Story by Cpl. Reece Lodder
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
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Original Publication: Defense Video and Imagery Distribution System (DVIDS), dvidshub.net
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SAFAR, Afghanistan — Though its gray exterior walls must still be painted and its entrances sealed by doors, the newly constructed Safar School is a stepping stone for the growth of education in southern Helmand province’s Garmsir district.

Approximately 40 elders and 150 students met with Afghan National Security Forces and U.S. Marines with 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, to discuss the crucial role of education to the future of Garmsir during a shura here, March 18.

The expansion of education in Garmsir has been a challenging yet continuous process. Upon the arrival of coalition forces here in 2006, the government and ANSF began working with coalition forces in the northern portion of the district to strengthen its infrastructure.

As it developed, government and military influence began spreading south, leading to the security and expansion of Safar Bazaar in southern Garmsir. The buzzing bazaar — previously dominated by insurgent activity — flourished as the district’s crossroad of commerce and paved the way for the growth of education around it.

Description: Afghan forces and U.S. Marines with 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment meet with district elders to discuss the progress of security, governance and education in Garmsir district. Soundbites from District Governor Mohammad Khan, Maj. Mohammad Omar,Lt. Col. Abdullah Ahad Masloom, Haji Khan Mohammad, Lt. Col. Matthew Palma. Produced by Cpl. Reece Lodder. Original Publication: DIVDS

“As security in Safar Bazaar has increased, the local economy has improved and education has expanded,” said Capt. Bobby Lee, the commanding officer of India Company, 3/3, and a native of Corpus Christi, Texas.

The Safar School project follows the success of a 120-student school opened in the neighboring region of Laki in June 2011.

Over the last two years, the region has maintained a high level of security due to the influence of its elders. Their leadership enabled significant growth in Laki, including the construction of the school, a police precinct, community center, mosque and clinic.

“The Laki elders care about the long-term future of their area,” said 2nd Lt. Christian Czajkowski, the 2nd Platoon commander for India Company, 3/3, and a native of New York City. “They’ve stayed in a largely impoverished society in order to cultivate its future success.”

While there are several small, certified schools in the surrounding area, Safar School is the first built here by the local government together with the aid of coalition forces. Aside from requiring a few finishing touches, the school is a vast improvement from its predecessor, a mud hut capable of supporting only 80 students.

Standing proudly in front of the new school, Safar elder Haji Khan Mohammad spoke to the assembled crowd of men and children. He thanked his fellow elders for their support in the project and implored the young students to put their new school building to good use.

“Education is the light of prosperity in Safar,” Mohammad said. “Only through education will our children be able to pull through their poverty and illiteracy.”

Several other teachers and local government and military leaders also addressed the crowd, including Malim Wazir, the school’s head teacher.

“The Marines and our government have presented us with this building; now it’s our job to see that it’s used as a school,” Wazir said. “Every boy and every girl has the right to learn. We must ensure they receive this education.”

Image Description: An Afghan National Army soldier with 6th Kandak, 1st Brigade, 215th Corps, patrols past a tractor full of Safar School students as they depart an education shura here, March 18. Approximately 40 elders and 150 students met with Afghan National Security Forces and U.S. Marines with 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, at the newly constructed school to discuss the growth of education in Garmsir district. While there are several small schools in the surrounding area, the school was the first built in Safar by the local government with the aid of coalition forces. Despite requiring some finishing touches, the school is a vast improvement from its predecessor, a mud hut capable of supporting only 80 students.

Once the shura concluded, ANSF leaders and 3/3 Marines presented Wazir and his teachers with myriad boxes containing pencils, notebooks and various other school supplies.

Students from Calallen High School and the Richard Millborn Academy in Corpus Christi, Texas, donated the approximately 1,500 pounds of school supplies as part of the non-profit Right to Write program, Lee said.

Equipped with a school, teachers and the tools to learn, the youth of Safar have received the means to progress in their education. Despite the availability of these resources, the advancement of education in central Garmsir will be an ongoing endeavor. This learning curve will challenge both young and old alike, Czajkowski said.

“Today’s elders hold their position because of their age,” he said. “The growth of education will test those waters of seniority. If we can help pair their seniority with a generation of education, we can only hope for increased security down the road. This change may be challenging for the elders, but it’s for the betterment of the future society.”

Editor’s Note: Third Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, is currently assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5, 1st Marine Division (Forward), which works in partnership with the Afghan National Security Forces and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to conduct counterinsurgency operations. The unit is dedicated to securing the Afghan people, defeating insurgent forces, and enabling the ANSF assumption of security responsibility within its operations in order to support the expansion of stability, development and legitimate governance.

Killeen, Texas
Monday, March 12, 2012
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Killeen native Omar Craddock became the first Central Texan to win a national title in the triple jump during the NCAA Indoor Championships on Saturday.

Killeen native Omar Craddock, a former charter high school student and 2009 graduate of Richard Milburn Academy HS, became the first Central Texan to win a national title in the triple jump during the NCAA Indoor Championships on Saturday.

He posted a collegiate-leading mark and personal best of 54 feet, 11.5 inches; the distance ranks Craddock no. 1 in college, no. 3 on the 2012 U.S. men’s list (placing him in contention to earn one of three spots on this summer’s U.S. Olympic Team) and no. 18 in the world.

Craddock gained acclaim as a youth and junior USA track and field and AAU competitor; he earned a Division I scholarship competing on the track and field club circuit. As a 14-year-old, in 2005 – several weeks before Hurricane Katrina – Craddock won his first national title at Tad Gormley Stadium, in New Orleans, Louisiana; he participated in the AAU Youth Boys’ division triple (See Video Below).

He was a five-year member of Jump Corps, a field events specialty training and scholastic education club focused on the development of youth, junior and senior elite triple and long jumpers. His career best jumps as a high school athlete began in 2007 at the Great Southwest Track and Field Classic, which he won, jumping 15.16 meters/49 feet, 9 inches: still the longest jump in U.S. history by an intermediate division boy

During the winter 2008 indoor season, Craddock became the first Texas high school athlete in history to surpass the 50-foot barrier, indoors, at the prestigious Simplot Games, in Pocatello, Idaho, where he jumped 50 feet, 10.5 inches (ranking him on the high school and national U.S. men’s list, at age-16):

The same year, in 2008, he won the Caribbean Scholastic Invitational, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and set a stadium record, and several weeks later garnered a gold medal at the Nike Outdoor Championships

During National Charter School Week, Richard Milburn Academy will celebrate the great work accomplished by public charter schools across the country and the increasing momentum that we’ve enjoyed over the past years!

In the last 20 years, most states across the nation have recognized that there is a critical need to try new and innovative approaches to improving student achievement in our public schools, while holding all public schools accountable for how students learn.  Public charter schools deliver this combination of achievement and accountability. They have the flexibility to try innovative ways of improving learning with the goal of sharing what works with the broader public school system so that all students benefit.

We are glad you chose Richard Milburn Academy, a free, nonsectarian, open enrollment charter school.

By: Jacob Meyer
Saturday, February 11, 2012
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Students at Midway Alternative High School need mentors who care about the difficulties they face outside of school, said teacher Rick Reyher, who was recently named Texas Alternative Educator of the Year.

“Our job out here, as we see it, is to try to move some of the rocks and logs out of their paths so they can get a diploma or a GED and move on with their lives,” he said.

The Texas Association of Alternative Educators gave Reyher the award Feb. 3 at its annual conference in Austin.

Reyher’s unselfishness through volunteering for extra duties at Midway and the Youth Center of the High Plains are why the school nominated him for the award, Midway Principal Shawn Neeley said. He said one of the qualities that makes Reyher successful at Midway and the center is his ability to care for students and not judge them.

“All of the kids that come out here come with baggage, and in order to work in an alternative school you’ve got to put your blinders on to that baggage,” Neeley said. “You can’t judge kids; you just have to love them.”

Reyher joined the Midway staff in 2010 and has worked at Canyon Independent School District for 16 years. Midway opened in 2009. It’s an alternative “school of choice” for students who perform better in a self-paced environment with more individual attention from teachers.

Ten years ago, only four alternative education schools existed in the Texas Panhandle. There are eight this year, and a charter school, Richard Milburn Academy in Amarillo, has more than 200 students, most of whom were considered likely to drop out of high school.

From 1998 to 2008, enrollment in alternative campuses in the Texas Panhandle grew 84 percent to 475 students.

Joe McCullough, executive director of the Alternative Educator Association, said Reyher was an obvious choice for this year’s award because of all the different jobs he does for the schools and the district.

“Everybody was pretty much flabbergasted at the tireless energy that he showed for his job and for his kids,” McCullough said. Reyher said his students often deal with difficult situations outside of school, such as drugs or pregnancy.

The award did not include prize money, but Reyher did receive a plaque and a medallion, McCollough said.

He said the association received about 10 nominations from across the state. A 10-person committee then decides the winners, he said.

Reyher also has been nominated for Canyon ISD Secondary Teacher of the Year.

About Richard Milburn Academy

Where are the RMA’s in Texas?
Amarillo, Beaumont, Corpus Christi, Fort Worth, Houston, Killeen, Lubbock, Midland and Odessa.

How is the academy funded?
Primarily through state and federal grants. The school gets Average Daily Attendance money through the state, and Title I funding through the federal government. It is not a tax-based institution.

How are students enrolled?
Students fill out an application, and by state law, they have to be accepted unless there are legal issues. There also is an interview process to determine their academic status. Students are often referred to by counselors at other schools or through word of mouth.

By: Chris McGuinness
Sunday, January 1, 2012
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When high school junior Billy Anspach pops into Rose Thompson’s office after his class, she immediately recognizes him. She knows his name, his grades and even asks him about his family.

“She knows me really well,” said the 16-year-old about the director of the Richard Milburn Academy. “She knows all her students really well.”

Milburn, one of two charter high schools in Killeen, offers students alternative options to obtaining an education, said Thompson, who has been the school’s director for 11 years. The local campus is one of eight Milburn schools in Texas.

“It’s about thinking outside of the box,” said Thompson. “It’s about trying to see what is the best fit for the student.”

In 1995, the Texas Legislature passed a law that allows nonprofit groups of parents, educators and other citizens to form charter schools. It capped the number of charter schools at 215. As of December 2011, the state Board of Education had granted 208 of those charters.

“An open-enrollment charter school is the same as a public school in that they are funded by the state, they can’t charge tuition, and they must accept all students who want to enroll,” said DeEtta Culbertson, a spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency, which has oversight of public education in the state. “The difference is they can accept students from anywhere, and they are able to be more flexible about how they deliver curriculum.”

That “flexibility” can take various forms. Transformative Charter Academy in Killeen, another charter high school, offers one-on-one academic coaching in addition to classes and requires students to participate in community-
service projects.

“Our curriculum is largely self-paced,” said Claudette Morgan-Scott, chief executive officer at Transformative Charter. “We are looking to help students catch up if they are behind on credits or want to graduate early.”

At Milburn, Thompson said the school’s class schedule runs in two blocks: from 8 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 5 p.m.

“It allows the students who work a more flexible schedule,” she said. “That way, they are not in class stressing out about their job and they can focus on their work.”

While the state requires charters to accept all students, both high schools in Killeen focus on structuring their programs to help studenet at-risk of dropping out graduate instead.

For the 2010-11 school years, TEA reports identified 81.6 percent of Milburn’s student population as “at-risk” as well as 100 percent of the Transformative Charter’s students.

“These aren’t bad kids,” said Thompson. “They have many struggles and challenges in their lives, and we are here to help them overcome those and get and education and graduate.”

Smaller class sizes

Although Killeen’s two charter schools have an unique approach to education, both have a much smaller student population, allowing them to offer smaller class sizes.

Transformative Charter had 75 students for the 2010-11 school year, and state agency reports show that the average class-size ranged between eight and 16.8 students, depending on the subject.

Milburn had 152 students for the same year, and its average class-size ranged between 2.5 and 9.3 students, according to the state reports.

Both schools fell under the average class-size for Killeen High School, which ranged from 19.4 to 23.5 students per-class for the 2010-11 school year.

Anspach said the smaller class sizes were his favorite aspect of Milburn and felt his academics had improved because of them.

“There are a lot less students. It makes it easier to ask a question, and it’s just a less stressful environment,” said Anspach. “It’s really great because you feel like you get more one-on-one time with the teachers, and they have time to answer your questions and make sure you understand things.”

The smaller class sizes are also a plus for charter school teachers, such as Naim Abdullah, a government and economics teacher at Milburn.

“There’s no question that it’s much better for the kids,” said Abdullah, a former high school teacher in the Killeen school district. “Every student learns differently, and it’s a little harder to cater to each student in very large groups.”

Charter schools’ smaller class sizes and more personalized education may be drawing more parents to enroll their children, said Thompson, adding that she believed close to 80 percent of parents stated they were looking for a school with smaller classes.

Milburn’s Killeen campus has seen a jump in enrollment, growing from 152 students last year to a current enrollment of 180, so far this school year. Transformative Charter, which is not part of a larger group of campuses, has maintained at 75 student enrollent for the last two years.

“I think the word is getting out and people are more informed about what a charter school is,” said Thompson. “That’s why I think we are seeing growth.”

Culbertson said she wasn’t surprised by the student population increases. “We have seen a growth, not just in new charter schools, but in the desire for existing charter schools to expand,” she said.

In 2011, the state board awarded eight charters, one more than the previous year. Clubertson said applications for new charter schools are not due until early February, but she could not predict how many would be awarded for 2012.

“In the end, we are really here to offer a choice to parents and students,” said Thompson. “No matter what kind of school you have, the goal should always be the same: To give our children the best education possible and prepare them for the future.”

About Richard Milburn Academy

Where are the RMA’s in Texas?
Amarillo, Beaumont, Corpus Christi, Fort Worth, Houston, Killeen, Lubbock, Midland and Odessa.

How is the academy funded?
Primarily through state and federal grants. The school gets Average Daily Attendance money through the state, and Title I funding through the federal government. It is not a tax-based institution.

How are students enrolled?
Students fill out an application, and by state law, they have to be accepted unless there are legal issues. There also is an interview process to determine their academic status. Students are often referred to by counselors at other schools or through word of mouth.

Members of the Health Advisory Committee of Richard Milburn Academy, Fort Myers, FL

Earl Barnett, Principal
Tania Florian, Administrative Secretary
Ariana Salazar, Student Service
Sandy Lepley, Guidance Counselor

Richard Milburn Academy (RMA) is a public charter high school operating in Lee County Florida with a charter school agreement. RMA is a member of the National School Lunch Program and offers free and reduce meals to students that qualify. In addition, Richard Milburn Academy contracts Lee County Food Services as their school lunch provider. Lee county food service is a qualified provider for the National School Lunch Program. Because Richard Milburn Academy, Fort Myers contracts Lee County Food Services as their provider for lunch under the National School Lunch Program, RMA is in compliance with the nutritional guidelines specified by the National School Lunch Program under Lee County Food Services. Therefore, RMA is covered under said policy and procedures for compliance with the National School Lunch Program. Below is our specific wellness policy and participate within its specific guidelines when appropriate.

Richard Milburn Academy, Fort Myers and the School District of Lee County are committed to providing a school environment that enhances learning through the development of lifelong wellness practices.

Goals:

• Child Nutrition Programs are accessible to all children and comply with federal, state and local requirements.
• Sequential and interdisciplinary nutrition education is integrated into other areas of curriculum such as science, language arts, physical education and mathematics.
• The K-12 Physical Education Plan addresses the enhancement of motor, cognitive and interpersonal skills as well as the fitness abilities of each student. The Physical Education program also encourages patterns of meaningful physical activity to connect to student’s lives outside the school physical education setting.
• All school-based activities are consistent with local wellness policy goals.
• Students in need of health support and/or identified with health problem(s) will be identified by guidance, social workers, administration, staff and teachers with goal of assisting and referring to appropriate agencies and/or help to obtain financial assistance.
• After school activities, events and/or extracurricular activities will include a focus are on health, nutrition and physical activity. Students and parents will be encouraged to pick healthy choice items as identifies by the USDA.
• There are vending machines at this school. We do not have festivals.
• All foods and beverages made available on campus (including vending, concessions, a la carte, student stores and fundraising) during the school day are consistent with the current USDA Dietary Guidelines for Healthy Americans.
• All foods made available on campus adhere to food safety and security guidelines.
• The school environment is safe, comfortable, pleasing and allows ample time and space for eating meals.
• Richard Milburn Academy assures that guidelines for reimbursable school meals shall not be less restrictive than regulations and guidance issue by the USDA

Following the approval of this policy by Richard Milburn Academy School Bard, the Principal and/or the Principal’s designee will be assigned to oversee the implementation and evaluation of the policy recommendations.

The Wellness Policy guidelines will be reviewed annually and revised as needed. Richard Milburn Academy, Fort Myers, FL
WELLNESS POLICY GUIDELINES

Nutrition Education:

• Nutrition education will be provided each month via printed monthly menus to all parents and students.
• A plan will be put into action that will evaluate and measure the implementation of the wellness policy by using pre tests and post test surveys for collecting current student knowledge regarding nutrition issues and physical activity. This data will be used to measure student learning with regards to nutrition, health, and physical activity under the wellness policy.
• The information regarding the wellness policy including assessment, evaluation and measurement success will be reported to the Richard Milburn Academy Governing Board on an ongoing basis and will be recorded in the board meeting minutes. The evaluation and measurement policy will be implemented, monitored and reported to the board at each board meeting (there are five board meeting during the school year).
• The wellness policy will be reviewed and approved by the Richard Milburn Academy governing board and adopted on an annual basis.

Health Education:

• Health education class will give students the opportunity to learn the role that various nutrients have in the body in order to maintain good health and disease protection.
• Students in health education classes will be encouraged to discuss with family members cultural food choices to determine the potential effect on the family’s health.
• The knowledge of the value of good nutrition will enable students and families to make positive choices when purchasing food items.

Physical Activity:

• Physical education includes the instruction of individual activities as well as competitive and non-competitive team sports to encourage life-long physical activity.
• The school provides a physical and social environment that encourages safe and enjoyable activity for all students, including those who are not athletically gifted.
• Information will be provided to families to help them incorporate physical activity into their student’s lives.

Other School Based Activities:

• Support for the health of all students will be fostered by guidance, social workers, administration, staff and teachers by helping to identify those students in need (which can be, but not limited to) students who are in need of vision testing, hearing testing, and/or various health issues by referring to appropriate agencies and help to obtain financial assistance for students who are determined to have a problem.
• Programs such as hand washing, dental screening, blood pressure screening, and body awareness will be offered to appropriate grades by appropriate outside volunteer community agencies.
• Guidance, social workers, administration, staff and teachers will also be available to help identify those students in need of health care plans and offer student health education on a one-to-one basis when needed.

Food Safety:

• All servers will follow appropriate food serving guidelines, and food service health precautions as administered from the local health department and the National School Lunch Program.
• All food delivered to the school will be tested for temperature and recorded immediately. Food will be placed in the food warmer, and served under heat lamps. Cold food will be kept refrigerated until served.
• Food prepared by the food service department will comply with the state and local safety and sanitation regulations including Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) plans and guidelines that have been implemented to prevent food illness in schools.
• All serving utensils and trays will be rinsed off at the end of lunch, and picked up the next day by the contracted school (Ray Pottorf Elementary). Where they will be cleaned and sterilized following local and state sanitation regulations.

Eating Environment:

• Student lunches are 30 minutes long and students have 20 minutes to eat lunch.

Graduation
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Start: June 2, 2012 at 10:00 AM
End: June 2, 2012 at 12:00 PM
Venue: Globe-News Center
Location: Globe News Center for the Performing Arts
Address: 500 S. Buchanan, Amarillo, TX 79101

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About Richard Milburn Academy

Where are the RMA’s in Texas?
Amarillo, Beaumont, Corpus Christi, Fort Worth, Houston, Killeen, Lubbock, Midland and Odessa.

How is the academy funded?
Primarily through state and federal grants. The school gets Average Daily Attendance money through the state, and Title I funding through the federal government. It is not a tax-based institution.

How are students enrolled?
Students fill out an application, and by state law, they have to be accepted unless there are legal issues. There also is an interview process to determine their academic status. Students are often referred to by counselors at other schools or through word of mouth.

CORPUS CHRISTI (Kiii News) – Some local students at the Richard Milburn Academy in Corpus Christi are reaching out to children on other side of the world.

In the space of just two weeks, they’ve collected about a thousand school supply items, which they plan to send to children in Afghanistan. The students called their collection effort “The Right to Write.”

The students are always helping the community here at home and they thought this would be a great way to expand their helping hand. At the academy, there is a mountain of supplies the students have collected. Items like pens, chalk, pencils and boxes of paper.

The students came up with the idea after hearing just how needy children in Afghanistan really are. The school’s nurse currently has a son deployed in Afghanistan as apart of America’s Battalion, whose mission is to help the country become self supportive. Her son, is Captain Bobby Lee who shared stories of how the Afghan children have no school supplies, so they hold class outside just so they can write in the sand.

The students also made banners they will send along with the school supplies. Captain Lee will have the troops take pictures with the banners and then send the pictures back to the school as a way to say thank you for their support.

The reason these students decided to send the supplies abroad, instead of keeping them here at home is they say, they wanted to help out kids who truly have no access to help.

The media has been reporting the failure of America’s school system for decades. Program after program has been rolled out, each one promising that it will turn the tide, but somehow the high school dropout rate continues to climb, and students seem to lower the standards more and more each year.

Those are alarming trends, but Richard Milburn Academy, a charter school in Corpus Christi, has found a successful strategy that is making a difference for its students, some of whom are struggling against daunting odds.

Many of the students are the first in their families to ever receive a high school diploma, and many are also juggling jobs and families of their own while trying to complete their education. A school program designed to help students succeed while accommodating their unique circumstances can help them overcome these obstacles.

Denise Blanchard is now in her second year as principal of Richard Milburn Academy. She credits the school’s success to the special relationships formed between the students and the staff, which result from both the culture of the school and the emphasis the academy places on small class sizes and solid, research-based, effective instructional techniques.

The smaller class size “affords students the opportunity to receive more instructional support within the school day,” Blanchard says. She also believes the safe environment and enforcement of attendance and schoolwork requirements “offer the students every avenue to excellence.”

The school graduated its first class of 16 students in 1999. Since then, it has grown every year, with a record 86 students graduating in May 2011, so the school is by all accounts successful.

Students come from the local school district, and currently, 250 students are enrolled and split into two sessions per school day: a morning and an afternoon. This allows the students who have work or childcare duties to incorporate the classes in their daily schedules. The staff, according to Blanchard, is an integral part of this success story.

Jan Clement, one of the school’s art teachers, sums it up this way: “The staff is passionate about going above and beyond just teaching to see that each and every student acquires the knowledge and confidence to be successful in their goal of graduating from high school. Encouraging and showing interest in each student and caring about them quite often transforms students from being castaways in our society to success stories.”

Social studies teacher Shannon Seale confirms that it’s all about the students. She says her students have heartbreaking stories, but she is “thrilled” to serve as a stable, positive influence in their lives.

“I was told when I came here that some of these kids had never heard ‘I love you’ or ‘you can do it.’ That’s devastating,” she says. But it is also the reason she loves teaching at the school, and she admits that she loves “encouraging the discouraged, loving the unloved and helping those who need it most desperately.”

Counselor and English teacher Alys Williams sums up the school’s mission best when she says, “I wanted to teach at a school where students mattered, where student needs came first and where all of the adults were in education for the right reason: kids.”

Hector Salinas, who has been teaching for more than 40 years, is entering his third year as a Spanish teacher at the academy. He has dedicated his life to the profession, and he says he loves to teach at Richard Milburn because it is where he feels he is truly needed.

“I feel that not only do the kids need me, but I need them,” he says. “They are my inspiration and the reason why I love the career that I have long enjoyed. I have never considered teaching a job, but a reward made from heaven.”

The Richard Milburn Academy is part of a network of charter schools around the state, and the model is so successful that the school is honored to announce that it has received six more expansion charters for schools in Texas.

For the academy in Corpus Christi, Blanchard says the goal is to “continue to provide the best education to our students in accordance with the state’s new assessment standards on End of Course, continue to employ the most talented educators, become a certified AVID school and eventually an AVID demonstration school and produce students [who] are lifelong learners.”

Instilling that love of learning into students makes the teachers at the academy happy to go to work each day. Kristie Huerta, who teaches applied math and applied ELA, tells her favorite student success story that shows the mission of the school in action.

She met a young man during her first year teaching at the school. He didn’t care about his grades or graduation, and he seemed uninterested in his schoolwork. But that all changed one day when he found her after school and, with tears in his eyes, asked her if she would help him pass his classes so he could graduate.

“When I asked him what had changed, he told me he was tired of his brother calling him a loser, a low-life, a kid who would never amount to anything,” she says. “He wanted to prove his brother wrong.”

He came to her every time she had a planning period, even though his brother and sister-in-law continued to tell him he was a failure.

“He proved them both wrong and graduated in June 2010,” Huerta says proudly.

With the right combination of students ready and willing to work hard to achieve their goals, a school designed to accommodate their needs and a principal and staff ensuring that the students come first, the Richard Milburn Academy is changing education in the Coastal Bend.