Inglewood News AND LENNOX CITIZEN The Weekly Newspaper of Inglewood Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - October 1, 2015 STEM Academy Focuses on Girls STEM FOCUs: At Grace Hooper STEM Academy, students are given an opportunity to excel in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math courses. Through its efforts, Grace Hooper STEM Academy has graduated young girls from underserved communities from all over Los Angeles into STEM focused high schools throughout the area. Photo courtesy of Grace Hooper STEM Academy. Grace Hopper STEM Academy Provides New Opportunities For Young Girls By Cristian Vasquez Nestled behind St. Mary’s Academy on Grace Avenue in the City of Inglewood sits a new source of education and hope for young girls. Founded by the Ladera Education Institute [LEI], Grace Hooper STEM Academy [GHSA] is the only public charter school in Inglewood with an academic focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math [STEM] and that is designed to meet the needs of girls growing up in underserved communities. “The current focus is on high school students but in reality the problem starts earlier. The gap is the middle school, where the problems begin,” Director of Operations at Grace Hopper STEM Academy Yesmin Ortiz said. “What she [Executive Director Margo Harris] wanted to do was figure a way to target these girls.” GHSA’s mission also includes emphasizing social responsibility among its students as they prepare for high school, college and beyond. “GHSA is an Inglewood-based charter middle school that reaches out to the local low-income, under-privileged, high-risk communities [like East LA, Watts, Compton] and provides young minds a free education,” Ortiz said. “Our school provides a safe place to learn and excel in STEM. Every day GHSA goes to the student’s neighborhood, picks them up and takes them home to ensure students are in the classroom and learning instead of wandering the streets, and getting into trouble.” Through a partnership between LEI and Ladera Casa, GHSA is capable of working with families who have kids in the foster care system to provide them classes tailored to improving life at home. “Our dormitory is a short-term, live-in facility with the goal of either reuniting families or to finding them a permanent home,” Ortiz said. GHSA provides 20 dorm rooms for young girls in the foster system to transition into a home-like environment with a more personalized setting. All of the rooms are single occupancy dorm rooms and are being supported by local clubs and organizations, who donate time and resources to decorate each room. “There is a lot of temptation at the middle school age and studies have shown that the average student is sexually active and the age is lowering,” Ortiz said. “Our approach is to prepare middle school students, in a safe environment, where we can get them excited about school, STEM and the benefits of higher education. We follow them through high school, so the opportunity for higher education is much easier.” In addition to the dorms, the campus plans to open a health clinic where the girls can receive basic medical check ups and address common medical needs. The campus has its own an on-site chef responsible for providing two hot meals and a snack, all three healthy for the students, every day. “Changing the girls’ eating habits is hard; we don’t have frozen, processed or instant foods,” Ortiz said. “Through research, LEI has learned students focus better in the classroom when they are not focusing on how hungry they are. With this in mind, GHSA provides home-cooked meals for breakfast and lunch and soon dinner so that parents don’t have to worry about their students going hungry.” Along with healthy food options, GHSA is dedicated to educating students on proper nutrition, including how to grow their own vegetables. However, at the core of its mission GHSA’s mission is ensuring that students graduate into schools that will continue to challenge them academically and inspire them to pursue STEM careers. With just three years in existence, GHSA saw its first eighth-grade class graduate last year. Its first culminating class consisted of students who were able to enroll at Hawthorne Math and Science Academy, the Da Vinci schools in the Wiserburn School District and in the neighboring St. Mary’s Academy. Grace Hopper, known as “the mother of computer science,” graduated with a B.A. in Mathematics and Physics from Vassar College; moved on to earn her M.A. in Mathematics and Physics from Yale and completed her academics with a PhD in Mathematics from Yale. Not one to settle with past achievements, Hopper joined the Navy Waves during World War II, graduating No. 1 in her class at Midshipman’s School. The commissioned Lieutenant JG was assigned to the Navy’s Bureau of Ships Computation Project at Harvard University. Until her retirement as a Rear Admiral from the Navy, Hopper was known to enjoy teaching young people. In honor of her legacy, GHSA is building a strong reputation through the results of their commitment to introducing young girls to STEM and focuses on five major areas, including: providing an extended day academic program, focusing on the race to STEM; developing comprehensive behavior modification and treatment programs; providing a Family Resource Center that provides workshops and training for parents, guardians and caregivers; running a community wellness and health clinic on campus [LEI Health Connections will be a free clinic for the foster youth, students, and their families where they can go to for a check up or for an over-the-counter prescription]; and operating the residential dormitory [Casa Ladera] for those students who have been removed from their homes and must be reoriented to being responsible members of their community. “IUSD [Inglewood Unified School District] had not approved a charter for seven years but Dr. [Don] Brann, who saw the vision of the Academy approved the charter in February,” Ortiz said. “One of the things we did tell him was that we did not want to compete for his students, but we did tell him there are a lot of kids in the area that because of resources, are not receiving a quality education. A lot of times the key part of this is that we bring kids from another location.” Persons interested in learning more about GHSA and enrollment can visit: http://www. ghsa-k12-ca.us or call (310) 910-0230. Anyone who would like to help can email School@ ghsa-k12-ca.us. • Inside This Issue Certified & Licensed Professionals.......................4 Classifieds............................2 Community Briefs...............3 Film Review..........................2 Hawthorne Happenings....3 Legals................................ 6-7 Pets........................................8 Sports....................................4 Weekend Forecast Friday Sunny 79˚/66˚ Saturday Sunny 77˚/64˚ Sunday Sunny 70˚/63˚
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