Building Excellent Schools (BES) is a national nonprofit organization committed to improving the academic achievement of underserved students in our nation’s urban centers. We accomplish this by starting and sustaining charter schools of excellence through a range of offerings, including our flagship program, the nationally renowned BES Fellowship.

To date, BES has established more than 50 schools in 20 cities in 12 states and the District of Columbia and served nearly 20,000 students from families with household incomes at or below the poverty line.

The Prep Schools are select members of the Building Excellent Schools network.  And, due to the result of our long standing record of high academic achievement, The Prep Schools belong to an even more select subset of these schools known as the Excellent Schools Network.  Members of the Excellent Schools Network (ESN) are in a class by themselves.  Through the ESN, Building Excellent Schools publicly recognizes and strategically supports the urgent work and promising growth of its highest performing schools.

We, at The Prep Schools, had the pleasure of hosting educational powerhouse Sue Walsh and her group of Fellows to our schools on Monday, March 4th. These Fellows will open new and innovative charter schools across the country from Boston to Los Angeles. They traveled to Cleveland to learn from our existing campus and our newly founded campus.  They were able to see in reality what is only an idea on paper to them now. A highly effective, well designed school experience for the underserved and undereducation youth of our nation’s urban centers.

It was truly an honor and a pleasure to give back to a network that has given us so much in our development as a school network. Thank you Sue, and good luck Fellows!

Dr. Jason Carthen, former NFL player, visited Woodland Hills E Prep to send a message about success and hard work. As a current Leadership Initiative developer he sent a message to our scholars that was truly inspirational.

The Farm came to Village Prep Woodland Hills to allow the scholars to get up close and personal with the animals.

E Prep Woodland Hills Campus took CWRU by storm. The students learned about campus life and what it takes to be a successful college student! Way to go E Prep!

The Preps :: Superior will host a Schoolbelles Uniform Fitting Event on July 12^th from 5-7 PM and July 19^th from 9 – 11 AM at Village Prep :: Cliffs Superior.  This is an opportunity for scholars to be measured and families to place uniform orders.  Uniforms will be shipped to the school and will be available for pick up.

Village Prep had a wonderful trip to the zoo this week visiting all the exhibits that the Cleveland Zoo has to offer.  They were extremely well behaved and displayed all the keys to success on their trip!  It was a great way to end the year!  Check out the pictures below!

WE LOVE THE ZOO!

FRIENDS!

Six E Prep scholars were selected to attend the ExxonMobil Bernard Harris STEM summer camp.  This two week, residential camp will be hosted at Central State University this June.  Our scholars had to undergo a very selective application process in which only 48 students are selected from the entire state of Ohio.  Their entirecost of the trip including: camp, food and lodging are covered by this scholarship.  This year’s focus will be on aviation science.

Congratulations to:

• Taisiya Marshall
• Musa Hakim
• Eboni Vincent
• Peter Lindo
• Daneyla Ross-Gildon
• Muhammad Umar

Our scholars attending the ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camps will test and develop their engineering and science prowess during daily activities that emphasize development of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills.

“The Harris Foundation is proud to offer kids a rewarding way to beat the summer brain drain,” said Dr. Bernard Harris, Jr., founder and president, The Harris Foundation. “We believe providing students with access to fun learning opportunities, inspirational role models and gifted teachers can help encourage them to pursue higher education.”

Dr. Harris was the first African American astronaut in outerspace.

Students live on campus during the two-week camp and participate in classes taught by university faculty, secondary teachers and local STEM professionals. As part of the interactive, inquiry-based curriculum, campers also enjoy the added benefit of exploring local museums, nature centers and ecosystems, allowing them to discover science at work in their communities.

For more information on these intiatives, visit:

http://www.centralstate.edu/Program/SummerCamps/index.php?Src=index.php?2-2

http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/community_math_harris.aspx

Thank you to the over 40 volunteers that spent their Friday afternoon painting, cleaning, and landscaping our Woodland Hills campus.  It was a tremendous effort on the part of Oswald Companies employees.  With smiles on their faces and a sense of urgency, this crew managed to get a tremednous amount of work done.  The new hallways look fantastic in their new blue!  We now have a welcome garden at our front entrance and our grounds are now debris and weed free!  We could not be prepared to serve the students of Cleveland without this kind of generosity!  Thank you so very much!

On Thursday May 10, 2012 the Kindergarten classrooms took a field trip to the Cleveland Children’s Museum.  During their time at the museum, the scholars visited three areas.  In the first area called “Young Architects” the scholars were able to put themselves in the shoes of an architect and design their future. Using building blocks, cars, and replica homes, the scholars built football arenas, a baseball field, skyscrapers and their own home. In the second area, the scholars participated in the “Splish Splash” exhibit.  The scholars were able to be meteorologists, scientist and even engineers. They talked about the weather and how the weather changes, the seasons, the water cycle and even used PVC pipes to create their own water system. In the last area, the scholars went to work in the “Bridges to Our Community” exhibit.  The scholars were community helpers in Cleveland.  They drove RTA buses, took money from customers at the grocery store, became hard working doctors and nurses in the Rainbow Babies hospital room and even worked on a car that broke down.  The field trip was an interactive hands-on approach to teaching our scholars about some important careers in the community we live in.

On Saturday, May 5th, members of The Prep Schools::Woodland Hills campus walked alongside prominent community leaders for the purpose of promoting peace and empowerment.  The 3rd annual Walk for Empowerment was put on by Peace in the Hood and Discovery Center.  We walked from E. 151 and Kinsman to Luke Easter Park.  There were powerful and moving speeches, pushing the importance of peace and education!  We are proud to be part of the communities of Woodland Hills, Mount Pleasant, Union-Miles, and Slavic Village.  It was a great way to spend a Saturday, and we look forward to being a positive presence on the corner of E.93rd and Union!