A nice story about The Chinquapin School.
‘A really different kind of school’
Miles from the city, a college prep campus is helping urban kids succeed
— reported by the Houston Chronicle[snip]
Every year, there are more applications to the 37-year-old Chinquapin School than there are spaces, and so the best of the bunch are chosen to attend a summer tryout week, which was last week and this week. More than 120 middle and high school students will try out for the nearly 30 open spaces.
[snip]
For plenty of families, the academically rigorous school away from the bustling city is an opportunity worth pursuing, thanks to the school’s long-standing reputation in the Houston area for providing a challenging environment for some of the city’s most underserved or economically disadvantaged children.
Teachers live on campus with the boys who board there during the week, while girls and sixth-grade boys are bused home daily. All students attend with a scholarship and also pay monthly tuition that is based on family income. The majority of students pay $50 or less, and those who can’t pay assume more chores in addition to the ones that every student must do at the school.
The majority of the school’s funding comes from private donations, fundraising events and a private endowment. Their biggest supporter is the Houston-based Brown Foundation.
Getting the middle school-age boys, who are typically less protected by their parents than girls, away from the distractions of their neighborhoods and closer to their teachers is the biggest difference that distinguishes Chinquapin from other area college preparatory schools, Heinzerling said.
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Chinquapin graduates have gone on to pursue degrees at Stanford, Rice, Columbia, Northwestern, the University of Texas, Xavier and the University of Houston, among others.
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Thanks for including this post. I teach at Chinquapin. It’s as good as it sounds.