Fresh Start Academy, located within Sumner High School in the historic Ville section of Northern St. Louis, is an alternative school that removes as many barriers as possible to gaining the academic and life skills needed to meet the state’s graduation requirements. A great many students come from disadvantaged situations, but they attend a school with a staff that is devoted to resurrecting the cultural heritage of an old community.
“I have to recruit teachers with a developing and progressive mindset, not necessarily a traditional mindset,” said Sean Nichols, principal of both Fresh Start and Sumner, and a member of Administrators Association of the St. Louis Public Schools, AFSA Local 44. “Our teachers have to be prepared for change all the time. We have to keep our students interested and try to get them to graduate.”
Sean is a veteran principal who led other programs for high school dropouts for nearly 10 years before he was recruited to take over Fresh Start from its founders. However, he left the school in 2011 for eight years to create a K–8 school in another area of the city. Fresh Start held no surprises, although the intense shock of an international pandemic lurked in the wings. From his earliest days at Fresh Start, Sean knew how to recruit faculty and attract community, university and political partners, all while keeping his eyes on the more traditional population of Sumner High School.
“We’ve had some gang disputes in our neighborhood,” he said, “and a few students may drop out of school for fear of retaliation, so I try to create some online opportunities for them to be successful. I’m continuing a lot of that, even now, so students can prepare. And some do.”
Quite a few ultimately take the ACT, and Nichols is noticeably proud of that. “Some of them…if they came to school after being involved in conflict in the community, they would be scared of who they could encounter on school grounds. ‘Oh, hey, it’s you.’ They could get seriously hurt.”
“Our community is very historic,” he went on. “The Ville is the oldest African American community west of the Mississippi River. It is one of the challenging communities in Northern St. Louis, and yet it is not as tough as some think it is. That’s because this community once had a middle class. It was a thriving community at one time, but the population has moved to the suburbs like in many cities. Some of that middle-class attitude remains. Other parts of St. Louis don’t have that memory.”
In the 1920s and ’30s, The Ville was home to prosperous African Americans, some of whom had lived there as early as the 1870s. It was the site of Sumner High School, the first secondary school for Black people west of the Mississippi River; Harriet Beecher Stowe College, one of the earliest Black teacher education institutions; and Homer G. Phillips Hospital, one of the few Black teaching colleges in...
Fresh Start Academy, located within Sumner High School in the historic Ville section of Northern St. Louis, is an alternative school that removes as many barriers as possible to gaining the academic and life skills needed to meet the state’s graduation requirements. A great many students come from disadvantaged situations, but they attend a school with a staff that is devoted to resurrecting the cultural heritage of an old community.
“I have to recruit teachers with a developing and progressive mindset, not necessarily a traditional mindset,” said Sean Nichols, principal of both Fresh Start and Sumner, and a member of Administrators Association of the St. Louis Public Schools, AFSA Local 44. “Our teachers have to be prepared for change all the time. We have to keep our students interested and try to get them to graduate.”
Sean is a veteran principal who led other programs for high school dropouts for nearly 10 years before he was recruited to take over Fresh Start from its founders. However, he left the school in 2011 for eight years to create a K–8 school in another area of the city. Fresh Start held no surprises, although the intense shock of an international pandemic lurked in the wings. From his earliest days at Fresh Start, Sean knew how to recruit faculty and attract community, university and political partners, all while keeping his eyes on the more traditional population of Sumner High School.
“We’ve had some gang disputes in our neighborhood,” he said, “and a few students may drop out of school for fear of retaliation, so I try to create some online opportunities for them to be successful. I’m continuing a lot of that, even now, so students can prepare. And some do.”
Quite a few ultimately take the ACT, and Nichols is noticeably proud of that. “Some of them…if they came to school after being involved in conflict in the community, they would be scared of who they could encounter on school grounds. ‘Oh, hey, it’s you.’ They could get seriously hurt.”
“Our community is very historic,” he went on. “The Ville is the oldest African American community west of the Mississippi River. It is one of the challenging communities in Northern St. Louis, and yet it is not as tough as some think it is. That’s because this community once had a middle class. It was a thriving community at one time, but the population has moved to the suburbs like in many cities. Some of that middle-class attitude remains. Other parts of St. Louis don’t have that memory.”
In the 1920s and ’30s, The Ville was home to prosperous African Americans, some of whom had lived there as early as the 1870s. It was the site of Sumner High School, the first secondary school for Black people west of the Mississippi River; Harriet Beecher Stowe College, one of the earliest Black teacher education institutions; and Homer G. Phillips Hospital, one of the few Black teaching colleges in...
Fresh Start Academy, located within Sumner High School in the historic Ville section of Northern St. Louis, is an alternative school that removes as many barriers as possible to gaining the academic and life skills needed to meet the state’s graduation requirements. A great many students come from disadvantaged situations, but they attend a school with a staff that is devoted to resurrecting the cultural heritage of an old community.
“I have to recruit teachers with a developing and progressive mindset, not necessarily a traditional mindset,” said Sean Nichols, principal of both Fresh Start and Sumner, and a member of Administrators Association of the St. Louis Public Schools, AFSA Local 44. “Our teachers have to be prepared for change all the time. We have to keep our students interested and try to get them to graduate.”
Sean is a veteran principal who led other programs for high school dropouts for nearly 10 years before he was recruited to take over Fresh Start from its founders. However, he left the school in 2011 for eight years to create a K–8 school in another area of the city. Fresh Start held no surprises, although the intense shock of an international pandemic lurked in the wings. From his earliest days at Fresh Start, Sean knew how to recruit faculty and attract community, university and political partners, all while keeping his eyes on the more traditional population of Sumner High School.
“We’ve had some gang disputes in our neighborhood,” he said, “and a few students may drop out of school for fear of retaliation, so I try to create some online opportunities for them to be successful. I’m continuing a lot of that, even now, so students can prepare. And some do.”
Quite a few ultimately take the ACT, and Nichols is noticeably proud of that. “Some of them…if they came to school after being involved in conflict in the community, they would be scared of who they could encounter on school grounds. ‘Oh, hey, it’s you.’ They could get seriously hurt.”
“Our community is very historic,” he went on. “The Ville is the oldest African American community west of the Mississippi River. It is one of the challenging communities in Northern St. Louis, and yet it is not as tough as some think it is. That’s because this community once had a middle class. It was a thriving community at one time, but the population has moved to the suburbs like in many cities. Some of that middle-class attitude remains. Other parts of St. Louis don’t have that memory.”
In the 1920s and ’30s, The Ville was home to prosperous African Americans, some of whom had lived there as early as the 1870s. It was the site of Sumner High School, the first secondary school for Black people west of the Mississippi River; Harriet Beecher Stowe College, one of the earliest Black teacher education institutions; and Homer G. Phillips Hospital, one of the few Black teaching colleges in...
Fresh Start Academy, located within Sumner High School in the historic Ville section of Northern St. Louis, is an alternative school that removes as many barriers as possible to gaining the academic and life skills needed to meet the state’s graduation requirements. A great many students come from disadvantaged situations, but they attend a school with a staff that is devoted to resurrecting the cultural heritage of an old community.
“I have to recruit teachers with a developing and progressive mindset, not necessarily a traditional mindset,” said Sean Nichols, principal of both Fresh Start and Sumner, and a member of Administrators Association of the St. Louis Public Schools, AFSA Local 44. “Our teachers have to be prepared for change all the time. We have to keep our students interested and try to get them to graduate.”
Sean is a veteran principal who led other programs for high school dropouts for nearly 10 years before he was recruited to take over Fresh Start from its founders. However, he left the school in 2011 for eight years to create a K–8 school in another area of the city. Fresh Start held no surprises, although the intense shock of an international pandemic lurked in the wings. From his earliest days at Fresh Start, Sean knew how to recruit faculty and attract community, university and political partners, all while keeping his eyes on the more traditional population of Sumner High School.
“We’ve had some gang disputes in our neighborhood,” he said, “and a few students may drop out of school for fear of retaliation, so I try to create some online opportunities for them to be successful. I’m continuing a lot of that, even now, so students can prepare. And some do.”
Quite a few ultimately take the ACT, and Nichols is noticeably proud of that. “Some of them…if they came to school after being involved in conflict in the community, they would be scared of who they could encounter on school grounds. ‘Oh, hey, it’s you.’ They could get seriously hurt.”
“Our community is very historic,” he went on. “The Ville is the oldest African American community west of the Mississippi River. It is one of the challenging communities in Northern St. Louis, and yet it is not as tough as some think it is. That’s because this community once had a middle class. It was a thriving community at one time, but the population has moved to the suburbs like in many cities. Some of that middle-class attitude remains. Other parts of St. Louis don’t have that memory.”
In the 1920s and ’30s, The Ville was home to prosperous African Americans, some of whom had lived there as early as the 1870s. It was the site of Sumner High School, the first secondary school for Black people west of the Mississippi River; Harriet Beecher Stowe College, one of the earliest Black teacher education institutions; and Homer G. Phillips Hospital, one of the few Black teaching colleges in...
Fresh Start Academy, located within Sumner High School in the historic Ville section of Northern St. Louis, is an alternative school that removes as many barriers as possible to gaining the academic and life skills needed to meet the state’s graduation requirements. A great many students come from disadvantaged situations, but they attend a school with a staff that is devoted to resurrecting the cultural heritage of an old community.
“I have to recruit teachers with a developing and progressive mindset, not necessarily a traditional mindset,” said Sean Nichols, principal of both Fresh Start and Sumner, and a member of Administrators Association of the St. Louis Public Schools, AFSA Local 44. “Our teachers have to be prepared for change all the time. We have to keep our students interested and try to get them to graduate.”
Sean is a veteran principal who led other programs for high school dropouts for nearly 10 years before he was recruited to take over Fresh Start from its founders. However, he left the school in 2011 for eight years to create a K–8 school in another area of the city. Fresh Start held no surprises, although the intense shock of an international pandemic lurked in the wings. From his earliest days at Fresh Start, Sean knew how to recruit faculty and attract community, university and political partners, all while keeping his eyes on the more traditional population of Sumner High School.
“We’ve had some gang disputes in our neighborhood,” he said, “and a few students may drop out of school for fear of retaliation, so I try to create some online opportunities for them to be successful. I’m continuing a lot of that, even now, so students can prepare. And some do.”
Quite a few ultimately take the ACT, and Nichols is noticeably proud of that. “Some of them…if they came to school after being involved in conflict in the community, they would be scared of who they could encounter on school grounds. ‘Oh, hey, it’s you.’ They could get seriously hurt.”
“Our community is very historic,” he went on. “The Ville is the oldest African American community west of the Mississippi River. It is one of the challenging communities in Northern St. Louis, and yet it is not as tough as some think it is. That’s because this community once had a middle class. It was a thriving community at one time, but the population has moved to the suburbs like in many cities. Some of that middle-class attitude remains. Other parts of St. Louis don’t have that memory.”
In the 1920s and ’30s, The Ville was home to prosperous African Americans, some of whom had lived there as early as the 1870s. It was the site of Sumner High School, the first secondary school for Black people west of the Mississippi River; Harriet Beecher Stowe College, one of the earliest Black teacher education institutions; and Homer G. Phillips Hospital, one of the few Black teaching colleges in...
Fresh Start Academy, located within Sumner High School in the historic Ville section of Northern St. Louis, is an alternative school that removes as many barriers as possible to gaining the academic and life skills needed to meet the state’s graduation requirements. A great many students come from disadvantaged situations, but they attend a school with a staff that is devoted to resurrecting the cultural heritage of an old community.
“I have to recruit teachers with a developing and progressive mindset, not necessarily a traditional mindset,” said Sean Nichols, principal of both Fresh Start and Sumner, and a member of Administrators Association of the St. Louis Public Schools, AFSA Local 44. “Our teachers have to be prepared for change all the time. We have to keep our students interested and try to get them to graduate.”
Sean is a veteran principal who led other programs for high school dropouts for nearly 10 years before he was recruited to take over Fresh Start from its founders. However, he left the school in 2011 for eight years to create a K–8 school in another area of the city. Fresh Start held no surprises, although the intense shock of an international pandemic lurked in the wings. From his earliest days at Fresh Start, Sean knew how to recruit faculty and attract community, university and political partners, all while keeping his eyes on the more traditional population of Sumner High School.
“We’ve had some gang disputes in our neighborhood,” he said, “and a few students may drop out of school for fear of retaliation, so I try to create some online opportunities for them to be successful. I’m continuing a lot of that, even now, so students can prepare. And some do.”
Quite a few ultimately take the ACT, and Nichols is noticeably proud of that. “Some of them…if they came to school after being involved in conflict in the community, they would be scared of who they could encounter on school grounds. ‘Oh, hey, it’s you.’ They could get seriously hurt.”
“Our community is very historic,” he went on. “The Ville is the oldest African American community west of the Mississippi River. It is one of the challenging communities in Northern St. Louis, and yet it is not as tough as some think it is. That’s because this community once had a middle class. It was a thriving community at one time, but the population has moved to the suburbs like in many cities. Some of that middle-class attitude remains. Other parts of St. Louis don’t have that memory.”
In the 1920s and ’30s, The Ville was home to prosperous African Americans, some of whom had lived there as early as the 1870s. It was the site of Sumner High School, the first secondary school for Black people west of the Mississippi River; Harriet Beecher Stowe College, one of the earliest Black teacher education institutions; and Homer G. Phillips Hospital, one of the few Black teaching colleges in...
Fresh Start Academy, located within Sumner High School in the historic Ville section of Northern St. Louis, is an alternative school that removes as many barriers as possible to gaining the academic and life skills needed to meet the state’s graduation requirements. A great many students come from disadvantaged situations, but they attend a school with a staff that is devoted to resurrecting the cultural heritage of an old community.
“I have to recruit teachers with a developing and progressive mindset, not necessarily a traditional mindset,” said Sean Nichols, principal of both Fresh Start and Sumner, and a member of Administrators Association of the St. Louis Public Schools, AFSA Local 44. “Our teachers have to be prepared for change all the time. We have to keep our students interested and try to get them to graduate.”
Sean is a veteran principal who led other programs for high school dropouts for nearly 10 years before he was recruited to take over Fresh Start from its founders. However, he left the school in 2011 for eight years to create a K–8 school in another area of the city. Fresh Start held no surprises, although the intense shock of an international pandemic lurked in the wings. From his earliest days at Fresh Start, Sean knew how to recruit faculty and attract community, university and political partners, all while keeping his eyes on the more traditional population of Sumner High School.
“We’ve had some gang disputes in our neighborhood,” he said, “and a few students may drop out of school for fear of retaliation, so I try to create some online opportunities for them to be successful. I’m continuing a lot of that, even now, so students can prepare. And some do.”
Quite a few ultimately take the ACT, and Nichols is noticeably proud of that. “Some of them…if they came to school after being involved in conflict in the community, they would be scared of who they could encounter on school grounds. ‘Oh, hey, it’s you.’ They could get seriously hurt.”
“Our community is very historic,” he went on. “The Ville is the oldest African American community west of the Mississippi River. It is one of the challenging communities in Northern St. Louis, and yet it is not as tough as some think it is. That’s because this community once had a middle class. It was a thriving community at one time, but the population has moved to the suburbs like in many cities. Some of that middle-class attitude remains. Other parts of St. Louis don’t have that memory.”
In the 1920s and ’30s, The Ville was home to prosperous African Americans, some of whom had lived there as early as the 1870s. It was the site of Sumner High School, the first secondary school for Black people west of the Mississippi River; Harriet Beecher Stowe College, one of the earliest Black teacher education institutions; and Homer G. Phillips Hospital, one of the few Black teaching colleges in...
Fresh Start Academy, located within Sumner High School in the historic Ville section of Northern St. Louis, is an alternative school that removes as many barriers as possible to gaining the academic and life skills needed to meet the state’s graduation requirements. A great many students come from disadvantaged situations, but they attend a school with a staff that is devoted to resurrecting the cultural heritage of an old community.
“I have to recruit teachers with a developing and progressive mindset, not necessarily a traditional mindset,” said Sean Nichols, principal of both Fresh Start and Sumner, and a member of Administrators Association of the St. Louis Public Schools, AFSA Local 44. “Our teachers have to be prepared for change all the time. We have to keep our students interested and try to get them to graduate.”
Sean is a veteran principal who led other programs for high school dropouts for nearly 10 years before he was recruited to take over Fresh Start from its founders. However, he left the school in 2011 for eight years to create a K–8 school in another area of the city. Fresh Start held no surprises, although the intense shock of an international pandemic lurked in the wings. From his earliest days at Fresh Start, Sean knew how to recruit faculty and attract community, university and political partners, all while keeping his eyes on the more traditional population of Sumner High School.
“We’ve had some gang disputes in our neighborhood,” he said, “and a few students may drop out of school for fear of retaliation, so I try to create some online opportunities for them to be successful. I’m continuing a lot of that, even now, so students can prepare. And some do.”
Quite a few ultimately take the ACT, and Nichols is noticeably proud of that. “Some of them…if they came to school after being involved in conflict in the community, they would be scared of who they could encounter on school grounds. ‘Oh, hey, it’s you.’ They could get seriously hurt.”
“Our community is very historic,” he went on. “The Ville is the oldest African American community west of the Mississippi River. It is one of the challenging communities in Northern St. Louis, and yet it is not as tough as some think it is. That’s because this community once had a middle class. It was a thriving community at one time, but the population has moved to the suburbs like in many cities. Some of that middle-class attitude remains. Other parts of St. Louis don’t have that memory.”
In the 1920s and ’30s, The Ville was home to prosperous African Americans, some of whom had lived there as early as the 1870s. It was the site of Sumner High School, the first secondary school for Black people west of the Mississippi River; Harriet Beecher Stowe College, one of the earliest Black teacher education institutions; and Homer G. Phillips Hospital, one of the few Black teaching colleges in...
Fresh Start Academy, located within Sumner High School in the historic Ville section of Northern St. Louis, is an alternative school that removes as many barriers as possible to gaining the academic and life skills needed to meet the state’s graduation requirements. A great many students come from disadvantaged situations, but they attend a school with a staff that is devoted to resurrecting the cultural heritage of an old community.
“I have to recruit teachers with a developing and progressive mindset, not necessarily a traditional mindset,” said Sean Nichols, principal of both Fresh Start and Sumner, and a member of Administrators Association of the St. Louis Public Schools, AFSA Local 44. “Our teachers have to be prepared for change all the time. We have to keep our students interested and try to get them to graduate.”
Sean is a veteran principal who led other programs for high school dropouts for nearly 10 years before he was recruited to take over Fresh Start from its founders. However, he left the school in 2011 for eight years to create a K–8 school in another area of the city. Fresh Start held no surprises, although the intense shock of an international pandemic lurked in the wings. From his earliest days at Fresh Start, Sean knew how to recruit faculty and attract community, university and political partners, all while keeping his eyes on the more traditional population of Sumner High School.
“We’ve had some gang disputes in our neighborhood,” he said, “and a few students may drop out of school for fear of retaliation, so I try to create some online opportunities for them to be successful. I’m continuing a lot of that, even now, so students can prepare. And some do.”
Quite a few ultimately take the ACT, and Nichols is noticeably proud of that. “Some of them…if they came to school after being involved in conflict in the community, they would be scared of who they could encounter on school grounds. ‘Oh, hey, it’s you.’ They could get seriously hurt.”
“Our community is very historic,” he went on. “The Ville is the oldest African American community west of the Mississippi River. It is one of the challenging communities in Northern St. Louis, and yet it is not as tough as some think it is. That’s because this community once had a middle class. It was a thriving community at one time, but the population has moved to the suburbs like in many cities. Some of that middle-class attitude remains. Other parts of St. Louis don’t have that memory.”
In the 1920s and ’30s, The Ville was home to prosperous African Americans, some of whom had lived there as early as the 1870s. It was the site of Sumner High School, the first secondary school for Black people west of the Mississippi River; Harriet Beecher Stowe College, one of the earliest Black teacher education institutions; and Homer G. Phillips Hospital, one of the few Black teaching colleges in...
Fresh Start Academy, located within Sumner High School in the historic Ville section of Northern St. Louis, is an alternative school that removes as many barriers as possible to gaining the academic and life skills needed to meet the state’s graduation requirements. A great many students come from disadvantaged situations, but they attend a school with a staff that is devoted to resurrecting the cultural heritage of an old community.
“I have to recruit teachers with a developing and progressive mindset, not necessarily a traditional mindset,” said Sean Nichols, principal of both Fresh Start and Sumner, and a member of Administrators Association of the St. Louis Public Schools, AFSA Local 44. “Our teachers have to be prepared for change all the time. We have to keep our students interested and try to get them to graduate.”
Sean is a veteran principal who led other programs for high school dropouts for nearly 10 years before he was recruited to take over Fresh Start from its founders. However, he left the school in 2011 for eight years to create a K–8 school in another area of the city. Fresh Start held no surprises, although the intense shock of an international pandemic lurked in the wings. From his earliest days at Fresh Start, Sean knew how to recruit faculty and attract community, university and political partners, all while keeping his eyes on the more traditional population of Sumner High School.
“We’ve had some gang disputes in our neighborhood,” he said, “and a few students may drop out of school for fear of retaliation, so I try to create some online opportunities for them to be successful. I’m continuing a lot of that, even now, so students can prepare. And some do.”
Quite a few ultimately take the ACT, and Nichols is noticeably proud of that. “Some of them…if they came to school after being involved in conflict in the community, they would be scared of who they could encounter on school grounds. ‘Oh, hey, it’s you.’ They could get seriously hurt.”
“Our community is very historic,” he went on. “The Ville is the oldest African American community west of the Mississippi River. It is one of the challenging communities in Northern St. Louis, and yet it is not as tough as some think it is. That’s because this community once had a middle class. It was a thriving community at one time, but the population has moved to the suburbs like in many cities. Some of that middle-class attitude remains. Other parts of St. Louis don’t have that memory.”
In the 1920s and ’30s, The Ville was home to prosperous African Americans, some of whom had lived there as early as the 1870s. It was the site of Sumner High School, the first secondary school for Black people west of the Mississippi River; Harriet Beecher Stowe College, one of the earliest Black teacher education institutions; and Homer G. Phillips Hospital, one of the few Black teaching colleges in...
Fresh Start Academy, located within Sumner High School in the historic Ville section of Northern St. Louis, is an alternative school that removes as many barriers as possible to gaining the academic and life skills needed to meet the state’s graduation requirements. A great many students come from disadvantaged situations, but they attend a school with a staff that is devoted to resurrecting the cultural heritage of an old community.
“I have to recruit teachers with a developing and progressive mindset, not necessarily a traditional mindset,” said Sean Nichols, principal of both Fresh Start and Sumner, and a member of Administrators Association of the St. Louis Public Schools, AFSA Local 44. “Our teachers have to be prepared for change all the time. We have to keep our students interested and try to get them to graduate.”
Sean is a veteran principal who led other programs for high school dropouts for nearly 10 years before he was recruited to take over Fresh Start from its founders. However, he left the school in 2011 for eight years to create a K–8 school in another area of the city. Fresh Start held no surprises, although the intense shock of an international pandemic lurked in the wings. From his earliest days at Fresh Start, Sean knew how to recruit faculty and attract community, university and political partners, all while keeping his eyes on the more traditional population of Sumner High School.
“We’ve had some gang disputes in our neighborhood,” he said, “and a few students may drop out of school for fear of retaliation, so I try to create some online opportunities for them to be successful. I’m continuing a lot of that, even now, so students can prepare. And some do.”
Quite a few ultimately take the ACT, and Nichols is noticeably proud of that. “Some of them…if they came to school after being involved in conflict in the community, they would be scared of who they could encounter on school grounds. ‘Oh, hey, it’s you.’ They could get seriously hurt.”
“Our community is very historic,” he went on. “The Ville is the oldest African American community west of the Mississippi River. It is one of the challenging communities in Northern St. Louis, and yet it is not as tough as some think it is. That’s because this community once had a middle class. It was a thriving community at one time, but the population has moved to the suburbs like in many cities. Some of that middle-class attitude remains. Other parts of St. Louis don’t have that memory.”
In the 1920s and ’30s, The Ville was home to prosperous African Americans, some of whom had lived there as early as the 1870s. It was the site of Sumner High School, the first secondary school for Black people west of the Mississippi River; Harriet Beecher Stowe College, one of the earliest Black teacher education institutions; and Homer G. Phillips Hospital, one of the few Black teaching colleges in...
Fresh Start Academy, located within Sumner High School in the historic Ville section of Northern St. Louis, is an alternative school that removes as many barriers as possible to gaining the academic and life skills needed to meet the state’s graduation requirements. A great many students come from disadvantaged situations, but they attend a school with a staff that is devoted to resurrecting the cultural heritage of an old community.
“I have to recruit teachers with a developing and progressive mindset, not necessarily a traditional mindset,” said Sean Nichols, principal of both Fresh Start and Sumner, and a member of Administrators Association of the St. Louis Public Schools, AFSA Local 44. “Our teachers have to be prepared for change all the time. We have to keep our students interested and try to get them to graduate.”
Sean is a veteran principal who led other programs for high school dropouts for nearly 10 years before he was recruited to take over Fresh Start from its founders. However, he left the school in 2011 for eight years to create a K–8 school in another area of the city. Fresh Start held no surprises, although the intense shock of an international pandemic lurked in the wings. From his earliest days at Fresh Start, Sean knew how to recruit faculty and attract community, university and political partners, all while keeping his eyes on the more traditional population of Sumner High School.
“We’ve had some gang disputes in our neighborhood,” he said, “and a few students may drop out of school for fear of retaliation, so I try to create some online opportunities for them to be successful. I’m continuing a lot of that, even now, so students can prepare. And some do.”
Quite a few ultimately take the ACT, and Nichols is noticeably proud of that. “Some of them…if they came to school after being involved in conflict in the community, they would be scared of who they could encounter on school grounds. ‘Oh, hey, it’s you.’ They could get seriously hurt.”
“Our community is very historic,” he went on. “The Ville is the oldest African American community west of the Mississippi River. It is one of the challenging communities in Northern St. Louis, and yet it is not as tough as some think it is. That’s because this community once had a middle class. It was a thriving community at one time, but the population has moved to the suburbs like in many cities. Some of that middle-class attitude remains. Other parts of St. Louis don’t have that memory.”
In the 1920s and ’30s, The Ville was home to prosperous African Americans, some of whom had lived there as early as the 1870s. It was the site of Sumner High School, the first secondary school for Black people west of the Mississippi River; Harriet Beecher Stowe College, one of the earliest Black teacher education institutions; and Homer G. Phillips Hospital, one of the few Black teaching colleges in...
Fresh Start Academy, located within Sumner High School in the historic Ville section of Northern St. Louis, is an alternative school that removes as many barriers as possible to gaining the academic and life skills needed to meet the state’s graduation requirements. A great many students come from disadvantaged situations, but they attend a school with a staff that is devoted to resurrecting the cultural heritage of an old community.
“I have to recruit teachers with a developing and progressive mindset, not necessarily a traditional mindset,” said Sean Nichols, principal of both Fresh Start and Sumner, and a member of Administrators Association of the St. Louis Public Schools, AFSA Local 44. “Our teachers have to be prepared for change all the time. We have to keep our students interested and try to get them to graduate.”
Sean is a veteran principal who led other programs for high school dropouts for nearly 10 years before he was recruited to take over Fresh Start from its founders. However, he left the school in 2011 for eight years to create a K–8 school in another area of the city. Fresh Start held no surprises, although the intense shock of an international pandemic lurked in the wings. From his earliest days at Fresh Start, Sean knew how to recruit faculty and attract community, university and political partners, all while keeping his eyes on the more traditional population of Sumner High School.
“We’ve had some gang disputes in our neighborhood,” he said, “and a few students may drop out of school for fear of retaliation, so I try to create some online opportunities for them to be successful. I’m continuing a lot of that, even now, so students can prepare. And some do.”
Quite a few ultimately take the ACT, and Nichols is noticeably proud of that. “Some of them…if they came to school after being involved in conflict in the community, they would be scared of who they could encounter on school grounds. ‘Oh, hey, it’s you.’ They could get seriously hurt.”
“Our community is very historic,” he went on. “The Ville is the oldest African American community west of the Mississippi River. It is one of the challenging communities in Northern St. Louis, and yet it is not as tough as some think it is. That’s because this community once had a middle class. It was a thriving community at one time, but the population has moved to the suburbs like in many cities. Some of that middle-class attitude remains. Other parts of St. Louis don’t have that memory.”
In the 1920s and ’30s, The Ville was home to prosperous African Americans, some of whom had lived there as early as the 1870s. It was the site of Sumner High School, the first secondary school for Black people west of the Mississippi River; Harriet Beecher Stowe College, one of the earliest Black teacher education institutions; and Homer G. Phillips Hospital, one of the few Black teaching colleges in...
Fresh Start Academy, located within Sumner High School in the historic Ville section of Northern St. Louis, is an alternative school that removes as many barriers as possible to gaining the academic and life skills needed to meet the state’s graduation requirements. A great many students come from disadvantaged situations, but they attend a school with a staff that is devoted to resurrecting the cultural heritage of an old community.
“I have to recruit teachers with a developing and progressive mindset, not necessarily a traditional mindset,” said Sean Nichols, principal of both Fresh Start and Sumner, and a member of Administrators Association of the St. Louis Public Schools, AFSA Local 44. “Our teachers have to be prepared for change all the time. We have to keep our students interested and try to get them to graduate.”
Sean is a veteran principal who led other programs for high school dropouts for nearly 10 years before he was recruited to take over Fresh Start from its founders. However, he left the school in 2011 for eight years to create a K–8 school in another area of the city. Fresh Start held no surprises, although the intense shock of an international pandemic lurked in the wings. From his earliest days at Fresh Start, Sean knew how to recruit faculty and attract community, university and political partners, all while keeping his eyes on the more traditional population of Sumner High School.
“We’ve had some gang disputes in our neighborhood,” he said, “and a few students may drop out of school for fear of retaliation, so I try to create some online opportunities for them to be successful. I’m continuing a lot of that, even now, so students can prepare. And some do.”
Quite a few ultimately take the ACT, and Nichols is noticeably proud of that. “Some of them…if they came to school after being involved in conflict in the community, they would be scared of who they could encounter on school grounds. ‘Oh, hey, it’s you.’ They could get seriously hurt.”
“Our community is very historic,” he went on. “The Ville is the oldest African American community west of the Mississippi River. It is one of the challenging communities in Northern St. Louis, and yet it is not as tough as some think it is. That’s because this community once had a middle class. It was a thriving community at one time, but the population has moved to the suburbs like in many cities. Some of that middle-class attitude remains. Other parts of St. Louis don’t have that memory.”
In the 1920s and ’30s, The Ville was home to prosperous African Americans, some of whom had lived there as early as the 1870s. It was the site of Sumner High School, the first secondary school for Black people west of the Mississippi River; Harriet Beecher Stowe College, one of the earliest Black teacher education institutions; and Homer G. Phillips Hospital, one of the few Black teaching colleges in...
Fresh Start Academy, located within Sumner High School in the historic Ville section of Northern St. Louis, is an alternative school that removes as many barriers as possible to gaining the academic and life skills needed to meet the state’s graduation requirements. A great many students come from disadvantaged situations, but they attend a school with a staff that is devoted to resurrecting the cultural heritage of an old community.
“I have to recruit teachers with a developing and progressive mindset, not necessarily a traditional mindset,” said Sean Nichols, principal of both Fresh Start and Sumner, and a member of Administrators Association of the St. Louis Public Schools, AFSA Local 44. “Our teachers have to be prepared for change all the time. We have to keep our students interested and try to get them to graduate.”
Sean is a veteran principal who led other programs for high school dropouts for nearly 10 years before he was recruited to take over Fresh Start from its founders. However, he left the school in 2011 for eight years to create a K–8 school in another area of the city. Fresh Start held no surprises, although the intense shock of an international pandemic lurked in the wings. From his earliest days at Fresh Start, Sean knew how to recruit faculty and attract community, university and political partners, all while keeping his eyes on the more traditional population of Sumner High School.
“We’ve had some gang disputes in our neighborhood,” he said, “and a few students may drop out of school for fear of retaliation, so I try to create some online opportunities for them to be successful. I’m continuing a lot of that, even now, so students can prepare. And some do.”
Quite a few ultimately take the ACT, and Nichols is noticeably proud of that. “Some of them…if they came to school after being involved in conflict in the community, they would be scared of who they could encounter on school grounds. ‘Oh, hey, it’s you.’ They could get seriously hurt.”
“Our community is very historic,” he went on. “The Ville is the oldest African American community west of the Mississippi River. It is one of the challenging communities in Northern St. Louis, and yet it is not as tough as some think it is. That’s because this community once had a middle class. It was a thriving community at one time, but the population has moved to the suburbs like in many cities. Some of that middle-class attitude remains. Other parts of St. Louis don’t have that memory.”
In the 1920s and ’30s, The Ville was home to prosperous African Americans, some of whom had lived there as early as the 1870s. It was the site of Sumner High School, the first secondary school for Black people west of the Mississippi River; Harriet Beecher Stowe College, one of the earliest Black teacher education institutions; and Homer G. Phillips Hospital, one of the few Black teaching colleges in...
Fresh Start Academy, located within Sumner High School in the historic Ville section of Northern St. Louis, is an alternative school that removes as many barriers as possible to gaining the academic and life skills needed to meet the state’s graduation requirements. A great many students come from disadvantaged situations, but they attend a school with a staff that is devoted to resurrecting the cultural heritage of an old community.
“I have to recruit teachers with a developing and progressive mindset, not necessarily a traditional mindset,” said Sean Nichols, principal of both Fresh Start and Sumner, and a member of Administrators Association of the St. Louis Public Schools, AFSA Local 44. “Our teachers have to be prepared for change all the time. We have to keep our students interested and try to get them to graduate.”
Sean is a veteran principal who led other programs for high school dropouts for nearly 10 years before he was recruited to take over Fresh Start from its founders. However, he left the school in 2011 for eight years to create a K–8 school in another area of the city. Fresh Start held no surprises, although the intense shock of an international pandemic lurked in the wings. From his earliest days at Fresh Start, Sean knew how to recruit faculty and attract community, university and political partners, all while keeping his eyes on the more traditional population of Sumner High School.
“We’ve had some gang disputes in our neighborhood,” he said, “and a few students may drop out of school for fear of retaliation, so I try to create some online opportunities for them to be successful. I’m continuing a lot of that, even now, so students can prepare. And some do.”
Quite a few ultimately take the ACT, and Nichols is noticeably proud of that. “Some of them…if they came to school after being involved in conflict in the community, they would be scared of who they could encounter on school grounds. ‘Oh, hey, it’s you.’ They could get seriously hurt.”
“Our community is very historic,” he went on. “The Ville is the oldest African American community west of the Mississippi River. It is one of the challenging communities in Northern St. Louis, and yet it is not as tough as some think it is. That’s because this community once had a middle class. It was a thriving community at one time, but the population has moved to the suburbs like in many cities. Some of that middle-class attitude remains. Other parts of St. Louis don’t have that memory.”
In the 1920s and ’30s, The Ville was home to prosperous African Americans, some of whom had lived there as early as the 1870s. It was the site of Sumner High School, the first secondary school for Black people west of the Mississippi River; Harriet Beecher Stowe College, one of the earliest Black teacher education institutions; and Homer G. Phillips Hospital, one of the few Black teaching colleges in...
Fresh Start Academy, located within Sumner High School in the historic Ville section of Northern St. Louis, is an alternative school that removes as many barriers as possible to gaining the academic and life skills needed to meet the state’s graduation requirements. A great many students come from disadvantaged situations, but they attend a school with a staff that is devoted to resurrecting the cultural heritage of an old community.
“I have to recruit teachers with a developing and progressive mindset, not necessarily a traditional mindset,” said Sean Nichols, principal of both Fresh Start and Sumner, and a member of Administrators Association of the St. Louis Public Schools, AFSA Local 44. “Our teachers have to be prepared for change all the time. We have to keep our students interested and try to get them to graduate.”
Sean is a veteran principal who led other programs for high school dropouts for nearly 10 years before he was recruited to take over Fresh Start from its founders. However, he left the school in 2011 for eight years to create a K–8 school in another area of the city. Fresh Start held no surprises, although the intense shock of an international pandemic lurked in the wings. From his earliest days at Fresh Start, Sean knew how to recruit faculty and attract community, university and political partners, all while keeping his eyes on the more traditional population of Sumner High School.
“We’ve had some gang disputes in our neighborhood,” he said, “and a few students may drop out of school for fear of retaliation, so I try to create some online opportunities for them to be successful. I’m continuing a lot of that, even now, so students can prepare. And some do.”
Quite a few ultimately take the ACT, and Nichols is noticeably proud of that. “Some of them…if they came to school after being involved in conflict in the community, they would be scared of who they could encounter on school grounds. ‘Oh, hey, it’s you.’ They could get seriously hurt.”
“Our community is very historic,” he went on. “The Ville is the oldest African American community west of the Mississippi River. It is one of the challenging communities in Northern St. Louis, and yet it is not as tough as some think it is. That’s because this community once had a middle class. It was a thriving community at one time, but the population has moved to the suburbs like in many cities. Some of that middle-class attitude remains. Other parts of St. Louis don’t have that memory.”
In the 1920s and ’30s, The Ville was home to prosperous African Americans, some of whom had lived there as early as the 1870s. It was the site of Sumner High School, the first secondary school for Black people west of the Mississippi River; Harriet Beecher Stowe College, one of the earliest Black teacher education institutions; and Homer G. Phillips Hospital, one of the few Black teaching colleges in...
Fresh Start Academy, located within Sumner High School in the historic Ville section of Northern St. Louis, is an alternative school that removes as many barriers as possible to gaining the academic and life skills needed to meet the state’s graduation requirements. A great many students come from disadvantaged situations, but they attend a school with a staff that is devoted to resurrecting the cultural heritage of an old community.
“I have to recruit teachers with a developing and progressive mindset, not necessarily a traditional mindset,” said Sean Nichols, principal of both Fresh Start and Sumner, and a member of Administrators Association of the St. Louis Public Schools, AFSA Local 44. “Our teachers have to be prepared for change all the time. We have to keep our students interested and try to get them to graduate.”
Sean is a veteran principal who led other programs for high school dropouts for nearly 10 years before he was recruited to take over Fresh Start from its founders. However, he left the school in 2011 for eight years to create a K–8 school in another area of the city. Fresh Start held no surprises, although the intense shock of an international pandemic lurked in the wings. From his earliest days at Fresh Start, Sean knew how to recruit faculty and attract community, university and political partners, all while keeping his eyes on the more traditional population of Sumner High School.
“We’ve had some gang disputes in our neighborhood,” he said, “and a few students may drop out of school for fear of retaliation, so I try to create some online opportunities for them to be successful. I’m continuing a lot of that, even now, so students can prepare. And some do.”
Quite a few ultimately take the ACT, and Nichols is noticeably proud of that. “Some of them…if they came to school after being involved in conflict in the community, they would be scared of who they could encounter on school grounds. ‘Oh, hey, it’s you.’ They could get seriously hurt.”
“Our community is very historic,” he went on. “The Ville is the oldest African American community west of the Mississippi River. It is one of the challenging communities in Northern St. Louis, and yet it is not as tough as some think it is. That’s because this community once had a middle class. It was a thriving community at one time, but the population has moved to the suburbs like in many cities. Some of that middle-class attitude remains. Other parts of St. Louis don’t have that memory.”
In the 1920s and ’30s, The Ville was home to prosperous African Americans, some of whom had lived there as early as the 1870s. It was the site of Sumner High School, the first secondary school for Black people west of the Mississippi River; Harriet Beecher Stowe College, one of the earliest Black teacher education institutions; and Homer G. Phillips Hospital, one of the few Black teaching colleges in...
Fresh Start Academy, located within Sumner High School in the historic Ville section of Northern St. Louis, is an alternative school that removes as many barriers as possible to gaining the academic and life skills needed to meet the state’s graduation requirements. A great many students come from disadvantaged situations, but they attend a school with a staff that is devoted to resurrecting the cultural heritage of an old community.
“I have to recruit teachers with a developing and progressive mindset, not necessarily a traditional mindset,” said Sean Nichols, principal of both Fresh Start and Sumner, and a member of Administrators Association of the St. Louis Public Schools, AFSA Local 44. “Our teachers have to be prepared for change all the time. We have to keep our students interested and try to get them to graduate.”
Sean is a veteran principal who led other programs for high school dropouts for nearly 10 years before he was recruited to take over Fresh Start from its founders. However, he left the school in 2011 for eight years to create a K–8 school in another area of the city. Fresh Start held no surprises, although the intense shock of an international pandemic lurked in the wings. From his earliest days at Fresh Start, Sean knew how to recruit faculty and attract community, university and political partners, all while keeping his eyes on the more traditional population of Sumner High School.
“We’ve had some gang disputes in our neighborhood,” he said, “and a few students may drop out of school for fear of retaliation, so I try to create some online opportunities for them to be successful. I’m continuing a lot of that, even now, so students can prepare. And some do.”
Quite a few ultimately take the ACT, and Nichols is noticeably proud of that. “Some of them…if they came to school after being involved in conflict in the community, they would be scared of who they could encounter on school grounds. ‘Oh, hey, it’s you.’ They could get seriously hurt.”
“Our community is very historic,” he went on. “The Ville is the oldest African American community west of the Mississippi River. It is one of the challenging communities in Northern St. Louis, and yet it is not as tough as some think it is. That’s because this community once had a middle class. It was a thriving community at one time, but the population has moved to the suburbs like in many cities. Some of that middle-class attitude remains. Other parts of St. Louis don’t have that memory.”
In the 1920s and ’30s, The Ville was home to prosperous African Americans, some of whom had lived there as early as the 1870s. It was the site of Sumner High School, the first secondary school for Black people west of the Mississippi River; Harriet Beecher Stowe College, one of the earliest Black teacher education institutions; and Homer G. Phillips Hospital, one of the few Black teaching colleges in...
Fresh Start Academy, located within Sumner High School in the historic Ville section of Northern St. Louis, is an alternative school that removes as many barriers as possible to gaining the academic and life skills needed to meet the state’s graduation requirements. A great many students come from disadvantaged situations, but they attend a school with a staff that is devoted to resurrecting the cultural heritage of an old community.
“I have to recruit teachers with a developing and progressive mindset, not necessarily a traditional mindset,” said Sean Nichols, principal of both Fresh Start and Sumner, and a member of Administrators Association of the St. Louis Public Schools, AFSA Local 44. “Our teachers have to be prepared for change all the time. We have to keep our students interested and try to get them to graduate.”
Sean is a veteran principal who led other programs for high school dropouts for nearly 10 years before he was recruited to take over Fresh Start from its founders. However, he left the school in 2011 for eight years to create a K–8 school in another area of the city. Fresh Start held no surprises, although the intense shock of an international pandemic lurked in the wings. From his earliest days at Fresh Start, Sean knew how to recruit faculty and attract community, university and political partners, all while keeping his eyes on the more traditional population of Sumner High School.
“We’ve had some gang disputes in our neighborhood,” he said, “and a few students may drop out of school for fear of retaliation, so I try to create some online opportunities for them to be successful. I’m continuing a lot of that, even now, so students can prepare. And some do.”
Quite a few ultimately take the ACT, and Nichols is noticeably proud of that. “Some of them…if they came to school after being involved in conflict in the community, they would be scared of who they could encounter on school grounds. ‘Oh, hey, it’s you.’ They could get seriously hurt.”
“Our community is very historic,” he went on. “The Ville is the oldest African American community west of the Mississippi River. It is one of the challenging communities in Northern St. Louis, and yet it is not as tough as some think it is. That’s because this community once had a middle class. It was a thriving community at one time, but the population has moved to the suburbs like in many cities. Some of that middle-class attitude remains. Other parts of St. Louis don’t have that memory.”
In the 1920s and ’30s, The Ville was home to prosperous African Americans, some of whom had lived there as early as the 1870s. It was the site of Sumner High School, the first secondary school for Black people west of the Mississippi River; Harriet Beecher Stowe College, one of the earliest Black teacher education institutions; and Homer G. Phillips Hospital, one of the few Black teaching colleges in...
