Supporting Excellence Beyond the Classroom

CAMPAIGN RUNS APRIL 26, 2024 - May 15, 2024

At NPES, we believe that the education of our students extends far beyond the walls of the school, encompassing a tapestry of experiences that shape our students' academic growth, understanding of themselves and the world around them, empathy, and cultural literacy.

Here are a just few examples of the community-engagement programs at NPES that offer students rigorous and enriching extensions of classroom learning:

• Field Studies to various local organizations throughout the city;
• Service Learning collaborations with numerous charitable and advocacy groups;
• Immersive Neighborhood Explorations focusing on different Chicago neighborhoods (recently including Humboldt Park, Uptown, and Chinatown);
• And diverse student travel opportunities, such as a civil rights tour in Georgia and Alabama, a visit to Washington, D.C., a day trip to Springfield, IL, and a biannual optional excursion to a Spanish-speaking country in the Americas.

At NPES, our focus spans deep conceptual understanding, proficiency in solving complex problems, and effective communication across diverse real-life contexts. This is why we are reaching out today with a heartfelt appeal for your support as we continue to strengthen our enriching community engagement programs. These experiences aim to nurture intellectual curiosity, social-emotional well-being, and self-fulfillment.

However, these expansive and engaging aspects of our school-wide curriculum require resources well beyond the fees families pay for student travel (all other off-campus experiences are offered at no additional cost). These expenses include:

• Entry fees and round-trip transportation for field studies;
• Guides, meals, round-trip transportation, and entry fees for cultural experiences during neighborhood explorations;
• Additional staff costs for off-site chaperones and/or for substitute teachers to sustain on-campus programming when faculty are away with students;
• Staff work managing logistics for all off-site educational programming;
• Faculty work integrating off-site learning into the curriculum (some of which takes place over the summer);
• Additional stipends for faculty who lead a number these programs for NPES beyond the scope of their teaching role;
• Fostering and establishing new partnerships with additional organizations for future student programming. 

This last expense is of particular importance, as we have areas in our school where we want to strengthen these enriching programs in the near future.

This is where your support can make a tangible difference. We are grateful to have received a generous challenge grant from a current NPES family which will match dollar-for-dollar up to $20,000 to support this initiative. Gifts to this challenge grant are entirely tax-deductible and participants will be acknowledged on a designated page in the NPES FY24 Annual Report.  

We hope you will consider joining us in this endeavor. By contributing to this appeal, you will directly impact the lives of our students, enabling them to participate fully in these transformative experiences. In fact, $10,000 of the funds raised will be set aside in a special fund to help cover 50% of the cost of overnight travel for future students who qualify for a Lynn Lawrence Financial Aid Grant from NPES. Excellence lives everywhere in our school, and with your support, we can continue to nurture it within and beyond our classrooms. Thank you for your consideration and generosity.