my testimony, that’s how I feel. I’m not perfect, but I’ve persevered through a lot.
How did you get into education?
After graduation, I began training for the tryouts for the WNBA. At that time, there was a shortage of teachers. At first I was like, “No thanks!” But after reconsidering and thinking back to those days of my freshman year of college, I gave it a shot. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made.
What do you want to accomplish this year?
I want to learn the ins and outs of my profession more. This is my first time working with kids who have more physical and cognitive disabilities. In the past, I’ve worked with more kids who have emotional needs. I came here and met the kids and they are my babies! I have to think to myself – how would I want someone to handle me or my child? If I’m sending my child to school, I’m trusting the teachers to teach my child what I’m not able to. So, every day when I wake up, that’s how I come to school. The kids are funny; their personalities are coming out and we are getting to know each other now. It’s been fun!
You just want to do better around here. Over the past few years, I’ve talked about getting my masters, but here, it’s like, if I’m sitting here trying to motivate our kids to do better, I can do it myself. That’s really where my mind is.
What do you think sets Sci apart from other schools?
The unity between teachers, the love we all have for each other. The higher goal at the end of the day is what’s best for kids. Everybody here is on the same page as far as that. At some schools, some teachers want to do their own thing. Here, everybody is on the same page. When you walk through the senior hallway, you don’t hear foolishness here. The kids respect themselves and they are talking about how “my grades are going to be better than yours” or “at the end of the year, my gpa is going to be better than yours.” I love that! I love how mature they are, how polite they are, how they represent themselves so well, how they help each other when they see someone struggling. That shows me that the teachers really did their jobs. We are opening up kids’ minds here to give them a different perspective. Had I not played basketball, I wouldn’t have had that. I was able to travel all over the world because of basketball.
Soraya Verjee is the Director of Human Capital at Collegiate Academies, where she is responsible for recruiting, selecting, and retaining great people for our team. Previously, she was an Algebra Teacher at Sci Academy. Soraya will be a regular contributor to the Collegiate Academies Blog, posting about topics including teacher development, the teaching profession on a national scale, and staff culture.
D’Andrea Jenkins, Science teacher at Collegiate Baton Rouge, is the fourth Teacher Feature of the 2017-2018 school year. D’Andrea thinks outside the box to create an extremely challenging and extremely e…
The Healthy School Food Collaborative is participating in the 2018 Summer Food Service Program. Meals will be provided to all eligible children without charge. Acceptance and participating requirements f…
NEWORLEANS — If Domonique Crosby has her way, she will graduate from high school this spring at age 20. To her, earning her diploma, even two years late, feels like so…
The RSD-Collegiate Academies is participating in the Summer Food Service Program. Meals will be provided to all eligible children without charge. Acceptance and participating requirements for the progra…
Eric Parrie, a Social Studies Teacher at George Washington Carver High School, is the third Collegiate Academies’ Teacher Feature for the 2016-2017 school year. Eric is a larger than life character engag…
Victor Jones, English Teacher at George Washington Carver Collegiate, is the second Teacher Feature of the 2016-2017 school year. Victor uses his big personality and bigger vision to support his students…
Leah Lykins, AP Environmental Science Teacher at Abramson Sci Academy, is the first Teacher Feature of the 2016-2017 school year. Leah empowers her students to engage with their data in deep, meaningful…
The U.S. Department of Education announced yesterday a $4,982,968 million grant awarded to Collegiate Academies. This five-year grant under the Charter Schools Program...
Kelsey Lambrecht (GNO ’09) is the founding School Leader for Collegiate Baton Rouge. As a special education teacher and Director of Intervention, Kelsey helped to found several special programs for Colle…
Sara Mich, a Sci Academy English Teacher, is the first Teacher Feature of the 2015-2016 school year. Sara’s strong focus on constant personal and scholar growth creates a classroom where students achieve…
Phil Galia, US History teacher at Carver Collegiate, is the second Teacher Feature of the 2015-2016 school year. In class, Phil supports his scholars in forming and expressing their own opinions, while a…
Ben Ifshin, one of Sci Academy’s Biology teachers, is the third and final Teacher Feature of the 2015-2016 school year. Ben Ifshin’s class has a deep empathy for student experience, combining joy with su…
Evan Stoudt, New Orleans native, set to lead Collegiate Academies’ new high school in New Orleans East. Get to know Evan through a recent interview about his vision for the future of Livingston Collegiat…
Sci Academy in New Orleans has positioned itself as a hub of innovation within the city’s charter school community. Teachers and staff constantly seek out new ways to better their scholars’ educational e…
Setting ambitious yet attainable goals for all scholars is essential to Collegiate Academies’ success. In my previous post, I outlined the overall goals for special education and inte…
The Times-Picayune recently published a series of articles about the state of public education in New Orleans. Collegiate Academies was spotlighted in several of the pieces. Click here....
Rachelle Carter, a scholar at G.W. Carver Preparatory Academy, and Brittany Cadogan, a scholar at Sci Academy, were both named Cox Inspirational Heroes during the 23rd annual ceremony on April 28th. We a…
For a little over a year, I’ve been blending technology with traditional instruction in my Algebra I classroom to support my scholars. Introducing blended learning techniques to your classroom can be ove…
Collegiate Academies students gathered Friday (May 1) with their teachers and family to celebrate upcoming graduation by making a heartfelt effort to break a world record. They did not grow a very long b…
At the last Data Day of the 2014-2015 school year, G.W. Carver Collegiate Academy English III instructor Quinn Sears received the distinction of Featured Teacher. Read on below to learn more about Quinn’…
Raven Matthews, a member of Sci Academy’s Class of 2012, gave the following speech in front of dozens of people at America Achieves’ New Orleans conference on Saturday, March 7th.
Last week, Doug Lemov wrote about a new after-school tutoring initiative at Sci Academy in his Teach Like a Champion blog. Read more from Doug Lemov below, and visit the original blog post here.
In my early years as a teacher, there were times that I measured my success by how clean my hands were at the end of the day. I knew I had a rough day when I lost my whiteboard eraser and, in the interes…
At our Data Day in January, Samara Levy, Sci Academy’s Algebra I Teacher, received the distinction of Featured Teacher. Today, we invite you to get to know Samara in more detail, learning about how she a…
On a daily basis, we are confronted with the need for schools like ours to exist for hundreds of thousands of kids across the country. In America, the income gap continues to determine life outcomes, and…
Like any successful endeavor, defining the goal at the start of a new program is critical to achieving success in the end. At Collegiate Academies, this philosophy holds true for planning Intervention an…
I stepped onto the first bus, ready to greet the crowd of students with a warm smile and to welcome them back from their holiday break. I was bundled up in layers in an attempt to keep out the cold. Th…
The “Teacher Feature” recognition is a short, funny, and moving video to celebrate one teacher across CA. We choose a teacher who exemplifies the values…
As 2014 drew to a close, four Sci Academy seniors celebrated the end of a lengthy college application process. After months of campus visits, dozens of late nights refining and editing personal statement…
Attention readers of the Collegiate Academies Blog: We are very excited to introduce the Collegiate Academies School Leader Fellowship! To learn more about the Fellowship, you can visit our website, and…
A few weeks ago, we revealed the second Teacher Feature of the school year. This Teacher Feature was particularly notable because it represented the first time in Collegiate Academies history that a teac…
Our scholars (really, all high school kids) need intense academic preparation to be college-ready. From phonics and pre-Algebra to AP Literature and Calculus, the intellectual work of moving from middle…
The mission of Collegiate Academies is to create and support schools that prepare all scholars for college success. We decided to sit down with Benjamin Marcovitz, Collegiate Academies’ Chief Executive O…
The “Teacher Feature” recognition is a short, funny, and moving video to celebrate one teacher across CA. We choose a teacher who exemplifies the values…
On Sunday, November 9th, two high-stakes battles were being waged at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. As the Saints and the San Francisco 49ers went head-to-head on the field, the high school students who ho…
In late September, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and the National Women’s Law Center released a report on the systemic barriers faced by African American girls in schools across the country….
Last week, we shared Part 1 of our Featured Teacher Spotlight: a Q&A with Jane Shiu that explores Jane’s background and her time at Sci Academy. This week, we dig deeper into our conversation with Jane t…
Following the reveal of our Teacher Feature each Data Day, we’ll be posting interviews with each of our featured teachers so that you can get to know more about them: what led them to teaching, the techn…
In the past several decades, Singapore has rapidly climbed up the international education totem pole. According to the George Lucas Educational Foundation, Singapore’s schools have developed a reputation…
If you work in schools, you know that teachers are among the hardest working and least recognized groups of workers we have. Across our country, teachers put in extra time for their students, take work h…
On Collegiate Academies’ three campuses, the new school year has officially begun: the hallways smell of fresh paint, scholars are eagerly cracking the spines of new books, and the skillful drumming of t…
Welcome to the Collegiate Academies blog, your one-stop shop for news, announcements, updates, and ideas from the Collegiate Academies community. Here, you’ll find stories about the milestones that are m…
The digital bell sounds, and students at Arthur Ashe Charter School in New Orleans’ Gentilly neighborhood file into the classroom. They sit down and immediately get to work: Put on headphones, pull up th…
Saturday service learning projects at Carver Prep and Carver Collegiate help students at the open-enrollment New Orleans charter high schools build their college résumés while learning that community ser…
The 55 seniors wore high school uniforms, college sweatshirts or dress shirts, and they squinted into a future so bright they’ve gotta wear shades. Or maybe it was just the late-spring sun falling on Gal…
The first Maker Faire in New Orleans was held over the weened. It was hosted by a new school incubated by 4.0 Schools and New Schools New Orleans (NSNO)– Bricolage Academy. Matt Candler, founder of 4.0…
Jim Kline, Senior Seminar teacher at New Orleans’ Sci Academy and 4.0 Essentials alum, is using principles of design thinking to confront challenges with college persistence. And his kids are engaging wi…
It’s one thing to say all students can learn, but making them believe it—and do it—can require a 180-degree shift in students’ and teachers’ sense of themselves and of one another.
As far back as middle school, Tanara Thomas had her future mapped out: Finish high school, attend Delgado Community College for two years and then transfer to LSU. Growing up in one of the poorest neighb…
Sci Academy’s cheerleading squad burst into the packed auditorium at Greater St. Stephen Baptist Church in eastern New Orleans, cheering “We are the best, we’re headed for success, passing by all the res…
Pamela Morrell sat nervously in the third row Thursday evening among the lines of blue chairs set up in the school cafeteria at Sci Academy, a charter high school in eastern New Orleans.
The ninth-graders in Isaac Pollack’s physics class at New Orleans Charter Science and Math Academy were eagerly participating in a lesson on displacement and distance.
Charter schools just got the gift of a lifetime. Yesterday, Oprah Winfrey gave out the last Oprah’s Angel Network grants – and the recipients were all charter schools. How’s that for going out with a…
