>>Valley Patriot>>
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Esperanza Academy Raises $250K
Last
month, Esperanza
Academy
for girls held an auction fundraiser at the Wyndham Hotel
in Andover. According to Laurie Bottiger, the event
raised more than $250,000 from auctioning off items and
collecting additional donations from sponsors to
privately fund student tuition.
Esperanza Academy-School of Hope is a nativity-model,
tuition-free middle school for girls that creates an
enriched academic and social environment for fostering
individual success and community commitment. The school
focuses on economically disadvantaged girls in the fifth
through eighth grades from Lawrence, Massachusetts.
Esperanza provides a quality education in the Episcopal
tradition and welcomes girls of diverse faiths, races and
cultures to our unique learning environment. Esperanza
challenges each student to discover her full potential by
developing academic competence, social confidence,
curiosity, integrity, and hope.
“The event was very successful,” Bottiger said.
“Our fundraising efforts have now made us eligible
for a $50,000 challenge grant, most of which will go
towards paying capital improvements at the school.
Esperanza Academy’s capital improvements have cost
$1.6 million for building projects involving elevators,
sprinkler systems, wireless technology and a giant
facelift throughout the entire building.
The cost of sponsoring tuition for girls at Esperanza is
about $12,000 per year per student. Throughout the
fundraising event at the Wyndham, several attendees
offered to sponsor the entire cost of tuition for a
single student. Several other attendees pledged to donate
partial tuition.
Esperanza has 42 girls currently enrolled with 21
students in the fifth grade and 21 in the sixth. “Most
of our girls are Latinos, but we do have some students
from Cambodia, the Congo and other countries,”
Bottiger said. We have a lottery-based admission here at
Esperanza, so race is not a requirement.
Bottiger says that parents must donate two hours
per week of minimum service to the school.
“Esperanza provides a religious component in
the Episcopal tradition. We provide a moral and spiritual
place for them to learn, but girls of all different
faiths are welcome.”
*Send your questions comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com
The November, 2006
Edition of the Valley Patriot
The Valley Patriot is a Monthly
Publication.
All Contents (C) 2006, Valley Patriot, Inc.
We publish 9,000 newspapers and distribute in Andover,
North Andover,
Methuen, Haverhill, Chelmsford, Georgetown, Groveland,
Boxford,
Lawrence, Dracut, Tewksbury, Hampton & Salisbury
Beach, and Lowell.
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