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Memphis School of Excellence 15th Anniversary | A Legacy of Excellence

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For 15 years, Memphis School of Excellence has been more than a school—we’ve been a community built on growth, resilience, and a shared commitment to excellence. From our earliest days to now, every student, educator, family, and community partner has helped shape this journey. This video captures where we started, how far we’ve come, and the impact we continue to make every day. As we celebrate this milestone, we’re not just reflecting—we’re building on it. Here’s to 15 years of excellence, and everything still ahead.

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Charter Schools started with Educators that had a vision of how can we do this different and better for kids but to take a dream of vision and operationalize it and make it a reality takes a lot of great planning a lot of great leadership talent and teams coming together and so some of the ones who are successful have have built that that Talent those teams and the right skill sets around them to take what again is a dream of vision of doing something building something and doing all the all the hard work that it takes to to make it happen when the farmers open our first Compass we were entrusted with something secret the hopes of children and their families I think about the first day I was super afraid um as 1 building we were 6 through 12 um all together the funniest thing is that the building was originally like in a warehouse it was a warehouse I was like oh my gosh Mom this is even a real school I just think how small it was but how it had such like a big impact on you know my life moving forward I've seen MSE grow so much and take in the advice of parents and do what's best for their Community growth is very very difficult how do we take a great idea operationalize that idea but also grow it after that their ability very early on and and throughout their early years to retain talent to keep great teachers to to continue to attract families gave me organization that's building long-term success as the years have gone on I've seen the growth I've seen our Improvement through our students the family involvement now we have campuses all over Memphis um with you know a thousand plus students in our building so we've changed and grown but we've really kept that kind of community that family feel um throughout that growth MSE is definitely 1 big happy family even though the Elementary they have their own thing going on they were just all 1 happy family when you arrive over there they make you feel welcome it is a family MSC is really a family they're amazing family is everything and a doesn't always have to mean blood it just means who shows up for you I feel we're part of the family because um the support the teachers give my daughters and myself as a parent students are able to speak whenever they feel like about anything whatever happens to them whatever they're feeling in any area of the school building and with anybody the teacher really care about our future they really care about Thursday help us improve with the growth she have made academically she feels more confident with herself and I just heard with but all my kids it's always been engraved in me you're going to be smart you're going to be this you're going to be that so it's looking in my applied and I said now I just have to use these resources to become something better the teachers the counselors they helped me more than just passing the test or academically they helped me personally they make sure that I'm okay outside of school they make sure that I can go further in life and helped me overall and then a better person and if my grades started to drop somebody would come pick me up and be like hey we noticing that you're slipping are you okay do you need help and they were always there to make sure I was okay make sure I didn't need any extra res sourcing I am on the college path going to college I'm valid Victorian this year my top 2 schools are Vanderbilt and Tennessee State University I also have offers at Columbia Yale Harvard and emmer I think the school definitely did a good job of living up to its name of being a School For Excellence um I think if it for sure if it had not been for MSE I probably would have never been as excited and ready for college as I was I went off to USC went to college came back wanted to be a teacher and I was very very happy to be able to teach at MC so it was a full circle moment knowing that the school that I graduated from that I was able to then go back to that same exact building see that it not had only like flourish but it had grown to like other campuses sitting here at the former student really means a lot um that they're kind of coming back staying with us after so long is pretty amazing this was who taught me this is somebody that inspired me this is somebody who really supported me I know we have some other alumni on staff too that I never thought would come back to MSE in our um some of our best teachers here this is our life's work um you know it's personal it's special and so it does mean something when you see like over a long period of time that an organization has had to impact that it has so so to me that's very professionally satisfying Memphis School of Excellence has become more than just a school it is a place where families feel like they can rely on it it's also a a stable presence that supports students Beyond no matter where you started it's all about where you finish and knowing that excellent needs you can finish your dreams and reach them you just got to be willing to do it if I had to talk to my younger version I would say you did it you really did it you actually succeeded you made every goal you wanted to do I fought the biggest accomplishments I didn't worry about what other people had to say you made it past we're at the Finish Line we have to walk the stage we're waiting

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Memphis School of Excellence 15th Anniversary | A Legacy of Excellence

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