NOLS Partner Featured in Associated Press Story
Six year NOLS partner YES Prep Public Schools (Youth Engaged in Service) was featured earlier this week in an article about inner-city charter school success. Founded in 1995, YES Prep Public School’s mission is to send every one of their graduates to college.
Most of the students who attend are first generation college-bound and undergo a rigorous curriculum, sometimes including classes on Saturday, to help set students up for success.
So far, 100 percent of YES Prep’s graduating seniors have been accepted in four-year colleges, including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Rice and Stanford.
To date, more than 20 YES Prep students have successfully completed a NOLS course during their high school careers. These young people return to YES Prep with stories of adventure and leadership that they share with their classmates.
“Our relationship with YES Prep is very cool,” says Bruce Palmer, NOLS director of admission and marketing. “This fall I visited both YES North Central and YES Southeast and was overwhelmed with the response. Between the two schools I had about sixty students express interest in NOLS. Our NOLS grads on campus did the presentations. All I did was facilitate the conversation.”
YES Prep is flourishing and serves a rapidly growing number of committed students and families. Their goal is to expand to a total of ten thousand students in Houston. According to guidance director Linda Daniels, as YES Prep grows in student enrollment its influence on public education in Houston and the nation grows, too.
NOLS is excited to play a role in this effort to reform and improve public education. In addition to YES Prep, NOLS also partners with the highly regarded KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) schools, North Star Academy, an award-winning charter school in Newark, New Jersey and Summer Search, a nationwide talent identification program.
Congratulations to YES Prep!
NOLS grads are playing a role too…..see Jabali Sawicki talk about the Excellence School in Brooklyn, New York.
