NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Sept. 26, 2018) – To commemorate the grand opening of Metro Nashville’s newest high school, Valor Collegiate Academies celebrated with an event and ribbon-cutting that featured Gov. Bill Haslam and Mayor David Briley.
Students and faculty were joined by more than 130 business and community leaders to celebrate the major renovation and opening of Valor College Prep, where a freshman class of 240 students started school this fall.
Haslam took the opportunity to congratulate Valor for what it has achieved with its two middle schools – Flagship and Voyager – that are two of the top-performing in the state. Both were recently named among the 318 schools that earned Reward status from the state, and Flagship was ranked No. 1 in composite growth (ELA, Math, Science) out of all 1,365 elementary and middle schools in the state.
“Valor Collegiate Academies has high expectations for its students and teachers, and that’s exactly what we want from our schools in Tennessee,” Haslam said. “Valor has also set the expectation to be among the best networks of schools in the country, and with both middle schools on the recently released list of Reward Schools, Valor appears to be well on its way.”
Briley also weighed in, saying: “Congratulations to Valor students, parents and staff. I’m looking forward to hearing about all of the wonderful things that Valor College Prep students accomplish, both in high school and beyond.”
Former Mayor Karl Dean, who recruited Todd Dickson, Valor’s founder, to Nashville, talked about the need for high-quality schools in Nashville and statewide.
“Students only get one shot at each grade in school, and it’s important that they get the most out of every class and every lesson,” Dean said. “The best way to ensure that is to attract the very best institutions and teachers, and that’s why I’m thrilled to see Valor College Prep High School open its doors in Nashville.”
Freshman Youssef Botros, who introduced Haslam, spoke about his Valor experience. His family moved to Nashville from Egypt when he was young. He found a new home at Valor, where he has been enrolled since 5th grade.
“From being a founding student at Valor to now being a freshman here, students have been able to improve not only due to the challenging academic curriculum but also due to the values we were taught to uphold, like determination, and leaving no community member left behind,” Botros said. “No one at Valor is left behind.”
Dickson took the opportunity to look ahead as well.
“We are so excited to be able to provide an outstanding educational opportunity to our families – focusing not only on academics, but the development of the whole child,” Dickson said. “This new building is the perfect setting to allow our scholars to grow into inspired and purposeful contributors to Nashville and beyond.”
MNPS Superintendent Dr. Shawn Joseph also made remarks celebrating Valor’s success.
“We have seen Valor grow among the highest performing charter schools in the city,” Joseph said. “We are excited about partnering with Valor on the relevant work across our district taking place in social-emotional learning, of which they have been recognized nationally.”
For the fourth year in a row, Valor’s economically disadvantaged scholars outperformed non-economically disadvantaged scholars in both Nashville and across the state. Additionally, both of Valor’s middle schools take the top two spots in composite achievement of all open-enrollment middle schools in MNPS.