KBI Monthly news, updates & joy
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Our 12th grade alumni are working with their College Placement counselors to complete college applications, consider professional training programs, fill out FAFSA documents that will increase their access to financial aid, and prepare to make critical decisions about their futures in the spring. Our College Persistence Team is connecting with our college-going KIPP alumni around everything from gap funding for emergencies related to the COVID-19 pandemic to mental health supports.
At KIPP Baltimore, our work doesn’t stop until our alumni have successfully navigated their unique path to a fulfilling life of their own design. At our school and through our KIPP Through College program, every KIPPster has a team of advocates who are actively committed to their success - no matter what challenges arise. Our impact is clear:
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The Senior Class of 2020 boasted a 95% graduation rate; compared to the Baltimore City Schools graduation rate (70%) and the statewide graduation rate of 87%. More than 90% of all KIPP Baltimore alumni have graduated high school.
- 70% of KIPP Baltimore alumni have matriculated to college (compared to 45% of Baltimore City students), and 20% of Baltimore KIPPsters have earned a four-year degree. This is nearly double the national average for students from low-income households.
None of this is possible without your continued partnership, advocacy, and support. By supporting KIPPsters through the high school and college choice and matriculation processes - and working side-by-side with families to secure critical financial aid - our KTC team represents our commitment to student-driven success through college, into career, and ultimately towards the future they want for themselves and their community. On behalf of the KIPP Team and Family, I wish you and yours a peaceful and healthy holiday season.
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“I love being a teacher at KIPP Baltimore because I know that my students are growing and thriving in a place that empowers them to create the future they want for themselves! The partnership between school staff, family, and the community proves that we are all truly working together to support our students in blazing their own path.”
– Ms. Ryan, Kindergarten teacher
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1 | KIPP in the Classroom |
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KIPP teachers believe that every student should have access to a life of choice, and go out of their way to provide opportunities for KIPPsters to imagine themselves in careers that speak to their gifts and passions. This month, sixth-grade science teacher Ben Davis partnered with the Association for Women in Science to set up an intimate panel discussion to empower his female students to imagine themselves in successful STEM careers. While the shift to virtual learning has been challenging for students, teachers, and families around the country, Mr. Davis embraced this unique opportunity to bring his KIPPsters (and their families) together with Baltimore-area scientists.
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Over the summer, Mr. Davis was actively seeking opportunities to connect with his students; he wanted to bring science to life in a virtual space just as he would in his physical classroom. After attending a webinar hosted by the AWIS, he connected with Baltimore Chapter Board member Dr. Aparna Shah, currently a post-doctoral fellow in neuroscience at Johns Hopkins.
Mr. Davis invited girls in sixth, seventh, and eighth grade to the after-school panel. The two-dozen attendees had a chance to meet and ask questions of a University of Maryland pharmaceutical student; a medical illustrator who was among the first to visualize the COVID-19 virus in national medical journals; a conservationist at the National Aquarium; a JHU Earth & Planetary Scientist; PhD candidates in both microbiology/immunology and chemistry/biochemical engineering; and a neuroscientist at the Lieber Institute for Brain Development.
Then, Mr. Davis turned the tables on the students, letting the scientists ask questions of the girls. "I want to know what about science interests the young women here?" asks Laura. "The fact that science spans across so many different fields is the coolest thing ever!" Responded on student. "Blood, cells, stars, friction...It's being able to make a mess without getting in trouble."
KIPP 6th grader Rieley wants to be an astronomer. "Seeing all those female scientists really showed me that if I put my mind to something, I can achieve it. In my life I've never seen that many female scientists and I hope to become one in the future!"
Mr. Davis exemplifies our teachers' commitment to see, honor, and grow their students' goals, gifts, and needs - and he brings joy to the classroom, wherever the classroom is.
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2 | Partnership Spotlight: The Ruth & Norman Rales Health Center
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Our partnership at KIPP really shows how important health is for student success; when health professionals and educators join forces, we can better understand and support the full range of students’ needs, both inside and outside of the classroom.
-Rales Health Center Director Sara Johnson, PhD, MPH
Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
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The Rales Health Center (RHC) provides comprehensive preventive and acute care, chronic disease management, and family advocacy at KIPP Baltimore. Services are provided by Dr. Kate Connor (seen at the left), our onsite pediatrician; a pediatric nurse practitioner, medical assistant, two school nurses, and a family advocate. Together, the Rales team aims to make health a seamless part of KIPPsters’ experience in school. School nursing services are provided by Rales Health Center nurses and are available to every student. The school-based health center (SBHC) requires parental consent and allows Rales Health Center staff to provide a higher level of care. A full-time Rales Center wellness director is based at KIPP and works in partnership with school leadership and staff. Wellness programs focus on social and emotional learning, school climate, physical activity programs, health education, and staff wellness.
The Rales Center for the Integration of Health and Education was established in 2014 as a program of the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center with a gift from the Norman and Ruth Rales Foundation. The Rales Center envisioned a new approach to school health, partnering health professionals with KIPP Baltimore educators to provide comprehensive health care, wellness, prevention, and social supports in school, with the goal of improving not just health outcomes but educational outcomes. Unlike most schools, where school health clinics are “co-located” (rather than fully integrated), the Rales Health Center is a critical pillar of the KIPP Baltimore learning community. When KIPP moved to its current, permanent location in Walbrook, the Rales Center was located in the heart of the school, across from the main office and easily accessible to all students and staff.
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It's truly an honor to partner with the KIPP community as a nurse. Having the opportunity to work with our KIPPsters throughout the years allows us to develop meaningful relationships and contribute towards their living healthy and joyful lives.
- Nurse Lily Mendelson
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Weaving health into the fabric of the school day offers the opportunity to align the efforts of health staff and educators. Informed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child approach, the Rales Model reimagines school health using a multidisciplinary team of professionals who seek to become part of, not separate from, the school community; this approach allows for proactive identification and monitoring of students whose health concerns might otherwise go unnoticed and seeks to partner with children, parents and caregivers, and teachers to support the foundations of child health and achievement. |
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The Rales/KIPP partnership was particularly valuable during the pandemic, because we were able to assist families not just with medical care but with community resources as well. With coordination between the school and Rales, we were able to assist with food resources, internet services, transportation and other needed services. The pandemic created an even stronger bond between the school and Rales and we all operated as one united entity trying to give the best to our students and their families.
-Ms. Wilnett Dawodu, Rales Health Center Family Advocate
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3 | KIPP Baltimore in the News |
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"It doesn't matter if you're in a brick and mortar building or online, it is about relationships."
Ms. Bruce, 8th grade Social Studies teacher at KIPP Ujima Village Academy, was recently featured in UMBC's magazine for using her platform as teacher to find joy in her classroom! In a year where teaching looks nothing like before, Ms. Bruce uses her spunk, energy, and enthusiasm to reach her students, both academically and relationally. She engages with her students - and encourage them to engage with each other - by planning for virtual community-building activities and icebreakers and indulging in her love of corny jokes; she connects students with her history and geography content by grounding her lessons in texts and literature.
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Newly-elected Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott recently announced his transition cabinet: Ms. Elizabeth Handy, Reading Interventionist at KIPP Harmony Academy, was selected to serve on the Education & Youth Recreation: Expanding Opportunities for Youth committee. Ms. Handy works with youth-facing organizations across Baltimore City, including the Baltimore Ceasefire Movement and Black Lives Matter.
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4 | Fundraising Highlight: Next Generation Investing |
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Each October, the Baltimore Next Generation Investing Event showcases of-the-moment equity investment ideas through the insights of premier investors like John Canning (Portfolio Manager and Partner at Brown Advisory) and Bill Miller (Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Miller Value Partners). This unique event features speakers who rarely share their specific stock ideas in a public forum. Though the pandemic required that this year's event be held online, these world-class investors agreed to speak because of the philanthropic nature of the event: proceeds are donated to four Baltimore-area nonprofit organizations each year which expand and improve educational choices for local children. This year, KIPP Baltimore was proud to be one of these organizations once again, included with Next One Up, Southwest Baltimore Charter, and Children's Scholarship Fund Baltimore. |
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KIPP Baltimore Executive Director Marsha Reeves at the 2018 Next Generation Investing Event |
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We are grateful to the Baltimore Next Generation Investing Event leadership - among them KIPP Baltimore Development Committee member Jennifer St. Germain - for supporting our KIPPsters since 2013! |
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5 | This Month's Moment of Joy: We love our Families!
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Deck the doors with holiday joy! KIPP families shared their holiday cheer by participating in our "Deck the Doors" door decoration contest. KIPP families, in their contagious Team & Family spirit, shared with us their a "door" able holiday decorations in hopes to win the top prize.
Thank you to all of the KIPP families that participated!
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To learn more about our schools, our unique KIPP Through College program, or to discuss ways you can provide financial or in-kind support to KIPP Baltimore, please contact
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Every child grows up free to create the future they want for themselves and their communities.
2000 Edgewood Street Baltimore, MD 21216 • p: 443-457-3140 | f: 410-826-5513 • www.kippbaltimore.org
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