For several families in St. Louis, quality and affordable educational opportunities are out of reach. Like all parents, Tamara and Demetrius want the best for their children. After being disappointed in their neighborhood’s school district, they were thrilled to find an innovative school near their home.
At City Academy, the Thomas family has found a supportive community for their three children: Zuri ’12 (MICDS ’18), Zion ’13 (MICDS ’19), and Zain ’22.
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Every day, our students start the day by saying our school pledge and singing “A Kid For Character.” This semester, our first grade class created a music video to learn more about the words in the song.
While singing “A Kid For Character” with her class, our first grade teacher, Ms. Jessie Bean, realized that most of the words in the song were very abstract and did not have much meaning for her students. What better way to teach her students the meaning of responsibility, character, fairness, truth, respect, care, and citizen than by creating a music video?
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On September 27, 2017, City Academy officially broke ground on the school’s new Early Childhood Center and publicly launched the Campaign for City Academy.
By 2020, City Academy will grow the school’s student population from 185 scholars to 250 students. In order to do so, the Campaign for City Academy will include the addition of an Early Childhood Center, serving children age three through second grade. The school will also renovate the current facility.
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I came to City Academy in 2005, a year after the school moved from Mathews-Dickey Boys’ & Girls’ Club and into its new home across the street. I remember how excited the community was for the new edition. Each time my mother and I would drive pass the school, I bugged her about wanting to attend this new vibrant place that lit up Kingshighway Boulevard. I became so captivated by the idea that I often declared, “I am going to go to City Academy!” Finally, my persistence paid off, and here we are 12 years later.
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Students are learning what it means to be “Citizen Scientists” in our Early Childhood STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) classroom. Citizen Scientists assist professional scientists by engaging, exploring, and observing the world around them. For our early childhood scholars, they are assisting as Citizen Scientists by helping monarch butterflies!
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Schools with a Relationship Culture say, “You are always my student. You can graduate from my school, but I stay with you. I stay with your family. I will judge my success not by your eighth-grade degree, but by your college degree.”
I see similar commitment at City Academy, where school runs through sixth grade but relationships never end. Nikki Doughty, the school’s Chief Operating Officer, can tell you the journey of just about every graduate. Many come back and work for her summers and school holidays.
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We believe that every child should have access to high quality education, regardless of a family’s income or geographic location. All students at City Academy receive tuition support through generous donations from local foundations, corporations, and individual donors. Tuition is based on income and varies by family. Tuition includes before and after school programs, as well as our summer program. Breakfast, lunch, and snacks are also included with tuition.
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As I sat on the edge of my seat, hanging on to each word of the beautifully-written and presented speeches of our graduating sixth graders, I was unexpectedly overcome by a wave of feelings and reflections. Just a year and a half before, I was being interviewing by these very students as candidate to be their principal. At the time, I couldn’t help but be captivated by their thoughtful questions, the seriousness in which they took their learning, their understanding of the world, and most notably, the way they interacted with each other and the adults who surrounded them. My time with them convinced me that City Academy was unlike any place I had ever explored.
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For 72 years, NCCJ St. Louis has honored those leaders who, in their own lives, embrace the tenets of NCCJ’s work to make St. Louis a community where all people are valued and respected.
Don Danforth III, President and Co-Founder of City Academy was honored with a Brotherhood Sisterhood Award on June 6. The award honors individuals whose work demonstrates the power of diversity, inclusion, and equity. Friends and family in the City Academy community came out to celebrate Don’s deserving recognition
(Jerris Kirkwood ’10 (CBC ’16, Saint Louis University ’20) and his family are pictured above with Don at the ceremony).
Choosing City Academy for our two children is one of the best decisions we’ve made for their future. When you don’t attend a neighborhood school everyone asks, “Where do your kids go?” Craig and I find ourselves singing the praises of City Academy’s teachers, administrators and the overall vision to raise future community leaders.
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