An Update from John F. Green, Executive Director
In 2018, TEAK set out to raise $3M in order to support our aspiration to grow our Fellowship by 50% over the next 10 years. We knew that to recruit more students and provide them with the same quality educational experience and personal attention would require significant resources. By 2019, we were able to raise $3.6M thanks to our ever-increasing number of generous and loyal friends who believe in our mission and believe in us. Below, I share an update on our efforts and progress thus far.
Last September, we charged our admissions staff with identifying 45 (instead of 30) exceptional sixth-grade students. To recruit 45 exceptional students, we added an additional admissions officer to our team that traveled far and wide across four boroughs. The team targeted neighborhoods that were in proximity to our already established after-school sites in Brooklyn (Packer-Collegiate) and the Bronx (Fordham Preparatory) as well as the new Queens site that will open in September 2019. They visited guidance counselors and teachers in 42 middle schools and received 582 nominations. They hosted 17 information sessions (2 in Spanish) for these nominees and their parents at 10 locations resulting in 300 completed applications. We will interview 90 finalists and their families next month and, by May, select 45 students for Class 22.
Our new site in Queens (Kew Forest School) will accommodate our growing cohort of students bringing our program closer to the neighborhoods where our students reside and attend school. Identifying a school in Queens proved to be a challenging exercise due to the size of the borough and less access to public transportation. After careful evaluation, mapping, and extensive research, we chose a school that was accessible to many current students and middle schools from which we have traditionally received nominations. We were also able to reach Queens’ students and middle schools located in new neighborhoods that, until now, have considered themselves too far from our offices here in Manhattan.
Anticipating our 45 student cohorts instead of 30, TEAK must continue to offer an outstanding and comprehensive middle school program in order to prepare and place them into selective secondary schools and, more importantly, to prepare them for success in their new environments. To ensure 45 students receive the same high-quality academic instruction and individualized support as 30, TEAK will add a full-time classroom teacher and a part-time high school placement officer over the next year in order to maintain its enviable student-teacher ratios at all costs.
In short, I thank you again for your support and commitment to TEAK during this growth period and hope I have given you a sense of our recent achievements and strategy going forward. We have accomplished much in year one of our plan but have miles to go and would welcome your ongoing and future participation. In the meantime, I will continue to bring you periodic updates on our progress in the months and years ahead.
Sincerely yours,
John F. Green
Executive Director