The Star Center Partners with Lincoln Elementary
“It takes a village to raise a child.”
We’ve all heard the phrase. And we have all seen the positive effects of a community working together to help their children succeed. Thanks to the Star Center, the village surrounding the students of Lincoln Elementary just got a little larger.
Last year, this East Jackson school was put on a statewide priority list because of low performance on TCAP scores. As a part of the “turnaround principles” put in place by the school board, Kyle Lutz was named the new principal of Lincoln Elementary and is working hard to implement a number of positive changes.
The first of these changes is a new partnership with a well-known local non-profit, The Star Center. The Star Center has a twenty-seven year history serving the Jackson area by helping students overcome literacy struggles through learning labs and a number of other valuable resources and interventions. The new joint endeavor is launching a Lincoln Reads program and will be installing a learning lab on the school’s campus to serve students. The Star Center specialists intend to work with seventy students per week in Lincoln’s learning lab, as well as work with teachers to help guide students to literacy success.
The program is totally free to students and will be fully funded by donors. One generous donor has agreed to match all donations up to $20,000, which is half of the overall cost to get the lab fully functioning by the first day of school.
As a recent Jackson-Madison County Public School graduate, I benefitted from similar programs and equally driven leaders from my first day of Kindergarten to my graduation day. My classmates and I thrived when we felt that teachers and partners in education were supporting us and doing what they could to help. We felt empowered by the support of our village!
The Star Center is located at 1119 Old Humboldt Road. To learn more about the Lincoln Reads program and to donate, visit the website.
Natalie Pflasterer is a young Jackson native who spends her time helping out at Jackson Escape Rooms. She is a freshman at Union University.
Photography by Kristi Woody.
