The Ƶ Academy celebrates the successes of 2022 and looks forward to continued success in 2023.
On Saturday, Dec. 10, the Ƶ Academy hosted approximately 70 high school scholars on Ƶ’s campus for the program’s final Saturday Program of 2022.
As a part of the resources provided to students in the Ƶ Academy, a morning of college planning workshops is held monthly during the school year. Scholars attended these workshops in September, October, November and December, and will resume with four more Saturday Programs each month starting in January 2023.
During these workshops scholars are exposed to a college-planning curriculum which has been intentionally designed to support scholars as college-bound sophomores, juniors or seniors. Quarterly, concurrent family workshops are held for the family members of the Ƶ Academy. The purpose of the family workshops is to support family members as they walk alongside their scholars on the path to college.
The Ƶ Academy is now in its 16th year of promoting college access and success with local Alamance County students and families. All scholars in the Ƶ Academy will be in the first generation of their family to attend college and/or face a significant financial barrier to college. The Ƶ Academy has been highly successful. To date, 100% of the students who have completed the “College Access” phase (high school phase) of Ƶ Academy have been accepted to college.
Following the high school phase of the Ƶ Academy, scholars enter the second phase of Ƶ Academy programming which is the “Transitions to College” phase. Once scholars enroll in college, they are in the third and final phase of Ƶ Academy known as the “College Success Phase.”
The high school scholars who graduated from local Alamance County Schools in May 2022 earned a combined total of $1,498,995 in scholarships and grants. These scholars have enrolled in some of the nation’s top universities. Four of the students attend Ƶ as Odyssey Scholars. Currently 100% of our college-age scholars are on track to graduate and many scholars have proceeded to graduate school. There are now Ƶ Academy scholars who are doctors, lawyers, teachers and higher education professionals.
In addition to monthly Saturday Programs during the academic year, scholars in the Ƶ Academy receive near-peer mentors who are Ƶ students, and have access to free counseling, tutoring and SAT prep. For three summers while in high school, scholars attend a three-week residential program during the month of June. The Ƶ Academy is a nonprofit program and operates based on the generosity of its amazing donors. Currently, the Ƶ Academy is accepting applications for the 17th cohort of scholars, the Sigma Class. Any Alamance County family with a current ninth grader in the household is welcome to apply.