With its dedication to developing the minds, bodies and spirits of students so that they become productive members of society, and its beautiful, state of the art campus hidden on the top of a hill in Stanton Heights, The Neighborhood Academy (TNA) may well be the city’s best-kept secret when it comes to education.
The faith-based independent college preparatory school for grades 8-12 has a mission to break the cycle of generational poverty by preparing low-income youth for college and citizenship, and a record that proves it’s doing just that. For yet another year, according to the school, every senior in the class of 2014 will graduate and has been accepted to a four-year college or university.
“The importance of Neighborhood Academy lies in several areas. One, we’ve created an environment that is stable, it’s conducive to learning, it’s non-violent, it’s orderly, and where our students have a profound and powerful sense of belonging, of being seen, and known and cared for. I think that differs from many of the surrounding schools,” said Rev. Thomas Johnson Jr., co-founder and head of the school. “And second, we have an agenda here and we’re absolutely crystal clear about that agenda. We’re here to shape character, we’re here to send our kids to college and we’re here to make sure our kids graduate from college.”
The Neighborhood Academy, now located on North Aiken Street in Stanton Heights, began in 1993 as an intense five-week summer school program for at-risk youth under the direction of co-founder Jodie Moore and Rev. Johnson. After much success, the school, which is fully accredited by the Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools, became a full-year day school in September 2001. The school, which offers small classes, career counseling, advising, mentoring and character development, currently serves more than 80 students and is growing by the year.
According to Sheila Rawlings, development director at Neighborhood Academy, the school, which has a 97 percent African-American student population, serves students from 24 neighborhoods within the Greater Pittsburgh area and offers tuition assistance for everyone. Rawlings said, this year, through various monetary contributions, the school was able to provide 89 students with scholarships.
According to its information, Neighborhood Academy has a 100 percent college placement rate and an 89 percent college graduation rate.
“I love teaching here and enjoy it. It’s humbling,” said Joshua Brim-Simpson, a Computer, Health and Physical Education teacher. Brim-Simpson, who has been teaching at Neighborhood Academy for two years, after volunteering for one year, said what he enjoys most is trying to change the lack of enthusiasm students have for education, like he once had.
Operating on a 12-hour school day, students begin their day at 7 a.m. and end it at 7 p.m. At Neighborhood Academy students must wear uniforms and their day includes chapel, where the students learn life lessons such as patience, determination and strength; college prep academic courses; extra-curricular activities such as sports, music, theater, art, mock trial, photography and African drumming and dancing, just to name a few; and tutorial sessions for their studies. The students are also provided snacks and three meals-breakfast, lunch and dinner. Students are even rewarded with leisure time where they can play video games in the student lounge that contains two large screened televisions.
Students at the school have the benefit of using state of the art equipment; some provided through corporate and community contributions. Recently, PNC Financial Services Group donated a large globe that lights up (pictured on the cover), so students can get a real feel for the world and where they can go.
While the education and amenities may be slightly different, like most schools, Neighborhood Academy also has rules that students must follow. Rawlings said there is a zero tolerance for violence, weapons, drugs, alcohol and even pregnancy—students are not able to get anyone pregnant or impregnate anyone.
Khalil Sellers, a senior who has attended the Neighborhood Academy since eighth grade, said, “I like it (TNA) now, starting out I didn’t. In the younger grades I didn’t understand what it was doing for me, but now that I’m in my senior year and get to see all the benefits, I’m starting to like it a lot more.” Sellers, who will graduate this week, said after graduation he will be moving to Denver for a graphic design job that is awaiting him. Sellers said it was at Neighborhood Academy where he was exposed to his talent and found a love for it. While he will be taking a year-off from higher education, he does plan to attend college.
While the academics and the schedule may be more rigorous, Sellers said he thinks the education he is receiving sets him apart from his friends who attend other schools. “I feel like the teachers, like Dean my advisor, help me a lot. And I’m more prepared. I get a lot more hands-on opportunities to interact with my teachers than my friends do.”
Like Sellers, 10th grader Cheyne Francis agrees that the education she is receiving is top notch. Francis, who transferred to Neighborhood Academy this year from Cheswick Christian Academy, in Cheswick, Pa., said this school is a big step up from her last and that she finds it more academically rigorous and challenging, which she welcomes.
“I like a challenge, I like being involved in stuff and getting to do stuff. Here it was a big challenge and I love that. The teachers here actually care about you; they want to help you and want to be here. And a lot of the students want to be here,” Francis said. “This wasn’t an ‘oh my parents forced me to be here.’ I like being around people with the same mindset as me.”
After graduation she said she plans to go to college where she will major in speech pathology and special education, with a minor in interpretation of American Sign Language. She wants to help others, for example children with autism, stroke survivors or even those who may be deaf, learn how to speak and communicate.
Along with the youth at its school, Neighborhood Academy also works with youth in the Wilkinsburg and Homewood communities through its afterschool mentorship programs held at Westinghouse High School, for boys, ages 10-14, and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church for both boys and girls.
As the school year ends and summer break approaches for most, Neighborhood Academy students are not quite free. Because during the June to mid-September break students are most likely “to lose ground academically from the prolonged break” and may be unsupervised, due to parents working, leaving them at risk to get into trouble or harm, the school offers a mandatory five-week summer session for students, which they receive a stipend for participating. The goal is to provide a safe and supervised summer experience; build upon students’ academic progress; increase students’ and families’ familiarity with college life and the entrance process; and to expose students to the rich cultural and civic resources of the region. During the session, students spend time at Duquesne University, Bethany College and go on a weeklong college tour.
There is even a summer session for students looking to attend the school. During the program, students are assessed to see where they are academically and must do homework and wear a uniform.
“It’s to prepare them for the fall. It’s like a boot camp. If they make the five-weeks then they’re accepted into the school,” said Rawlings.
But it’s not just the commitment of the staff, teachers and students who make the school successful, the parental involvement is just as important as well. Rawlings said the school takes a two generational approach to ensuring its students’ success—“while educating the students, they also educate the parents.” Parents meet school leaders and teachers, they hold monthly Hand-to-Hand Parent Institute meetings, they pick-up their child’s report cards and some even attend the college tours. Rawlings said some mothers have been so motivated through the tours that they even decided to enroll in college.
“If you want to help the child, help the parents, help the mother. And the parents know that coming in,” she said.
With its success thus far, Neighborhood Academy plans on expanding to reach even more families. Within the next two years, Rawlings said the school plans to open its doors to 6th and 7th graders, and one-day hopes to open locations in other communities.
“Everything we do is thought out—what’s best for the child? It’s best that they’re in a safe environment, it’s best if they’re learning, it’s best if they’re not losing time,” said Rawlings. “We are the best kept secret in Pittsburgh.”
The secret is now out.
