The 2020-2021 School Year has officially launched! I want to thank all of our Parents, Teachers, Scholars, School Leaders, School Support Crew, and Central Office Crew for a strong start. It wasn’t what we hoped for, yet, we demonstrated the U Prep Spirit every step of the way!!! We are engaging our scholars through digital links and supporting our families’ dietary needs via drive-up service. We hope to return to in-person learning as soon as it is safe to do so.

Staying true to our Vision, we establish annual priorities, and this year is no different. Our Vision states: University Prep Schools provides a culturally responsive educational experience for our scholars that builds academic competence, habits of work and scholarship, and self-actualization empowering them to successfully accomplish their post-secondary plans, as well as socially and civically engaged as change agents for themselves and their community. Our 2020-2021 goal is to improve curriculum and educational experiences for all students in our network by ensuring it is more culturally responsive across all subject areas. 

We launched this goal at our annual Leadership Conference. We gathered the leaders in our network to reignite their flame as lifelong learners. Leaders experienced a week-long convening of expectations, new structures, and training. Leaders left understanding the proclamation that, at U Prep Schools, Culturally Responsive Education is not only a practice; it is what informs our practice. It is the lens through which every layer of our organization examines curriculum, instruction, policy, and approaches to staff and student relationships to ultimately meet our Vision. 

Thank you for your partnership and for entrusting your child’s education to us, as we navigate through this new digital space, and remain committed to serving your family in excellence. 

In community,

Danielle Jackson, Chief Executive Officer

Detroit 90/90 & U Prep Schools 

U Prep provides several academic college scholarships each year, made possible by donors like The Thompson Foundation. These donor-funded scholarships help our students pursue their college and career aspirations to ensure they reach their full potential in their community. For that, we are very grateful. In just one example, U Prep alumna Gabrionna Jones-Cummings received the Joseph G. Horonzy Scholarship for the 2019/2020 academic year, earning it for her excellent character, solid work ethic and remarkable effort towards achieving academic success.

Read more of Gabrionna's story at the link below.

The 2020/21 school year brings U Prep the gifts, talents and passions of many new Crew members. Please join us in welcoming our new Crew to the U! Click on the link below to see our new crew members and where they will be working.

If you're interested in joining the U Prep Crew, please visit our careers page for more information.

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: Rachel Fernandez was a member of the graduating class at University Prep Academy in 2016. She went on to the College of Creative Studies, earning a B.F.A. in Photography in May of 2020.

Currently, she is working on personal photo projects and assisting notable automotive and editorial photographer Jenny Risher. She told us, "UPrep gave me the confidence to be a creative person and strive for the best!" Learn more about Rachel Fernandez and her career aspirations at the link below.

Danielle Jackson, CEO of Detroit 90/90, the management company for U Prep Schools, shared her perspective on how to improve the US educational system with two education thought leadership publications this fall, Authority Magazine and Thrive Global.

In discussing U Prep's approach, Ms. Jackson said, "The strategies we use to engage our students with the educational material takes full advantage of the rich culture they bring to school every day. We want our students to see the myriad of contributions that black people have brought to our country. We are moving toward more project-based learning experiences where students engage in learning in the classroom and in the field with experts. These projects will embolden our students to actively participate in the renaissance of Detroit." Read more of the interview at the link below.

The Walters Family Foundation has provided support to help our U Prep students transform the Detroit Zoology and Belle Isle Aquarium studies classrooms at UPSM High School into themed learning spaces. Using artwork and graphics, these rooms will take students into the worlds of zoology and aquatics.

UPAD alumna and faculty member Taylor Childs has been leading the effort, overseeing the painting of support columns to be completed by UPAD students. The goal is to create a completely immersive, environmental aesthetic for these rooms.