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High speed partying takes over Houston: At the race track, at Calypso and in private places

Shelby Hodge - noemail@yellowstoneacademy.org — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:00:00 GMT

A passion for fashion and art

That would be the folks who turned out for the Canvases & Cocktails event at the new Calypso St. Barth boutique in Highland Village where Eloise Frischkorn organized the evening featuring an exhibition of paintings by Michael Macedo Meazell. The added beauty of the party was that the clothing, accessories and home decor items were 20 percent off and a percentage of sales went to Yellowstone Academy.

Sipping prosecco (as well as non-alcoholic beverages) and sampling cake balls were James Bell, Lilian Rendon, Elizabeth Sax, Robert Buckwalter, Meg Mcguire, Schuyler Evans and gallery owner Deborah Colton. Meazell regularly shows at Colton & Farb Gallery.

Click here to read more...

20-Dec-11 9:00 AM

Third Ward Students to Participate in Jump Rope for Heart Event

Cody Tucker - noemail@yellowstoneacademy.org — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:00:00 GMT

Yellowstone Academy will host a Jump Rope For Heart event on Friday, Oct. 7.

The event will teach the more than 300 elementary students how physical fitness benefits the heart and show them that volunteering can be a fun and positive experience for the whole community.

The event will also raise money for the American Heart Association, which funds lifesaving heart and stroke research and community and educational programs for our youth.

Second and third graders will take part in the event from 10 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.; fourth graders will take part from 10:50 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.; and fifth graders will take part from 1:15 p.m. to 1:55 p.m.

For more information, contact Shelly Millwee of the American Heart Association at 713-834-7999 or Cherie Singleton, principal of Yellowstone Academy, at 713-741-8000.

Yellowstone Academy is located at 3000 Trulley.

5-Oct-11 10:00 AM

Yellowstone Academy's Director Receives State Education Award

Cody Tucker - noemail@yellowstoneacademy.org — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 15:00:00 GMT

Kim Hansen, executive director of Yellowstone Academy, was recently named the AdvancED Texas Excellence in Education Award honoree.

The Excellence in Education Award was introduced in 2009 to recognize one individual in each of the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI) and Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI) states for his or her achievements in education.

Nominees were judged on their contributions of generating a common vision and mission for higher expectations among students, faculty and the education community; demonstrating a record of significant and distinguished contribution to the education profession; providing a lasting positive impact on student learning; serving as a role model and mentor for students and future generations of educators; and demonstrating significant professional contribution to NCA CASI and SACS CASI.

Hansen graduated from Baylor University in 1982 with a bachelor's in education and received her master's in education administration from Houston Baptist University in 1999. She is certified by the state in early childhood education, first through eighth grade education and special education at all levels. She has also received her state certification in mid-management administration.

The Yellowstone Academy is a nonprofit organization formed for the purpose of establishing a high-quality, faith-based private school for students living in extreme poverty.

26-Aug-11 10:00 AM

Clark Thompson: Breaking the Cycle of Poverty

Brittany Linkenhoger - noemail@yellowstoneacademy.org — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 19:00:00 GMT

Clark Thompson, a transactional attorney and partner at Bracewell & Giuliani LLP, freely gives his time, effort and talent to the operation, management, and growth of Yellowstone Academy. (More)

7-Jul-11 2:00 PM

James Flodine: Scoutmaster and Lawyer

Katie Chatterton - noemail@yellowstoneacademy.org — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 19:00:00 GMT

On most Thursdays, a dedicated group arrives at Yellowstone Academy to encourage Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts to develop into well educated and mature young people. Among the group of volunteers is James Flodine, Scoutmaster and lawyer. (More on page 8)

7-Jul-11 2:00 PM

Yellowstone a Shining Beacon in Third Ward

Sat, 23 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

HOUSTON - If you're looking for a bright spot in the education world, look no further than the Third Ward.

Yellowstone Academy has been flourishing there for 10 years.

Its run entirely on private donations and has one goal: to serve kids who, according to the Census Bureau, are living in extreme poverty.

Photojournalist Darlene Janik Faires shows us how they're building better minds. Watch the video to learn more.

22-Apr-11 7:00 PM

2011 Spring Newsletter

Brittany Linkenhoger - noemail@yellowstoneacademy.org — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 17:00:00 GMT

2011 Spring Newsletter Attached

11-Apr-11 12:00 PM

Yellowstone Academy Guild Luncheon

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 16:00:00 GMT

PaperCity recently highlighted photos from the Yellowstone Academy Guild Luncheon. Click here to view the photos.

8-Mar-11 10:00 AM

Faces in the Crowd

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 16:00:00 GMT

A personal touch invokes praise

Jill Brown's fundraising efforts lead to Next Big Give

By FLORI MEEKS CHRONICLE CORRESPONDENT

March 2, 2011, 3:41PM

Resources

JILL BROWN

• Community: Business owner, community supporter

• Quick Quote: "My aesthetic has a bit of a rustic feel. I like things that feel authentic, things that have a function."

• Fast fact: Brown runs her business with manager Ashleigh Jones.

J ill Brown takes a personal approach in her home décor-and-furniture business.

That's also the way she handles charitable efforts to help high school and academy students.

Her business, simply named Brown, is a winner for The Next Big Give, a national search for small businesses that give back to their communities.

The latest winners were announced Feb. 14 by Dallas Market Center, a wholesale marketplace that chose applicants that make a difference through volunteering, raising funds or donating goods.

"I'm so thrilled," said Brown, who hosted parties at her business last year to raise funds and awareness for the FFA program at Lamar High School, 3325 Westheimer, and for Yellowstone Academy, 3000 Trulley St.

"I'm mostly thrilled because this will help increase the visibility of the Yellowstone Academy and Lamar High School's FFA, and that's what we want to do."

Brown is in the Upper Kirby District at 2940 Ferndale St. It and winner Tea & Magnolias of Tulsa, Okla. were selected from more than 50 retailers.

The owners of both businesses will receive a free trip March 24-27 to the Dallas Market Center, including free airfare and a three-night hotel stay. While there, the winners will be honored during The Inspired Event, a cocktail party and silent auction benefiting a charitable cause.

The nominees for this program either nominated themselves or were nominated by a manufacturer, sales representative, buyer or customer. Finalists were selected by a panel of representatives from the retail industry and Dallas Market Center. Longtime friend Tonie Nolan, who lives in Washington, D.C., said she couldn't be happier for Brown, who Nolan describes as one of the most genuine people she knows.

"I think the thing that's most Jill-like is her lack of pretense," Nolan said. "Good or bad, what you see is what you get."

And the business reflects Brown's personality, Nolan added.

"There's no disconnect between Jill's real life and her business life, where the fun ends and the business begins. The business is really important to her. She takes a real personal pride in it."

Brown's role as entrepreneur follows decades of retail buying and management.

"I've been buying and selling products since I was a kid," said Brown, who grew up in a small Ohio farming community.

Her favorite childhood character, Pippi Longstocking, referred to herself as a " Thing-Finder." Brown holds to the same tradition.

"It's the thrill of the hunt," she said.

In 1997, she and husband Foster moved to Belgium for his work. There, Brown found a wealth of antiques and started buying.

In 2001, the couple returned to Houston, and Brown launched her business. The store, which moved to its current location in 2006, is packed with items for the home. In 2003, Foster died suddenly while in Belgium. Brown believes he had a heart attack. Her sons Sam and John, now in their 20s, often helped with the business. Sam continues to work in the warehouse on weekends.

Brown has been interested in supporting the community. She often donates merchandise for charitable auctions.

In 2010, she took her support a step further through her fundraising parties for Lamar High School's FFA program and Yellowstone Academy. She covered all of the expenses and generated money and awareness for both entities. Her investment consumed her advertising budget for that year.

"I really think of Lamar as a neighbor, and I love what the FFA does for children's esteem," she said.

Few people realize an urban school like Lamar offers an FFA program, she said, or that the director is trying to launch a buyer's club to s upport student projects.

The desire to help Yellowstone Academy was based on Brown's overall interest in education. The school serves low-income children. Brown's October party for the FFA, FM 2940, had a relaxed, country fair feel that was reflected in the food and the music. The party for Yellowstone, held in November, had a more elegant atmosphere.

"I think it really, really helped the two of them," Brown said. "We weren't thinking about what's in it for us. I'm very proud of that."

For details about The Next Big Give, visit www.dallasmarketcenter.com/give. For details about Brown, visit www.shopbybrown.com.

2-Mar-11 10:00 AM

Yellowstone Academy Welcomes Jenna Bush Hager

Sat, 19 Feb 2011 16:00:00 GMT

Dave Rossman

Nancy Ruez, Jenna Bush Hager, Glori O'Donnel and Jane Lundell

With over 600 eager listeners, former first daughter Jenna Bush Hager addressed a packed room at the Annual Yellowstone Academy Guild Luncheon at the Intercontinental Hotel.
Speaking about her experiences as an inner-city teacher in Washington D.C., this enthusiastic Texas gal emphasized the importance of supporting at-risk youth through education. Since 2002, the Yellowstone Academy in Houston's Third Ward has provided a full-service education (including breakfast, lunch, uniforms and transportation) for more than 300 students aged pre-K through 7th grade.
Luncheon chairs Jane Lundell, Glori O'Donnel and Nancy Ruez raised the most funds to date for the school, with a needlepoint auction (a Barbara Bush specialty) as part of the event. Notables in the ballroom included former first lady Barbara Bush (Jenna's grandma), Jack and Ginger Blanton and Rusty Hardin.

Dave Rossman

Beth Durman and Mary Ball

19-Feb-11 10:00 AM

Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Bush play to a packed house for Yellowstone Academy

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 16:00:00 GMT

SHELBY'S SOCIAL DIARY

By Shelby Hodge

Last year, the Yellowstone Academy Guild luncheon drew a healthy crowd of 300 but Thursday's event was beyond a sellout with more than 600 men and women packing the ballroom of the InterContinental Houston — thanks in no small part to the headliners Jenna Bush Hager and former first lady Barbara Bush.

University of Texas friends, adoring fans and Bush family groupies filled the luncheon scene to beyond capacity with familiar faces and many that were fresh to the charity luncheon circuit. Barbara Bush was special guest and her very grown-up granddaughter was guest speaker.

Hager did not disappoint as she gracefully and charmingly shared anecdotes from her travels as a UNICEF volunteer working in the educational policy department for the Caribbean and Central and South America. From those travels came her best-selling book Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope, based on the inspirational life of a 17-year-old single mother living withe HIV. Currently, Hager is a contributing correspondent for NBC's Today Show.

She also spoke of her time as a teacher in inner-city Washington and related her experiences to the work being done in Houston and the "transformative power of education."

"As a teacher, I'm incredibly inspired by the work of Yellowstone Academy," she said. Before she left the podium, she asked every representative of Yellowstone, staff and board, to stand and be recognized by the audience.

"You see these people," she said. "they need your help. They need volunteers and they need money." She then encouraged everyone to approach those individuals after the program with offers of assistance. Needless to say, the Yellowstone team loved Hager's unscripted call to action.

Founded in 2002, Yellowstone is a faith-based private school in the city's Third Ward, serving children, kindergarten through the seventh grade, who live at the poverty level. Ninety-three percent of the 300 students come from single family homes where annual incomes hover at $8,000. The driving mission of the school is "reversing the odds" that these children will not be able to escape poverty.

Chairing the luncheon that was sponsored by the Yellowstone Academy Guild were Jane Lundell, Glori O'Donnel and Nancy Ruez.

Click here to view the slideshow.

18-Feb-11 10:00 AM

Kids Free to Dream

Jennifer Radcliffe - noemail@yellowstoneacademy.org — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 13:45:00 GMT

With army of volunteers, parochial academy thrives at taking on the toughest challenges

A private parochial school that targets the poorest of the poor and charges as little as $3 a month for tuition, the Yellowstone Academy in Houston's Third Ward doesn't exactly follow the standard recipe for success in the competitive education market.

But eight years into its mission, Yellowstone has found a way to not only remain afloat but also to thrive and expand to serve 320 students at its nondenominational Christian campus.

Tuition is mandated to signify families' investment in Yellowstone's mission: helping prepare the city's poorest students for college. Even though tuition payments represent less than 1 percent of the school's operating budget, Yellowstone employees spend significant time tracking down the minuscule payments.

For these families — whose median household incomes are only about $8,000 a year — aspirations of higher education seem like a fantasy.

Most of the children's parents didn't even finish high school.

"Dreams are the first thing that die in extreme poverty," said Yellowstone's executive director, Kim Hansen.

In the shadow of downtown - and overshadowed by charter school giants such as KIPP and Yes Prep - Yellowstone has been flourishing for eight years. The school uses some of the same techniques as other well-publicized reform efforts: smaller classes, longer school days, mentoring and tutoring.

Like its peers in Houston, Yellowstone has a waiting list hundreds of names long.

Rethinking strategies

Even the school's youngest students - 3-year-olds - start at 7:45 a.m. and leave at 5:30 p.m. Between naps and meals, students are schooled in literacy, math and social skills. Even as preschoolers, these students are already behind.

"These kids are from a totally different background and have totally different needs," said volunteer Pam Crystal, who retired after teaching for 25 years in the Katy school district. "They haven't been read to. They haven't even been talked to that much."

After Day 1 - back in 2002 - administrators realized they needed to rethink many of their strategies.

The color-coded discipline system they planned to use wasn't going to work because the children didn't know their colors. They didn't know how to hold a crayon or turn the pages of a book, either.

Catching the kids up to grade level is a massive undertaking.

With limited state or federal funding options available, private, faith-based schools that cater to children from poor families are rare. The Chinquapin School and Christo Rey Jesuit College Preparatory School are among Houston's only other options.

Yellowstone's mission is even more unique - to serve those in extreme poverty, families that earn no more than half of the federal government's low-income threshold.

Unlike some of their charter school peers, Yellowstone doesn't require any commitment or contract from the parents, other than the tuition payment, which usually tops out at $25 a month.

Many of these children already are taking care of themselves, as well as younger siblings.

"There's just no parenting or supervision," said Les T. Csorba, chairman of the board.

Students are provided busing, uniforms, health screenings and counseling services.

Millions in donations

An army of volunteers keeps Yellowstone going, handling everything from checking out library books to administering the employee retirement program. Churches, corporations, foundations and private donors handle the heavy lifting, chipping in roughly $4 million a year to keep the school open.

The education costs are about $10,000 per student. It costs $2,500 or so more to provide meals and transportation.

The campus also raised $12 million to the school's capital campaign, allowing the campus to build a new gymnasium and acquire land for ballfields, among other initiatives. And next year, the campus will reach build-out with the addition of eighth grade.

While the early results are promising - showing that most students catch up academically by the fifth grade - Yellowstone is eager to see what happens when its students reach high school and college.

Seven-year-old Shaliyah Lewis has never attended a school other than Yellowstone. So far, the campus has served her well - she has developed a love of math and a dream of becoming a pediatrician.

"I just like being here," the second-grader said.

28-Dec-10 7:45 AM

Reaching Up, Reaching Out Capital Campaign Successfully Completed

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 14:45:00 GMT

Under the strong leadership of Board members Brad

Freels and Dale Hortenstine and with the generous support of our donors, Yellowstone Academy recently completed its $11.5 million capital campaign, by raising over $12 million! Funds from this campaign were targeted for the puchase and renovation of the Douglass Elementary building, for additional land acquisition, and for school maintenance and operation through 8th grade expansion.

The Reaching Up, Reaching Out Capital Campaign began in 2006 and, in spite of difficult economic times, the campaign surpassed its original goal. As a result, the students of Yellowstone Academy now enjoy a facility which meets the long term needs of the school. The Jack S. Blanton Center provides a space for a multitude of activities, including boys and girls basketball, girls volleyball, cheerleading, step team, P.E., school-wide programs, and a variety of other needs. Additionally, the school hopes to soon acquire sufficient land for an adjacent sports field.

Special thanks go to Brad and Dale and their hard-working committee, who spent countless hours ensuring the tremendous success of this fundraising campaign.

15-Nov-10 8:45 AM

From the Chairman

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 14:00:00 GMT

Dear Friends of Yellowstone

David Guggenheim's current film, Waiting for Superman, pulls back the curtain on the failures of our country's public school system, and the picture is a grim one. One high school student drops out of school in our country every 26 seconds. By the time you've had your morning coffee or breakfast another 100 young people have left school, and lost hope. And the story doesn't stop there. These dropouts are eight times more likely to go to prison than their peers who remain in school, and without a high school diploma, they will be unqualified for 90% of the jobs in our economy, virtually ensuring that they will continue the cycle of generational poverty from which they've come.

Wating for Superman has a powerful message--but at Yellowstone Academy, we're not waiting for a super hero to save a failing system. We are taking action.

We've found heroes willing to work to equip and empower students from our city's most impoverished neighborhoods, and they are making a difference. Yellowstone is blessed by the commitment of our Board, teachers, administrators, staff, volunteers, and donors--and the results of their commitment are evident in our students. Their reading and math scores are trending up. By fifth grade, these kids who started woefully behind are preforming at or above grade level. They are developing critical life skills, and--this is important--they are beginning to dream.

I hope you saw the recent front page article in the Houston Chronicle on the success of Yellowstone Academy. When the author of that story came to tour our school, she asked to interview a student, and one of our second graders, Sha'Liyah agreed. Totally unrehearsed, Sha'Liyah's poise and courage was remarkable. "What do you like about Yellowstone Academy?" the reporter asked. "Just being here," she said. When pressed further about what else she liked, Sha'Liyah told the reporter she felt love at her school. "What would you like to be when you grow up?" she was asked. Without hesistation and with complete certainty, she replied, "I am going to be a pediatrician."

I have no doubt that she will.

We have so much to be thankful for at Yellowstone Academy -- especially for our staff and our teachers. Studies have shown that the single most important factor in determining whether students will succeed is not the color of their skin, their zip code. or even their parent's income. It is the quality of their teacher. Your support of Yellowstone Academy allows us to hire and equip excellent teachers, provide them with the specialized curriculum their students need, and keep their class size small for maximum interaction and impact.

Everything we do is aimed at making sure that not a single one of our students becomes a statistic. We're not waiting for superman. We're making a difference now, and seeking to build leaders who will be the change their community needs. Thank you, as always, for everything you do for our students.

P.S. I hope you were able to attend our annual breakfast, which was by far the most successful event we have held to date. Not only was our fundraising a terrific success, we had the largest crowd ever, and we had a big crowd of newcomers who were introduced to our precious work of serving children in extreme poverty. Thanks to all the heroes who made our breakfast a smashing success.

Les Csorba, Board Chairman

15-Nov-10 8:00 AM