Blog

“Are y’all ready to hit a home run on Monday?,” a staff member called out to a group of students as they arrived for Howe School of Excellence’s Back to School Bash, an event held last Thursday to get students ready and excited for the start of the new school year. Teachers from each grade level hosted tables, and families stocked up on uniforms, school supplies, and new backpacks donated by community partner Invisible Book Bag Inc. In the school’s gymatorium, barbers donated their services to give students a fresh look for the new year.

At this CPS elementary school in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, Principal Nikita Horn and Assistant Principal Kenyatta Horton know the power of a good theme to create a sense of community and belonging for students. This year’s theme is “Knocking the School Year Out of the Park!,” so staff donned baseball jerseys to greet students and hand out Crackerjacks, while the Local School Council President flipped burgers for families.

The Christopher Family Foundation (CFF) is proud to partner with Howe School of Excellence for the first time this school year. With support from the Foundation, Principal Horn and her dynamic leadership team are working to ensure that the dozens of newcomer students and families, as well as the school’s sizeable population of Students in Temporary Living Situations (STLS), have the resources and supports they need to be successful in school. For instance, CFF funds were utilized this summer to complete the installation of a washer and dryer at the school. The leadership team also plans to leverage CFF funding to address the stubborn challenge of student attendance rates and has hired a staff member to work with families to address root causes of student absences.

As hundreds of thousands of CPS students head back to school today, we’ll be in the stands watching the Howe Jets knock it out of the park!

—Contributed by Molly Truglia, Program Partner