Success Academy 2018 Annual Benefit Celebrates First High School Graduating Class

**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, APRIL 23, 2018**

Contact:

Ann Powell
(646) 894-6407
[email protected]g

Will Chabot
(518) 788-8685
[email protected]

New York, NY — Success Academy’s festive spring benefit tonight brought together prominent business and civic leaders, educators, and supporters from across the country to honor the first graduating class of Success Academy High School of the Liberal Arts. Twelve years ago, when Success Academy opened its first school in Harlem, the seniors were 5- and 6-year-olds. Winning seats by random public lottery, they became the founding class of what is now a network of 46 top-performing schools across New York City. Now these founding scholars, who collectively scored in the top 88th percentile nationally on the SATs, are set to matriculate, with generous financial aid packages, at selective colleges and universities in the fall.

At the event, Success Academy founder and CEO Eva Moskowitz announced a gift of $15 million by the Margaret and Daniel Loeb Foundation to establish the Loeb Fund to Reimagine the American High School. Investor and philanthropist Daniel S. Loeb is chair of the network’s Board of Trustees. The announcement capped an exuberant evening that featured student speakers; a special video performance from bandleader Jon Batiste (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert) with dancers from Success Academy Harlem 2 Elementary School; and a celebration of the soon-to-be graduates. The evening’s keynote speaker was Raymond J. McGuire, Citi’s global head of corporate and investment banking and a prominent advocate for social justice through education.

“We are so proud of this class of young trailblazers, who are leading the way for thousands more,” said Moskowitz, “and we could not be more grateful to the Loebs. This extraordinary generosity will allow us to design the kind of high-powered high school that our time and our country demands, and fundamentally reset the terms and conditions of American public education.”

“Several years ago, Margaret and I recognized that for our students to excel in college and beyond, Success Academy had to develop an entirely new model for public high school. This incredible graduating class proves that a new model can work,” said Daniel S. Loeb.  “We are thrilled to celebrate these pioneering scholars tonight.”

The network opened its first high school in 2014 with support from the Margaret and Daniel Loeb Foundation, and the second in 2016. It plans to open as many as eight additional high schools by 2033. The Loeb Fund will support new infrastructure necessary to build out a transformative, scalable high school design.

“Scaling world-class high schools and college admissions is the most powerful equity project in America today,” said Moskowitz. “Just as we did for elementary and middle school, we are reimagining high school from every angle in order to upend a model that has failed children for too long.”

Education reform is at the heart of Daniel Loeb’s broad vision of social justice. He has been a leader in the fight for criminal justice reform and played a key role in securing freedom to marry for LGBT Americans.

ABOUT SUCCESS ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOLS

Founded in 2006, Success Academy Charter Schools are free public K-12 schools open to all children in the state through a random lottery. With 46 schools across Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, and Queens, Success Academy enrolls 15,500 students, primarily low-income children of color in disadvantaged neighborhoods: 77% of students receive free or reduced-price lunch, 95% are children of color, 12% are children with disabilities, and 8.5% are English language learners. Ranked in the top 1% in math and the top 1.5% in English on 2016 state proficiency tests, Success Academy schools received almost 18,000 applications for about 3,200 open seats this year.

For more information about Success Academy, go to Successacademies.org and virtualtour.successacademies.org.

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