Girard College is a place that speaks to Philadelphia’s historic past as well as the promise of its future. Located on a sprawling 43-acre campus in North Philadelphia, Girard is home to a full-scholarship, grades 1-12 residential boarding school for children from single-parent families with limited financial resources. More than 20,000 students have passed through the gates of Girard College since its founding, all of whom have been beneficiaries of fully-funded scholarships that today are valued at approximately $65,000 a year. Girard’s intentional racial segregation was successfully challenged and overturned in 1968, due to the work of the legendary local attorney Cecil B. Moore the College became the focal point of Philadelphia’s civil rights movement in the 1960s. Girard College’s desegregation led to other schools and city wide agencies in Philadelphia desegregating. The Girard protests featured national civil rights leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and scores of local “Freedom Fighters” who marched around the 10-foot wall that marks the College’s perimeter. Gender restrictions were dropped in 1984, when the school first admitted female students. Today, Girard chooses to acknowledge its lived history and is simultaneously focused on leveraging resources and seizing opportunities to meet the moment and lead, as it continues to deliver on its promise to educate children from limited financial circumstances. With a student enrollment of approximately 300 children, Girard features a 100% college acceptance rate and continues to provide guidance and support for its students during and even after graduation with a range of scholarship opportunities that help them become lifelong learners and productive public citizens.

• Lead Teacher