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Our Story
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Three years ago, EastSide Charter School was involved in a collaborative effort among private and charter schools supported by The Longwood Foundation. Seeking to pursue key elements of “World Class Learning”, the schools visited each other’s campuses, studied instruction, and focused on driving higher order thinking. At the end of the grant year, the schools all went their separate ways – enriched, but otherwise unchanged.
This experience left Aaron Bass, EastSide Charter School’s CEO, with the seeds of a new idea. What if a similar partnership were to take place, but this time with a goal not just of mutual learning, but of preparing EastSide students both academically and socially to successfully matriculate at an independent school once they graduated from 8th grade?
Aaron Bass had personal experience with an unprepared transition, moving from public middle school to Germantown Friends in Philadelphia for high school. He knew the power that a strong academic foundation, as well as the more intangible elements of resiliency, reflection, and social opportunity would have for students as they prepared to make the transition. Further, former EastSide students had had similar experiences, excited to begin their independent school careers, but feeling unprepared as they faced new environments and expectations.
During the 2018-19 school year, the idea began to take shape. Partnerships were formed between EastSide and local nonprofits with proven track records of success - LYTE (Leading Youth Through Empowerment) and FAME (Forum to Advance Minorities in Engineering) - as well as between EastSide and heavy-hitters of the independent schools community: Tower Hill, Tatnall, Wilmington Friends, and Sanford.
In the spring of 2019, things began to move quickly. A building on the EastSide campus came open. Students from within and without EastSide began to apply for the program. EastSide hired a program director eager to confront education in a new and different way, who took a leap from district leadership in the Appoquinimink school district to make a lasting difference in the lives of students in her city. The APEX program was ready to launch.
This experience left Aaron Bass, EastSide Charter School’s CEO, with the seeds of a new idea. What if a similar partnership were to take place, but this time with a goal not just of mutual learning, but of preparing EastSide students both academically and socially to successfully matriculate at an independent school once they graduated from 8th grade?
Aaron Bass had personal experience with an unprepared transition, moving from public middle school to Germantown Friends in Philadelphia for high school. He knew the power that a strong academic foundation, as well as the more intangible elements of resiliency, reflection, and social opportunity would have for students as they prepared to make the transition. Further, former EastSide students had had similar experiences, excited to begin their independent school careers, but feeling unprepared as they faced new environments and expectations.
During the 2018-19 school year, the idea began to take shape. Partnerships were formed between EastSide and local nonprofits with proven track records of success - LYTE (Leading Youth Through Empowerment) and FAME (Forum to Advance Minorities in Engineering) - as well as between EastSide and heavy-hitters of the independent schools community: Tower Hill, Tatnall, Wilmington Friends, and Sanford.
In the spring of 2019, things began to move quickly. A building on the EastSide campus came open. Students from within and without EastSide began to apply for the program. EastSide hired a program director eager to confront education in a new and different way, who took a leap from district leadership in the Appoquinimink school district to make a lasting difference in the lives of students in her city. The APEX program was ready to launch.