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The following article is from the Bay State Banner [2].

Just up the hill from the shops and restaurants of Grove Hall's Mecca Mall [in Boston] sits a well-kept, beige-brick community mecca of a different kind: Mother Caroline Academy and Education Center.

Founded in 1993 to provide access to a high-quality education for low-income middle school girls, the academy - which has a student body of 63 students, mostly hailing from Dorchester and Roxbury [in Boston] - also prides itself on the classes and activities it offers to the girls' families and to the rest of the surrounding neighborhood.

"A lot of our girls are children of immigrants," explained Ingrid Tucker, the academy's president. "It's great to educate the girls, but if the families don't know how to speak English, there's [an instructional hurdle]: You can't really make a huge difference in the lives of the girls because it's like they're living in two worlds."

The school branched into adult education soon after it opened. Now, while the students themselves tackle a rigorous curriculum and enrichment activities ranging from lacrosse to ice skating, their parents can take English as a second language, as well as computer and GED classes at the school's adult education center.

Third- and fourth-grade boys and girls - often siblings of Mother Caroline students - also participate in school life, attending an after-school program called Shining Star that features classes emphasizing literacy and mathematical skills.

"What started off as a school for girls has turned into a school for families," Tucker said. "How we are in the community has been really important to us also ... We look at ourselves as a place that helps transform the lives of the community members."

To that end, adult education classes are not limited to students' family members, but are also available to adult learners in the surrounding neighborhood.

Of the 177 adult students currently enrolled, Tucker estimated that about 45 are student family members, which she said makes for a "good balance" between supporting students and building local connections.

When those connections blossom, they can exponentially strengthen ties between the students and the school.

When Meagan McIntosh started fifth grade at Mother Caroline earlier this year, her younger sister joined the Shining Star program a few weeks later. In January, her parents, Tyrone and Carol Ann, both began adult education classes. Tyrone is now enrolled in the Cambridge College program available on-site at the academy.

On May 6, the school celebrated its 15th anniversary with a gala dinner at the Westin Copley Place. Tucker expressed triumph at the impact the school has had since its 1993 opening.

"I used to recruit girls for The Cambridge School of Weston when I was first introduced to Mother Caroline 13 years ago," she said. "I just remember thinking, ‘My goodness, if I had a school like this growing up... Imagine what the possibilities would be if so many other young girls of color had access to this kind of school.'"

Observing Mother Caroline graduates at the various private high schools at which she worked, Tucker noticed that "they were ahead of their peers not only academically, but they also had a real handle on what it meant to really optimize their time at the school."

"Sometimes, when things are given to you so freely, you don't realize how much of a blessing it is," Tucker recalled. "There is a greater appreciation for these girls, and you saw it."

Still, in the 13 years since she began working with students from Mother Caroline, and in her two years as president of the school, Tucker says she has seen the landscape for independent schools change.

"When the school first opened, there weren't as many charter and pilot schools that we had to compete for dollars with," she said. "Now, the competition is greater in terms of securing the resources that we need to be able to keep our doors open."

The school receives 70 percent of its funding from individual and corporate donations. Operating expenses at Mother Caroline during the 2005-2006 school year came to $2.4 million, with expenses for the middle school academy itself taking up 58 percent of the budget.

"These girls are exposed to a very challenging curriculum that most people in other schools pay a lot of money for," Tucker said, listing off activities such as monthly visits to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, self-defense classes and documentary filmmaking.

Noting the continued ripple effects of supporting and educating the roughly 60 girls who walk through the school's doors every day, Tucker added that the results are always rewarding.

"We've made a commitment to these girls through high school and through college," Tucker said. "They say if you change a woman's life, you change a community."

Source: BayStateBanner.com [3]

Copyright 2008 New England Ethnic News, EthnicNewz.org. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express permission of the source. Contact Newz for more information.

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