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Five years ago, 80 Newark fifth graders put their trust in five young teachers, a leaky old building, and the promise of college, and walked up the front steps of TEAM Academy for the first time. That initial group of students proved what is possible for every child in this country, and beat the odds that overwhelm so many talented young people in Newark.
The students who founded TEAM that first September morning are now entering their sophomore year at top boarding, day, parochial and magnet high schools around the country. Though the average student in that first class entered the fifth grade already two to three grade levels behind their peers nationwide, they made multiple years of academic progress each year. Four years after they began, these students had reversed the achievement gap, outperformed their peers in Newark, the state of New Jersey, and the nation, and earned over $600,000 in scholarships to some of the finest high schools in the country, including Phillips Exeter Academy, Loomis Chaffee and Deerfield Academy.
There were no shortcuts. No excuses. No formulas. Just hard work. And a lot of it.
Since 2002, hundreds of other young men and women have followed the lead of the founding class and spent countless hours pushing themselves to meet high academic standards and expand their worlds in ways they never expected. They have spent long afternoons running the length of a cross country course, learning the true meaning of a Shakespearean play, or staying after school for extra help. They have stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and recited the words of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. They have hiked the Grand Canyon, walked the redwood forests of Northern California, and danced salsa in Puerto Rico. And they have volunteered in food banks, cleaned up local parks, raised money for hurricane victims, and shown that being a compassionate citizen is just as important as being a good student.
Today, TEAM Academy has grown from a class of 80 kids in a cramped hallway into a network of three TEAM Schools serving over 600 students, with plans to expand further. Rise Academy, TEAM’s second middle school, opened in August 2006, and the high school, Newark Collegiate Academy, opened this fall. The commitment and extraordinary achievements of those first 80 students have paved the way for hundreds more of Newark’s students to join in this mission and prepare themselves for college and beyond.
Though TEAM’s growth has been fast over the past five years, there is even more expansion, and more impact, yet to come. Within the next three years, TEAM Schools will add two K-4 elementary schools, extending the network to a K-12 model. Fully enrolled, TEAM’s five schools will serve over 2,000 students, or 5% of the students served by the Newark public school district. Though many daunting challenges – from recruiting excellent school leaders and teachers to obtaining suitable facilities – litter the landscape, the hundreds of students on TEAM’s waiting list serve as a constant reminder that growth is imperative.
