Sonia Sotomayor was once the valedictorian of a Catholic high school in the Bronx that closed due to declining Catholic school enrollment.
Now, a new charter school has opened in the Soundview section of the Bronx, and it's already exceeding expectations.
The Vertex Partnership Academies is New York City's first all-black, all-girls charter school, with 108 ninth-graders, reports the New York Times.
And it's off to a promising start: The school just started classes this month, and it's already surpassed its goal of having 100 students by the end of the school year.
"We have resurrected it," says CEO Ian Rowe.
"It was a Catholic school where Sonia Sotomayor, now a Supreme Court justice, was once the valedictorian, but it was closed amid a nationwide decline in Catholic school enrollment."
So far, so good.
Rowe tells the Times, "Our students are doing really, really well," and he credits the school's leadership, including principal Joyanet Mangual and basketball coach Eddie Sparkman, who started out as a temporary office manager and has since earned a college diploma and a master's degree.
"I let them know every day the opportunity they have: do not waste this opportunity...
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Caroline Diehl is a serial social entrepreneur in the impact media space. She is Executive Chair and Founder of the UK’s only charitable and co-operatively owned national broadcast television channel Together TV, the leading broadcaster for social change runs a national TV channel in the UK and digital platform which helps people find inspiration to do good in their lives and communities.