No matter how great our results are, it is still incredibly hard to convince smart, talented, aspiring 8th graders to not go directly to high school with all of their friends. We always need our partners who work in public schools, non-profits, and independent schools to help us identify and convince the heartiest kids, especially boys, to do any extra year - with no guarantees.  Beacon is truly a leap of faith.

Please take a moment to give us leads.  It is not too late. We will do the work. If you know a student who has potential, or a person working with great kids, or a colleague you admire and respect with an 8th grader in an urban school, please simply reply to this email with the information.  We will quickly follow up and get back to you with the results.

Thanks so much and I hope to see you and your friends and family at our 10th Anniversary Celebration at the House of Blues on June 7th.

Cindy

P.S.  Below is a note from a parent I got this morning. It is what compelled me to send out this email.  Your help right now could make a huge difference to a family. Claudia graduated from New Hampton School and is at Wheelock College and Stefano is headed to Concord Academy.

Dear Cindy,

 

In the coming week, my son Stefano Amador is going to be a part of the alumni program of Beacon Academy. The purpose of the letter is to say thank you to the teachers, advisors, administrative personnel and everyone in the team at Beacon Academy because I feel that this year has been very promising for my son to learn and grow as a person.

 

I remember at the beginning of the year when Stefano started at Boston Latin School and I was happy for my son being part of that institution; nevertheless, my son seemed unsure about attending the school, and he was scared of making the change to Beacon. After a couple of anxious weeks, I asked him to do what he wanted to do; therefore, he made the decision to change to Beacon Academy, which you helped him get there.

 

I have to confess that at first I felt unsure that this would be a good change, but seeing him happy and excited about it made me feel better. I also saw him encouraged and focused to continue his homework and obligations at school. All these things made me feel very happy. I already had my experience with my daughter attending Beacon a few years ago and knew of all the good things that Beacon offered to every student which made me more comfortable.

 

As someone said "The hardest thing is to take the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity." Now that Stefano has almost finished attending Beacon I can say that my son made a good decision by changing school; he did learn a lot from Beacon, and he has grown as a person, he is more confident of himself, he participated in many events and things that Beacon offered, he is now capable of thinking of new horizons to learn. I am very grateful of all the things Beacon has done for my children. You made two great students and one proud mother.

 

All I want to say to all of you is thank you very much Beacon Academy.

 

Mercedes Amador