’08 Alum Wins $10 Million to Start School for Homeless and Foster Youth
Alum Erin Whalen (Class of 2008) and his fellow Los Angeles educator Kari Croft have won $10 million in XQ: The Super School Project, a competition seeking to redesign high schools to best meet the needs of 21st century students. Funded by Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Steve Jobs, XQ: The Super School Project provides ten $10 million awards to school projects nationwide.
Erin’s school redesign project, RISE (Revolutionary Individualized Student Experience), will be a Los Angeles charter school serving homeless and foster children who often face extreme challenges in accessing an education. RISE will include multiple school sites, an online learning system and a mobile resource center to provide students who cannot get to school or who suddenly move with options to keep up with lessons and homework. RISE will partner with other non-profits to insure that students have access to the service providers they need.
Read more about this revolutionary and inspiring approach to education in a recent Los Angeles Times article.
New Roads School is a college preparatory K-12 private independent school in Santa Monica, CA, serving over 514 elementary school, middle school and high school children from the greater Los Angeles area. New Roads School provides an inspired educational program from which an authentically diverse student population, mirroring the rich diversity of Los Angeles, develops a personal dedication to learning, a respect for independent thinking, and an expanding curiosity about the world and its people.
NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATORY POLICY AS TO STUDENTS New Roads School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.