Esperanza Academy, an independent school for middle-school girls from low-income families in Lawrence, is entering the new school year with an expanded faculty, a thriving sports program and a reinvigorated sense of Episcopal identity.
They also have major cause for celebration: 100 percent of the school’s first graduates, who graduated from eighth grade in 2009, have gone on to graduate from high school. In Lawrence, a city where the average high school graduation rate hovers around 50 percent, that statistic speaks volumes. “It is the best indication of the difference our programs and teachers are making in the lives of these students,” Christopher Wilson, Head of School, said.
The first day of school at Esperanza Academy.
Another major achievement is the fact that 80 percent of those students will be continuing on to college. (On average, just 5-10 percent of students from Lawrence’s low income families will attend college.) Wilson also called 2013 “our best high school placement year ever.” Girls from the class of 2013 are going on to attend many prestigious high schools, and 80 percent will be attending independent schools, including Phillips Exeter, Brooks, Austin Prep, Kimball Union, Nobles and Greenough and the Sparhawk School. “Keep in mind that to attend these schools they needed to earn scholarships,” Wilson pointed out. “So not only are they succeeding but they’re succeeding to the point where they’re earning these scholarships." Former Esperanza students currently in grades 9-12 have earned $750,000 in scholarships among them.
More than ever before, an Esperanza education is a well-rounded education. Some of Esperanza’s new offerings include an interscholastic athletics program, which had a successful first season during the 2012-2013 term. “We believe athletics are an important aspect of an independent school education, and we have made competitive athletics a non-negotiable part of the program here,” Wilson said. (Girls who do not play on one of the interscholastic sports teams must participate in intramural sports.) Esperanza’s arts offerings have also expanded: last year, the school welcomed its first full-time art teacher, and this year added a music teacher. “The arts are such a central component of middle school development, and to an independent school education,” said Wilson. “So we’re very excited to be able to add these offerings to our program.”
The faculty includes two new fellows from the Life Together young adult intern program in the diocese, as well as one Life Together fellow who is returning for a second year. The fellows perform most of the same duties as faculty members: coaching sports, advising students, leading study halls and co-teaching in classrooms with a teacher. “Life Together gives people an opportunity to undertake mission with girls in Lawrence, while also giving the fellow a supportive environment in which to learn and discern what they may want to do after the fellowship,” Wilson said.
Gathering for an assembly on the first day of school.
Esperanza’s faculty and students spent time over the summer discussing and thinking about what the school’s Episcopal identity means to them. Students and faculty also spent a week-long retreat this summer at Adelynrood Retreat and Conference Center in Byfield. They have conceived of four core values that guide Esperanza as a school community: wisdom, leadership, integrity and service. “We are working on sharing the message that we serve not because we have to but because we are called to by God,” Wilson said. “These core values become something that the girls take with them when they leave here, something that can help them to be agents of change and social justice, something that perhaps can help with the challenges the city of Lawrence faces overall.”
Anyone interested in learning more about Esperanza is invited to plan a time to stop by and see the school—Wilson emphasized that the school welcomes visitors. To learn more about Esperanza, including how to support its upcoming Harvest of Hope benefit, visit www.esperanzaacademy.org.
--Ellen Stuart