To better align its mission with its name, the Foundation for the Education of Young Women (FEYW) is changing its name to Young Women’s Preparatory Network. The announcement will be made official on Sept. 24, the evening before the organization hosts a leadership retreat for its key stakeholders with well-known educational speakers on Sept. 25-26.
Lynn McBee, CEO of Young Women’s Prep, said, “As our network of incredible young women’s leadership schools has grown from the original school in Dallas to now include schools throughout Texas, the new name and website reflect the network we support. In 2014, four of our seven network schools had graduating seniors. All of them—146 young women—graduated and received more than $15.8 million in scholarships, and 100% of them were accepted to a four-year college or university.”
A decade ago, Young Women’s Prep formed a partnership with the Dallas Independent School District and, in August 2004, the Irma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School opened. Since then, Young Women’s Prep has opened Young Women’s Leadership Schools in Austin, San Antonio, Lubbock, Fort Worth, Houston and Grand Prairie.
The focus of Young Women’s Prep schools is a foundation of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) curriculum with a focus on its core values: leadership, college readiness and wellness life skills. The network also engenders change in public education by using an innovative model that supports public-private partnerships.
“During the first annual Leadership Retreat, we are bringing together our school principals, college advisors, advisory council chairs and other key stakeholders for two days of inspiration, education and bonding, and we will learn from and interact with some of the most innovative speakers in education,” McBee added.
Speakers include the following:
- Megan Murphy, Executive Director, National Coalition of Girl’s Schools
- Jenn Charlot, Director of Implementation, The Character Lab
- Woody Widrow, Executive Director, Raise Texas
- Roy C. Lopez, Vice President, Community Development Banking DFW and East Texas Region, Capital One
- Bonita L. Baskin, Ph.D., Founder and Board Chair, Hill Country Science Mill
- Carolyn Nichol, Ph.D., Director, School Science & Technology Programs, Rice University
- Lisa Sanger Blinn, Associate Director, Institute of Biosciences & Bioengineering, Rice University
- Carrie Croley, Laura W. Bush Institute for Women’s Health
- Dee Kerr, CEO of STEAMtrax
- Deborah Linscomb, Vice President, Curriculum and Professional Development, STEAMtrax
- Helen Holman, Owner and President, Helen Holman and Associates
- Diana P. Gomez, Coordinator of TWU & Terry Scholars, TWU
- Kasaundra Garcia, Unit Coordinator, Office of Academic Enrichment, Texas Tech University
- Amanda Kisselle, Executive Director of Admission/Institutional Enrollment, Austin College
