Volume
1 • Issue 3 • Summer Edition Graduation 2006
Chairman’s message they accepted their diplomas, the anchor leg in a 12-year journey of academic perseverance.
Chairman Hense celebrates with Woodridge kindergarten graduate.
T , F’ . Our five campuses collectively held nine graduation and promotion ceremonies for more than 700 students in pre-kindergarten to 12th grade. As your chairman, it was a joy to share in every moment – pre-kindergarteners clad in cap and gown; jubilant 8th graders eager to become high school freshman; and euphoric seniors marching to thunderous applause as
Inside this
issue: Chairman’s Message
...................................1 Collegiate Grads Prepared for College Success
...................................1 Blow Pierce Raises Expectations
...................................2 Woodridge Sows Seeds of Learning
...................................3 Chamberlain Continues Tradition of Excellence
...................................3 Southeast Elementary Makes School History
...................................4 Friendship Calendar
...................................4 About Friendship
...................................4
For the Friendship community, graduation season represents the fulfillment of a sacred promise. When your child enters one of our elementary, middle or high school campuses, we pledge that he or she will leave academically prepared and ultimately ready for a college education. I am proud to report for the eighth consecutive year, Friendship has done its job! In a city where barely 52 percent of young people graduate from high school, this year, Friendship’s Collegiate Academy achieved a 92 percent graduation rate among a senior class of nearly 300. Bucknell University, the College of William and Mary, Carnegie Mellon University, Howard University and the Rochester Institute of Technology are just a few of the institutions that will welcome Friendship seniors in the fall.
Blow Pierce Junior Academy, one of two Friendship middle schools, not only achieved one of the District’s largest eighth grade graduating classes; both the valedictorian and salutatorian are young black boys – a stark contrast to the pervasive images of underperforming, at-risk black youth. Friendship’s Chamberlain Elementary continued its tradition of producing some of the city’s highest academic achievers; Woodridge Elementary and Middle graduated its second pre-kindergarten class; and the new Southeast Elementary Academy made school history with its first generation of kindergarten and 6th grade graduates. “It takes a village to raise a child, and our village has prepared us to reach new heights,” said Torrin King, Blow Pierce salutatorian. Indeed, the Friendship community is gratified by the success of our students and schools.
As the 2006 senior class savored the final moments of graduation and high school life, I shared these words inspired by Dr. Benjamin E. Mays – eminent educator and former Morehouse College president whose incomparable leadership helped to create a village of learning for me. “It is expected that the student who enters a Friendship school will do well. It is expected that the student who graduates from Friendship and bears our insignia, will do exceptionally well… May you forever stand for something noble and high. Let no person dismiss you with the wave of a hand or the shrug of a shoulder. May you get in the arena of life, perform in an exemplary manner and emerge victorious. It is expected of you.” To our graduates, parents, school staff and community, Congratulations!
Donald L. Hense Chairman Board of Trustees
Collegiate Grads Prepared for College Success “Our teachers convert raw material into polished gems. They have invested their hardearned experience in us so that we are poised to face the challenges of the future. I extend my thanks to my institution by saying lucky are those who are destined to be here.” Rajaa Qadri, Collegiate Academy valedictorian Bucknell University, fall 2006 2005 Posse Foundation Scholar, $120,000 in scholarships
Friendship Scholars Program The Friendship Scholars Program awards college scholarships to Collegiate seniors that have demonstrated exceptional academic and civic leadership. All applicants submit a personal statement, transcripts and are interviewed by Friendship administration. This year, 13 students were awarded scholarships of $2500 each.
2005-06 Scholars: Donesha Bullock Ashley Butler Khadijah Dargan Emerald Jackson Rajaa Qadri Ronee Simmons Tyeshia Watkins
Edward Freeman Carnelius Halmon Treyvon Jackson De’Von Robinson Keith Wiggins Henry Williams
Continued on next page