The small-but-mighty Snowflake Unified School District is committed to maintaining academic excellence and encouraging teacher collaboration to continue preparing its students for the future.����

Snowflake Unified School District serves six schools in the communities of Snowflake and Taylor. It has two kindergarten through third grade schools, two fourth grade through sixth grade schools, and one school for junior high and high school students.����

The schools of Snowflake Unified that qualify for an A-F letter grade are ‘A’ schools. The kindergarten through third grade schools do not receive an A-F letter grade, but they are high-performing.��

Hollis Merrell, Snowflake Unified superintendent, explained that the kindergarten through third grade schools do not receive a grade because they do not qualify for growth points since they do not take the AzMERIT until third grade.����

“When we talk about those numbers and look at test scores, those numbers and scores represent students and obviously that’s the best part of the job is when we see students succeed,” Merrell said.

Merrell explained that the collaboration among teachers is the biggest contribution to the district’s success.����

“They plan, they share, they determine which students need to go to re-teach the next week. In my opinion, we wanted to create a system that was not dependent on individual people,” he said.��

The teachers meet weekly by grade level or department to discuss the curriculum, ensure they are all on the same page and learn from each other.

Merrell said, “Really, any organization’s best opportunity for success is working together.”

Teacher collaboration has led Snowflake Unified down a successful path, but it had to find time in teachers’ busy schedules to allow for them to meet.

For the elementary school teachers, “we implemented an early release every Friday, which allows our elementary teachers to hold their grade-level meeting and collaborate and work together,” Merrell said.����

For junior high and high school students, Snowflake Unified implemented a schedule referred to as “Modified Five.”��

Through Modified Five, the district reports a four-day week to the Arizona Department of Education and the students have a four-day school week.��

But, teachers are on-site Friday mornings to help students who are assigned to come in for extra help or who choose to come.����

“First of all, it motivates to do well Monday through Thursday, so they don’t have to come to school on Friday. And secondly, those that really need the help are here and can get the help they need,” Merrell said.��

Snowflake Unified works to prepare its students for success not only in elementary and secondary education, but in postsecondary attainment and career endeavors.����

“We want our students to be able to graduate from high school here with options. We don’t want them to be limited in the choices that they make because of the education they’ve received here,” Merrell said.��

Snowflake Unified is a host district of Northern Arizona Vocational Institute of Technology (NAVIT), which allows high school students to engage in career and technical education programs, earn high school credit and earn community college credit.����

“They partner with our local community college, so students have the opportunity to go off campus and receive skills and training in specific areas,” Merrell said.��

Snowflake Unified offers dual enrollment classes for high school students through Northland Pioneer College, a nearby community college.����

“Our students can receive over 30 college credits staying here on our campus,” Merrell said. “We feel like that gives them that push to go ahead and finish college when they graduate because they already have a lot of the basic courses out of the way.”��

The students also have access to career and technical education programs that prepare them for careers after high school.��

“If a student doesn’t want to go to college, they have other options there as well. I feel that’s the most important thing we can do is allow them to have a broad enough experience that they have options when they graduate,” Merrell said.��

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The Vista College Preparatory Hadley campus maintains high expectations for students in an effort to prepare them for future endeavors despite the challenges they may face.

The Vista College Preparatory (VCP) Hadley campus serves about 330 students, referred to as scholars, in Kindergarten through fifth grade and is located in south downtown Phoenix.

Last year, the VCP-Hadley campus received the National Blue Ribbon School Award from the U.S. Department of Education. The schools that excel in high performance and progress in closing the achievement gap.

“It celebrates the work of our teachers and scholars and their families, the work they do every single day,” said Roxanne Zamora, VCP-Hadley principal. “It is truly a point of reflection for us where we think about how all the things we are doing are actually helping our scholars to succeed.”.

Students are challenged throughout the school year, but the VCP-Hadley campus works to ensure students don’t suffer from ‘the summer slide’ when school is out.

To prevent students from taking a few steps back academically by the time they return to school in the fall, Zamora explains that students must complete two pages of homework every day throughout the summer, including weekends.

“On top of the homework, we also send home novels and different texts based on the scholars reading levels and based on the grade level they’re about to enter so they can keep practicing some of the skills they learned over the course of the previous years and put into effect while they read those books,” Zamora said.

More than 90 percent of the students at the VCP-Hadley campus are eligible for free and reduced lunch and identify as a minority.

To successfully address the unique needs of students from low-income households and minority backgrounds, VCP-Hadley students are often split into small groups for lessons so they can be evaluated closely.

“Our teachers are deeply involved with the data that they’re getting and receiving from each of those lessons and that also helps them accurately meet the needs where they’re at,” Zamora said.

The student populations at VCP’s Maryvale campus and its middle school also include more than 90 percent minority populations that are eligible for free or reduced lunch.

“When Vista College Prep was founded in 2013, we set out to create a school model that ensured that demographics do not determine destiny. So, our goal is that the students have access to a high-quality education and we believe that all students can achieve as long as they have access to that high-quality education,” said Julia Meyerson, VCP founder and director.

VCP works to ensure its middle school students are on the path to a postsecondary education no matter the hurdles they may face on their way.

Teachers do this through preparing students for Advanced Placement courses in high school and provide advanced literature.

“In literature for us, we’ve done a lot to ensure that our scholars are reading complex and rigorous text in every grade level in middle school to make sure that they’re accessing text that other students across Phoenix, across the state and across the country are accessing,” said Kathryn Pegram, VCP middle school principal.

Each VCP campus prioritizes hiring and retaining talented teachers and staff who give the students the education and preparation they deserve.

“We truly work hard every single day to ensure every single child that walks into our building is getting the best education possible. We do work so hard to hire the best of the best as far as teachers and staff go,” said Sarah Mertz, VCP-Maryvale principal.

She added, “We also work incredibly hard to train them, keep them in our schools and support them.”

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Students who attend Reyes Maria Ruiz Leadership Academy are not only encouraged to excel in the classroom, but to be thoughtful leaders and engaged community members. ��

Reyes Maria Ruiz Leadership Academy (RMR) is an ESPIRITU charter school that serves students in Kindergarten through sixth grade. The campus is also home to ESPIRITU’s Esperanza Montessori Academy Preschool.

“We’ve been founded in south Phoenix since the time of conception and we’re here to serve the community. We’re founded by a group of family members that wanted to make a different impact in the community and knew that education was the way to do that,” said Adam Sharp, RMR Servant Leader Principal.

RMR, along with the other ESPIRITU charter schools, serves students that are typically underserved. 98 percent of RMR’s students are eligible for free and reduced lunch, according to Sharp.

RMR includes servant leadership-focused elective classes that are designed to prepare students to lead others and be a service to their communities.

“Every student takes Leadership and we talk about how to be a good leader, how to be a good servant leader. How to go out, change the world, multiply other people to learn leadership skills so you can add different leaders to your team,” Sharp said.

In addition to being a good leader, RMR works to instill three core values in the students: faith, family and tradition.

“Faith is not about a certain religion or anything like that. Faith is simply believing in yourself and believing in others and having that faith that you can really do great works,” Sharp explained.

The focus on family is to remind students that as they make decisions and work toward their goals, they are representing their family.

Families are also encouraged to participate in activities with the students and promote tradition in the community. ����

“Tradition and community- we serve our community, we represent our community. We do different things like Ballet Folklorico dances, Mother’s Day celebrations, family movie nights- different things like that to engage the community,” Sharp said.

As students prepare to learn and take their next steps, RMR works to give students hands-on learning opportunities.

“We also have a community garden on the school that’s blooming right now. The kids have garden club,” Sharp said. “They water it, they beautify it, we have different things growing in the garden.”

He said, “We’re trying to always make our campus a nicer place. And, once your work in a nicer place, once you study in a nicer place you feel better and you produce better results.”

RMR and the other ESPIRITU charter schools challenge students in the classroom, help them engage with the community and encourage them to be leaders as they move forward.

As parents and guardians send their children off to school, Sharp said it’s important to know that the school they are going to is right for them.

“I’m a big school choice person. I believe you’ve got to find the right fit for your child. I think we have a lot to offer and a variety of activities that can fit many different children,” Sharp said.

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Autism affects one in 59 children, according to the National Autism Association. Arizona Autism Charter Schools is committed to meeting the needs of those students. ��

Arizona Autism Charter Schools (AZACS) is in its fifth year of operation and is the state’s first autism-focused charter school.

It currently has a campus for elementary students and one for middle and upper school students. In 2017 Arizona Autism Charter Schools received approval to open a high school. The school currently offers ninth grade and will expand by one grade level each year. ����

Diana Diaz-Harrison, AZACS founder and executive director, struggled to find a school that fully met the needs of her son who has autism.

“I did some research and learned that there were autism-focused charter schools in other states. And with the rising statistics of autism in Arizona, I thought it was time that Arizona also offered this school-choice option for families living with autism here in our state,” Diaz-Harrison said.

In fall 2014, AZACS welcomed students in kindergarten through fifth grade and has since worked to expand and serve more students on the autism spectrum.

“Our mission is based on Applied Behavior Analysis, which is the most empirically supported method for children with autism,” Diaz-Harrison said.

Its Applied Behavior Analysis is data-driven and is geared to help students overcome behavioral and communication deficits while tackling the curriculum.

“Being data-driven means that we’re always showing that our kids are moving forward in their skills,” Diaz-Harrison said. “It’s not enough to say that we think our kids are learning or having qualitative data.”

AZACS focuses on Applied Behavior Analysis programming at both of its campuses and plans to use it as the charter expands.

The charter serves about 200 students and as the high school program grows, it will either add a third campus or consolidate the K12 program onto a larger site.

As it grows, Diaz-Harrison said AZACS plans to offer a variety of services for families with autism and related disorders.

She explained that the goal is to “offer wrap-around services for students and families living with autism that include behavioral health and medical, all of the things that a family living with autism might need for their child in a one-stop-shop.”

The charter school works to provide the students with the tools they need to succeed and grow in the classroom, but it also focuses on helping them create a bright future.

“We are very focused on the next steps in the children’s futures and we are a force to be reckoned with because we are preparing our kids for the jobs of tomorrow in the science fields, computer science, in language arts and in the arts in general,” Diaz-Harrison said. “Our children will show the world what they can do, and we’re excited to be part of the learning that will get them there.”

AZACS aims to meet the needs of children with autism and related disorders and provide them with an education that puts them on the path to success, and it keeps the needs of the family in mind while it carries out its services.

“As we grow the school and as we develop programs I always think, ‘What would I, as a mom, want for my child?’ And, that is how we operate. We’re a nonprofit school so everything that we do is geared toward growing the program to the best quality,” Diaz-Harrison said.

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The Western School of Science and Technology provides a variety of high-quality opportunities for students, setting them on the path to success and encouraging them to embrace the community in which they live. ��

“Western School of Science and Technology is a tuition-free public charter school serving the Maryvale community. We opened in 2014 with the explicit goal of being the first A-rated public high school here in Maryvale, which is a fantastic neighborhood in West Phoenix,” Peter Boyle, Western School of Science and Technology (WSST) founding director, said.

Since WSST opened, it has grown from 250 students in seventh grade through ninth grade to 550 students in seventh grade through twelfth grade.

“Our school looks exactly like our neighborhood. Here in the heart of Maryvale, almost all of our students identify as Hispanic or Latino, which is very similar to Maryvale broadly. Many of our students speak a language other than English at home,” Boyle said.

He added that almost 95 percent of the students qualify for free and reduced lunch, which is an indicator of family poverty.

Boyle explained that before WSST opened its doors, parents and families in the Maryvale community had certain expectations of college preparatory high school.

The Maryvale community wanted a school that had a strong focus on academics.

“So, we offer AP courses in many different disciplines. We have dual-enrollment programs, internships, career and technical education programs,” Boyle said. “All of which very strongly prepare students for the academic rigors of college.”

The families were also interested in a curriculum that includes STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education.

“[Parents] know as we do, and as research tells us, that’s where our economy is heading. Not just here in Arizona but nationwide and globally, as well,” Boyle said. “And so, that is a strong part of our program that’s unique for this community and what we’re looking for in this community.”

The families also saw a need for a small school environment.

“We will never be larger than 600 students, we know every student by name and that’s important,” Boyle said. “And, that community feel really makes a difference.”

WSST works to ensure its students stay connected with their unique community while learning problem-solving skills.

“We know that many of them want to give back to this neighborhood that means so much to them. It’s where they’ve grown up, it’s where their families are, it’s where their community support system is,” Boyle explained.

The students must complete a certain amount of community service hours in order to graduate.

Junior and senior students also have the opportunity to get involved with a social entrepreneurship program that encourages the students to tackle an issue in their community using problem-solving skills. ��

Boyle explained that students will grow when they are in a school environment that fits with their needs.

“One of the great things about Arizona is our robust school choice landscape. And so, many of our students and their families have siblings who attend other great schools here in West Phoenix,” Boyle said. “And, we’re really excited by that because every student truly is different.”

He added, “And, we have found that students who are looking for that project and problem-based academic environment, students who are looking for a supported pathway to college, those are the students who are really successful in our program.”

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High school students at ASU Preparatory Academy have various interests and strengths, but they all have one goal in common: postsecondary graduation.

ASU Preparatory Academy is a charter school system with multiple campuses-including online- throughout the Valley. It serves students in grades pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade and focuses on preparing students for postsecondary achievement.

“ASU Prep Poly High School is a college-going STEM high school [that] really looks to personalize the education for students through all sorts of different ways in connection with the university and really having a full immersed university-bound experience,” Chrystal Keller, ASU Preparatory Academy Polytechnic STEM High School director of secondary learning, said.

The high school is located on the Arizona State University Polytechnic campus, allowing students to engage with the university and even take university courses.

Keller explained that about 27 percent of ASU Preparatory Polytechnic High School STEM (ASU Poly High School) students are in the free and reduced lunch program. A diverse mix of students from various backgrounds makes up 53 percent of the student population, while the remaining 47 percent are Caucasian.

“I think you’ll find in the East Valley that’s quite a bit more diverse than many of the schools in this area, and we really take pride in that and we really encourage that,” Keller said.

Students in their senior year take the Senior Seminar class, which helps prepare them for college through application support and other tools that put them on the path to postsecondary success.

“This year, we have a 97 percent acceptance rate into Arizona State University and 100 percent acceptance rate into four-year university in general. So, all of our seniors have been accepted into a university,” Keller said.

She added that ASU Poly High School’s average ACT score is 24, which is 6.8 points above the state’s average of 19.2.

“One of the great things about being here at ASU Poly [High School] is the amazing programs on the ASU campus here. Our students get hands-on experience in the wind tunnels, in the aviation simulation labs, in the STEM labs,” Keller explained. “Really, anywhere on campus that there’s an interest, they get to go in and work hands-on.”

High school students attending the ASU Preparatory Academy Phoenix Campus also benefit from the charter school’s postsecondary-focused model.

ASU Preparatory Academy Phoenix Campus serves about 1,200 students. It is located in Downtown Phoenix and was chartered by Arizona State University about seven years ago.

Much like the ASU Prep Poly High School campus, the students at ASU Prep Phoenix prepare for postsecondary education throughout their time with the charter school.

During the students’ senior year, “they have a college-going advisor that really works with them on their career plans,” Adrian De Alba, ASU Preparatory Academy Phoenix Campus director of secondary learning, explained.

While postsecondary achievement is on students’ minds, they also address real-world issues and engage with the community.

For a tenth-grade project, students tackle a community issue and try to develop a solution through a capstone course. That course allows them to strengthen problem-solving skills and get involved with the community.

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Decked out in their firefighters uniforms and awaiting their signal, a group of juniors at Franklin Police and Fire High School attentively hold their positions. They hear the word “go” and immediately spring into action: unfurling a lengthy fire hose, dragging a heavy practice dummy, and swinging a bulky sledgehammer as quickly as possible.

Thirty minutes later, they’re sitting in classrooms learning English, math and science like any other high school student.

Franklin Police and Fire was the first high school in the country to have dedicated law enforcement and fire science programs when it opened in 2007, and those programs are still a big part of what makes the school unique. But despite having “police and fire” in its name, the true focus of Franklin Police and Fire High School is preparing students for “college, career and life,” according to Principal Lorenzo Cabrera.

“We see ourselves as a college prep school,” Cabrera said. “So we push everyone to complete high school and go to college.”

The numbers don’t lie: within each of the last eight years, between 95 and 100 percent of Franklin’s senior class have graduated high school, and 100 percent of outgoing seniors have applied to universities. Cabrera said that in addition to requiring students to apply to in-state universities, they also push them to apply to their “dream school” and pursue financial aid and scholarships.

Many Franklin graduates who don’t go to college enlist in the military or pursue other routes, and a few have even been able to secure entry-level law enforcement positions within a few years of graduation.

“We have a great partnership with MCSO, and so some of our graduates have an opportunity to be detention officers with the sheriff’s office,” he said.

Students participating in either the police or fire programs at Franklin get exposed to a lot of the ideas and skills they would need if they were to pursue a career in either field. For law enforcement students, that can include everything from learning to read Miranda Rights to how to interpret police codes. Fire science students, meanwhile, learn everything from fire suppression techniques to how to conduct search and rescue operations.

The public safety programs are taught by former police officers and firefighters, who Cabrera referred to as “experts in their trade.”

Angelina Ortiz, a junior at Franklin, said she hopes to someday work as a forensics pathologist for a law enforcement agency. She said that she values her connections with the faculty at Franklin and feels like they truly care about the students.

“Our teachers are really connected with us, we do a lot of one-on-one if we need any help with our subjects,” she said. “I don’t think you get that much attention at other schools or campuses.”

Ortiz also said that she’s noticed a strong sense of community that permeates the walls of Franklin.

“I would have to say that we’re a family,” she said. “We’re really supportive of each other in anything that we do.”

A particular focus of Cabrera has been getting more young women interested in public safety careers. While public safety is still a “male-dominated profession,” he said, Franklin Police and Fire currently has almost as many female students as it does male students. Cabrera said Franklin encourages females to consider the profession via programs like Camp Franklin, an womens summer camp led by female officers and firefighters.

“That’s been a push of mine, to get these young ladies into public safety, because I know that a lot of them are interested in it,” he said.

Franklin Police and Fire is a Title 1 school, meaning many of its students come from families classified as at or below the federal poverty line. But Cabrera said that what really makes Franklin students stand out is their eagerness to work hard and overcome the obstacles in their path.

“We don’t allow that specific demographic to determine their destination,” Cabrera said. “We’re really proud of our students and what they’ve accomplished, and their resiliency.”

Franklin Police and Fire has also been repeatedly recognized as a top-performing school by U.S. News & World Report, is an “A-rated” school according to the Arizona Department of Education, and has even been designated a National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education.

“I’ve said that we are the Valley’s best-kept secret,” Cabrera said, “but we shouldn’t be.”

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One hour northeast of Payson, the small rural community of Heber-Overgaard sits squarely in the picturesque White Mountains.

The local chamber of commerce’s motto is: “We have more trails than roads, more trees than buildings and more wildlife than people!”

The community is centered around the local school district, which is the largest employer in the area with about 80 employees. For years, area residents drove 30 miles to Snowflake for high school, but in the late 80s, residents voted to expand the Heber-Overgaard district into a K-12 unified school district and approved a bond to build the high school.

Led by Superintendent Ron Tenney, the 500-student Heber-Overgaard Unified School District graduates about 30 students each year.

Tenney is a third-generation resident of Heber, he met his wife in high school, and started his career as a Heber teacher.

“You have to love Heber to want to be here. Ron is local. He grew up here and raised his children here. He has a vested interest in our success and his motive is to benefit our kids,” said Marti Ballesteros, a fifth-grade teacher at Capps Middle School. “He loves his community and with that kind of passion you know that his heart is in the right place.”

Although small, that doesn’t stop students from exceeding academically.

Capps Middle School consistently earns top marks. Heber’s high school students can earn up to 12 college credits without leaving campus due to an innovative partnership with Northland Pioneer College, which video streams live college courses for students. The district uses Vail School District’s Beyond Textbooks curriculum, which Tenney said provides teachers resources and access to curriculum specialists that the district couldn’t otherwise afford.

“He’s an innovator and is always looking for ways to improve and be more efficient, because in the end, it’s all about the students,” said Capps Middle School Principal Tim Slade.

The district also comes with its challenges.

Since Heber is not a municipality, the district’s schools must have their own septic systems. Just a few weeks ago, Tenney could be seen helping to fix the school’s septic system. Many students live in remote locations, some without running water or electricity. This district has limited broadband access, so not all classrooms can use the internet at the same time. As a mountain community, they also have to deal with snow days, when it can sometimes take days to clear some of the rural roadways of snow.

But friends and coworkers said that Tenney does everything he can to support the needs of students and teachers and finds creative solutions for their issues.

“As superintendent, I can say I love waking up every morning and going to work,” said Tenney. “It’s a great place to raise a family. We have amazing students and a wonderful staff. That’s what keeps bringing me back. If the Board keeps me, I’ll stay here forever.”

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Standing at the end of the school driveway, Alta Vista High School principal Alicia Alvarez greets students every morning.

But her commitment to students goes beyond a smile and a wave.

The alternative charter school serves students who may be academically behind, who have a documented history of disruptive behavior, are homeless or who just don’t fit into large comprehensive high schools.

“We come here every day knowing that we are producing future community members who can be self-sufficient and continue,” Alvarez said. “We want to make sure a student leaves here with a diploma and a plan for their success.”

Alvarez said many of the students who transfer to Alta Vista as upperclassman are significantly behind in coursework. The school uses a block schedule of 10-week, 90-minute classes to help students catch up. If they keep their GPA above a 2.0, students are able to take an additional class during each block.

“While we may be defined as an alternative school, we never want our students to come here thinking that we have alternative expectations,” she said. “Every day we fight the negative stigma that comes with our alternative school label. We have high expectations for our students, and our focus is to make them believe in themselves.”

Hadasa Arguelles, who graduated from Alta Vista in 2010, transferred to the public charter school as a sophomore. Arguelles said she struggled academically and socially in her large high school, so her mom encouraged her to try Alta Vista.

“When I came here, I finally felt like I belonged,” she said. “From the students to the teachers, Mrs. Alvarez truly cares about every individual on campus. When one of us is struggling, she will work with us until we feel like we’re in a good place.”

Arguelles, who is earning her master’s degree in special education from the University of Arizona, is now a student-teacher at Alta Vista.

“The atmosphere here of continual improvement is why I chose to come back,” she said. “After 15 years, Mrs. Alvarez still has a deep love and passion for students. She is the reason I want to become an educator.”

All of the school’s 525 students qualify for free or reduced-priced lunch, nearly 50 students are homeless or not living with parents, seven percent are not proficient in English and nearly 12 percent have special learning needs, but those statistics don’t stand in the way of the student’s academic success. Alta Vista is consistently ranked as one of the top alternative schools in Arizona, last earning an ‘A-Alt’ letter grade from the Arizona Department of Education.

Because of that success, Alta Vista earned an additional $178,000 in results-funding from the state last school year. Approved by lawmakers in 2016, Results-Based Funding provides $225 per student to the top 10 percent of schools in the state, $400 per student to the top 10 percent of schools with more than 60 percent of students who quality for free or reduced priced lunch and $400 per student to all ‘A’-rated alternative schools.

Alvarez used the funding to add five new classrooms to their campus. Previously, Alta Vista bussed students to the local YMCA for physical education and art classes. Now, students have access to weight training, graphic design and a dedicated room for English Language Learners. ��

“We’re working with the whole child. Perhaps not all of our students will go to college, but they will all work,” she said. “Beyond academics, punctuality, communication, attendance, and respect for the environment are key to what we do here because that’s something that’s applicable to the workplace.”

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Tucked into a renovated two-story building at the edge of Brophy College Prep is a tuition-free middle school for boys from across Maricopa County.

Loyola Academy opened in 2011 to prepare boys from underprivileged families for Brophy College Prep, a nationally recognized private Jesuit high school in central Phoenix.

For Nelson Martinez De Los Santos who was part of the founding class of sixth-graders, it was an opportunity of a lifetime.

Now a freshman at College of the Holy Cross in Boston, Martinez De Los Santos said he spent 40 minutes each day commuting to Loyola. The 10-hour school day and 11-month school year propels students forward academically and socially. Once they complete middle school, the boys earn a full-ride scholarship to Brophy, which is about $15,000 annually.

“I still remember like it was yesterday,” said De Los Santos. “It’s just a unique experience. It’s a paradise, they really take care of you there. It’s like a family.”

Rigorous, but supportive, Martinez De Los Santos said at the heart of the school is its founding director – Kendra Krause.

“Ms. Krause is like my second mom. She never waits to be supportive or lend a helping hand, she’s always there,” said Martinez De Los Santos, whose family immigrated to the U.S. when he was one-year-old. “She’s really dedicated her life to make sure students who have come from situations like mine… are successful. I honestly wouldn’t be in college without her.”

Krause said Brophy’s leadership saw that even with increased financial aid, some students “would still struggle when they got here, sometimes academically, sometimes socially, usually both.”

So, the idea was born to create a feeder middle school to equip these young boys with the academic and social foundation to succeed at Brophy.

“We want to help eliminate anything that might keep a boy from being successful and focusing on school,” Krause said. “I do think that it’s more than just money to go to a private school. We try hard to provide a whole experience that benefits a boy and his family.”

Fifth-grade students qualify to attend Loyola based on recommendations, academic potential and financial need. Beyond tuition, Loyola provides students with uniforms, technology, transportation, meals and support for families.

Brophy’s mission is to transform young men into leaders committed to service and social justice, or Men for Others, said Brophy President Adria Renke.

“Loyola Academy lives our mission. It truly is men and women for and with others. It’s the best thing Brophy College Prep has done since 1928,” she said. “We are all different because of Loyola Academy, no question. It has changed the fabric of our school.”

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