Dear Friend,
“I’m ready to start my life!”
Olivia, a Junior at the UrbanPromise Academy, exclaims in anticipation of the coming year. After nearly a decade with UrbanPromise, she is excited about the adventures and challenges to come.
Her best friend, Diana, sits next to her listening quietly and patiently waiting to respond. “I would like to be a surgeon or an art therapist,” she shares “I really just want to help people.”
Olivia and Diana hadn’t always felt equipped for such future vision. Time in the UrbanPromise schools and their family’s support has shaped the trajectory of their entire lives.
“When Olivia first came to the Academy, she often kept to herself,” Mrs. Truax, the Academy Vice Principal, shares. “Now she takes opportunities to lead her peers and speak her mind.”
“At my old school,” Olivia says, “people would get bullied for being an overachiever, but at the Academy, they help you want to do better. After 9th grade, I felt free; I could go all out and try my best.”
Diana embraced the UrbanPromise community, but succeeding in school felt like an uphill battle. “I used to procrastinate and not turn in work, I felt like a failure,” she comments. However, in the face of struggle, Diana remembers her experience on the UrbanPromise Mountain Bike Team. “When I saw my first ever trail, I didn’t want to do it. It was hard, and I had to practice every day; but now when I see an uphill stretch, I say to myself, ‘I got this.’” Now a Junior, Diana applies this mentality to all that she does. “She constantly meets challenges, even when she doesn’t want to, she does it. And she feels joy afterward.” Mrs. Gregan, her science teacher, shares.
Olivia and Diana also experience something eternal in the school year, joining a Discipleship Program started by the Academy. It included a summer internship where they met students from other schools who wanted to serve their local communities.
“I learned a lot from discipleship” Olivia says, “I know that I can’t be a baby Christian forever, I have to make an attempt to reach out to God; I need to know the one who saved me.”
Diana adds “Seeing everyone believe with their whole hearts made me want to believe that way, that once I am a Christian, I am reborn!”
These two young girls grasp the heart of life. In Jesus, they become equipped to serve, to encourage, and to love their peers, their teachers, their families, and their neighborhoods. They inspire us to remember God in all that we do, and to endure all things with joy. The UrbanPromise Academy is an open door to a just education. Students grow as leaders, as individuals, and as disciples of Jesus. Diana and Olivia need advocates like you who stand up to equip them for a life that is full.
Your donation is an investment in the whole student, teaching them to read and to do math; letting them know they belong and showing them they can achieve. You point to the top of the hill and say ‘ride.’
This fall, nearly 100 youth from our city will attend the UrbanPromise Academy and the Lower School. Children from Pre-K to Senior year will experience unique opportunities, dedicated staff, and inspiring peers building them up. Your generous gifts help pave this path toward success and fulfillment. $50 fuels the students’ ride to discipleship nights and Mountain Bike practice; $300 covers the cost of school events like the Harvest Festival and Geography Day. $100 gives home-made lunches to the Academy. $500 helps send students gain a vision for their future on college tours. Thank you for making a difference in our students’ lives!
Sincerely,
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| Dionne Xavier Executive Council Head of Schools | Josh Gregor Executive Council Director of StreetLeaders | James Russell Executive Council COO |
P.S. We hope you come to the UrbanPromise Banquet on Thursday, October 30th! You will surely experience joy as you join 500 other community members to support students like Olivia and Diana.
