Esperanza Academy, Means Hope for Girls in Lawrence MA: A New Approach to Middle School Education

Esperanza Academy in Lawrence, MA is a middle school for girls from grade 5-8. It is a public charter school with no tuition charged. But it is also a school with many across the board differences that are clearly aimed at the needs of economically disadvantage girls. The Esperanza Academy is part of larger nation wide program in which all member schools put out a daily effort to try to help their students to bridge the gap between elementary school and high school so that they may eventually graduate and move on to college or a productive career.

Among the unique features of the Esperanza Academy is this connection with the NativityMiguel Network of Schools. The overall mission of the network is to provide challenge and opportunity for underserved communities such as Lawrence,MA where many student s come from impoverished homes and trying neighborhoods. Nationwide there are some 4,200 middle school children who are on the receiving end of programs built on the NativityMiguel model. The organization in total embraces 64 schools in 24 states.

As a member of this network, according http://www.nativitymiguelschools.org , Esperanza Academy adheres to several accepted guidelines. Perhaps the most interesting standard is that all schools within the NativityMiguel system are faith based. Esperanza Academy complies with this requirement by including one half hour of chapel time regularly as part of the typical school day. The Esperanza Academy functions according to the Episcopal tradition but in no instance is any girl refused admission because of race, cultural background or religion. The faith segment of the program is meant not so much to proselytize in a specific denomination as it is to foster moral principles for young girls who may be struggling with all manner of negative role models around them.

Among its other guiding principles drawn from the NativityMiguel system, Esperanza Academy in Lawrence has a very unique school day. No 8 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. days for these girls. Esperanza offers a very full, very busy and very enriching school day for its students . The day shows a real consciousness of what is missing in the development of middle schoolers who come here from impoverished homes. The day begins and ends with a meal. Starting with breakfast means girls face the day with nourishment and energy enabling them to get the most possible from their special educational opportunity. Sharing dinner means nourishing food and also community.

During the day, extended hours and small class sizes make it possible to cover routine curriculum but to go beyond and add extra time as needed to areas like literacy, reading and language arts. As Laurie Bottiger, school head at Esperanza, makes clear at the Esperanza website at http://www.esperanzaacademy.org "Reading and writing are the key tools of success." There is no doubt in any student's mind that lots of attention is being given to these primary subject areas.

Unlike most public middle schools the school day does not end at Esperanza Academy at 2:30p.m. but the girls aren't likely to mind because instead of going home to uncertain supervision and activities, the girls find an afternoon that allows them to get advice and help with their work from Esperanza staff members and to enjoy what is called an "exploratory activity". For middle schoolers coming from an impoverished neighborhood and a city that is strapped to meet its most basic educational expenses, the opportunity to engage in an after school enrichment activity is a dream come true. And the breadth of possible activities is considerable. Girls get involved in knitting, gardening, equestrian activity, drama, choir music, instrumental music, there is even the chance to sign up for a Girl Scout troop here. Girls find that they no longer are not left out of enriching after school activities due to a lack of money or the inability to physically get to an activity. Everything is offered on location, is well supervised and is free.

Even service is a part of the Esperanza Academy experience. One hour service junkets are an expected part of each girl's curriculum. Through these community based projects girls learn about the needs of others. They also learn that even as middle schoolers they have skills and abilities and time that they can use to assist others within the larger Lawrence, MA community. This kind of service helps disadvantaged kids to realize they can do something about some of the conditions that surround them and gives them a pro-active attitude towards life.

There seems to be a motto floating around at Esperanza Academy : "There isn't anything an Esperanza girl can't do." Building self esteem and the skills to maintain that feeling are part and parcel of the Esperanza experience. The success rate of all schools in the NativityMiguel system is considerable especially when compared to the general public school population of middle schoolers Nationally 90% of these students go on to successful high school careers graduating in 4 years and 75% will go on to enroll in 2 or 4 year colleges,

Between the joy and fulfillment that girls find in the daily programs at Esperanza Academy and the justifiable hope that attendance there evokes, is it any wonder that entry to Esperanza Academy is highly prized. While there are not enough seats for all those who would wish to come here, the school remains faithful to its tradition of providing hope. Eligibility to Esperanza is opened to all girls who live in impoverished circumstances and who have a parent willing to make a commitment of personal ( not financial ) support to programs at the school. Admission itself is granted according to a lottery system.

In a struggling city, where sometimes the future seems less than hopeful, Esperanza Academy holds out a beacon of hope.