“The Fellowship allowed me to open up an excellent school on day one.”

- Shantelle Wright, 2008 BES FellowFounder & School Leader, Achievement Prep, Washington D.C.

Ravi Gupta, 2010 BES FellowFounder & School Leader, RePublic Charter Schools in

Nashville, TN and Jackson, MS“BES is the best training program in the country, in my opinion. The way BES prepared us for this the most was just by teaching us to run great schools, which is the most important skill in running a network of schools.”

“Every child deserves the right to determine his own destiny, and I believe setting that path begins in kindergarten.”

Tori Jackson Hines2015 BES Fellow, founding a high-expectations charter school in

Atlanta, GA

The Fellowship Timeline

YEAR ONE

Fellowship Year

YEAR TWO

Planning Year

YEAR THREE

First Year of

School

Operation

“I really, greatly enjoyed every school that we visited as Fellows, and it has been wonderful to pay it forward and to give budding school founders and leaders the opportunity to see what we’ve done at South Bronx Classical.”

Lester Long, 2004 BES FellowFounder and School Leader, Classical Charter Schools

South Bronx, NY

“I want to prove to students, families, their communities and the world that students of minority or low socioeconomic status can succeed and thrive in an environment with high expectations for academics, culture and behavior.”

Chelsea Vanacore2013 BES FellowFounder and School LeaderCollege Bound Academy

Tulsa, OK

“I am driven to do this work because so much of my own experience and outcomes were due to chance, which is unjust. I am firmly committed to creating better educational outcomes for urban students like myself.”

David Hardin, 2015 BES Fellow

Founding a high-expectations charter school in Oakland, CA

“The fundamentally flawed mentality of low expectations has severely limited the potential and achievement of millions of children. We must ardently rise up against this mentality of injustice and inequity and we cannot allow urban education to be impacted at any level by individuals who hold this destructive belief.”

Lagra Newman, 2011 BES FellowFounder and School LeaderPurpose Preparatory Academy

Nashville, TN

buildingexcellentschools.org