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Greetings!
Welcome to the first edition of Uplift Education's new monthly e-newsletter. It's our goal for this new communications piece to provide you with regular updates on student achievement, highlights from our schools, and othe important information about Uplift. We also hope you will share this newsletter with your friends, family and colleagues using the "Forward email" link at the bottom of this message.
One of our major Uplift-wide initiatives right now is fulfilling our goal to serve 10,000 students by the 2019-2020 school year. We currently serve about 4,000 students and have nearly 3,600 students on waiting lists for our schools. We plan to open 2-3 new schools each year, starting with Heights Preparatory and Laureate Preparatory in 2010, so that we are able to provide meaningful, qualtiy education options to communities in need.
With a growing student body, the inspiring stories that take place in the halls of our schools every day are beyond measure. Our high school students are about to embark on one of their most prized annual events - Spring Break college visits. This year students are traveling to Fisk, Vanderbilt, Tennessee State, Ohio State, Central State University, Penn State, State College, Princeton, NYU, Hunter Collge, the Naval Academy, Spellmann College, Morehouse and Clark-Atlanta. We can't wait to hear about their college visits and see how it impacts their college decisions.
This is an exciting time for Uplift as we continue to expand and grow our campuses and student body, and we're thankful to have your support every step of the way.
Shine through,
Yasmin Bhatia, CEO |
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News & School Highlights |
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· North Hills students journey to Singapore
See the Dallas Morning News article here.
· NBA, KaBOOM! and Uplfit brave the snow
to build a new playground at Summit Int'l
See the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram article here.
· Summit Int'l Prep brings home the gold
Summit's middle school Robotics Team placed 1st in the Teamwork category for the First Lego League Robotics Competition. |
· Seniors apply to 130 colleges
Uplift's seniors from North Hills and Peak are on track for 100% college matriculation. They have applied to approximately 130 different schools. They also applied for nearly $5 million in scholarships, and $3,262,760 has been offered in school-specific scholarship awards.
· Williams raises $1,300 for Haiti relief
Students made and sold "hope bracelets" in the colors of Haiti's flag to help raise funds. |
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 North Hills Model UN Team shines bright in 2010Team travels to Singapore, hosts first Dallas area conference and continues winning streak in Oklahoma
The North Hills Preparatory Model United Nations team recently returned from the Model United Nations of the Southwest Conference (MUNSW) at the University of Oklahoma. For the fifth year in a row, North Hills won the award for Best Large School at the conference. Forty-eight North Hills students, grades 8-12, attended the MUNSW conference, representing 15 countries and competing against delegations representing schools from across Oklahoma and Texas. Several students received individual recognition awards, including Jingshen Zhao, who took a first place award for his representation of the United Kingdom in the Security Council.
The win comes on the heels of the team's first international trip to the prestigious The Hague International Model United Nations (THIMUN) Singapore Conference. The select group of members who attended the Singapore conference are pictured above. High school students from North Hills also recently hosted the first-ever Dallas Area Model United Nations (DAMUN) conference, which was attended by close to a dozen area high schools.
Model United Nations is an activity in which students role play a delegates from a world nation to the United Nations. Students research their country, its characteristics, and interests, and research a variety of world issues and their country's stance on those issues. They then spend several days engaging in parliamentary debate attempting to resolve international problems from the perspective of their country.
Congratulations are in high order for the North Hills Model UN team members and faculty advisor Charles Ryder. Once again, they shine through.
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 Two new campuses coming in August 2010New schools will serve downtown and West Dallas
For the 2010-2011 school year, Uplift Education will be adding two new campuses to its family of schools. We are accepting pplications through March 31 for April lotteries at both of our new schools.
Laureate Preparatory will be located in downtown Dallas and operate in a unique partnership with the Museum of Nature & Science to provide students with hands-on, in-museum lab experiences. In its first year, the campus will serve 120 kindergarten through 2nd grade students. Uplift plans for this to grow into a K-8 campus serving 465 students and feeding into Peak Preparatory after 8th grade. Jaqueline Ray, currently the senior director of Peak Preparatory, will be serving as senior director of new schools and heading up the leadership team for Laureate Preparatory.
Click here for more information on Laureate Preparatory.
Heights Preparatory will be located in the heart of West Dallas at 2650 Canada Dr. In its first year, the campus will serve 150 6th and 7th grade student, with plans to expand into a K-8 campus serving 705 students and feeding into Williams Preparatory after 8th grade. This new campus was made possible through generous lease terms offered by Dallas Housing Authority with the specific intention of increasing education options for families living in ZIP codes 75212, 75207 and 75247.
Click here for more information on Heights Preparatory. |
 100+ Uplift 7th graders participate in Duke TIPMiddle school students selected to take SAT
More than 100 7th graders from across Uplift's five campuses were recently selected to participate in the Duke Talent Identification Program ("Duke TIP"). This represents 20% of Uplift's 7th grade class.
Duke TIP seeks out gifted middle school students and allows them to take the actual SAT between December and February. We are still receiving scores for our 7th graders, but what we've seen so far has been exemplary. Sagar Seagal scored a 1480 overall and a 540 in math, Yentil Dinsay scored a 1,420 overall and a 500 in reading, Dylan Koss scored a 1,380 overall and a 580 in reading. These scores from our 7th graders are very impressive considering that the average score for a high school senior is 1,500, or 500 in each of the three sections - reading, writing and math.
Uplift's 7th graders used a variety of methods to prepare for the SAT, including practice tests, flash cards, study guides, and question-answering strategies. Their most common reaction after taking the test - It's a lot more mentally draining than they expected. They they said it will help them to not be so nervous when they take it in high school now that they know what to expect. The 7th graders also said that taking the SAT reinforced their goals for where they want to go to college. Some of the schools 7th graders are looking at - The Juilliard School, Air Force Academy and The University of Texas.
Click here to learn more about Uplift's impact on students' college readiness.
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 Uplift launches new web designNew site features more information and cleaner look
Uplift recently performed a major overhaul to its Web site. We've made it easier to experience our school culture, join the Uplift team, apply for admission to our schools and donate online.
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| Bottom Line |
12 of our 14 schools were rated Exmplary or Recognized by TEA for 2008-09. |
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