The Lellow Story
In 2011 I took a job at a prestigious learning center with the intent to “build my resume” as I pursued a Master’s Degree in School Counseling. While I was appalled at the $98 an hour this company charged families to receive their services, I was far more impressed at the lives they changed. Students would walk in the door at the beginning of summer hating school. After 100+ hours of intensive interventions, they left with a new light in their eyes, now able to decode and comprehend words and language like they had never experienced before. They were excited to return to school, a whole new world of opportunity had been opened for them.
Realizing my passion for helping struggling learners, I decided to change career paths. I began my teaching career in one of Chicago’s toughest west side neighborhoods. Here, my eyes were opened to the incredible discrepancies in our education system.
I experienced children with such great potential being pushed through a broken system in which their individual learning needs were not being met. Children identified as “diverse learners” were overlooked and lost in a system ignorant to what learning diversely actually meant. Students were crippled by the system which made it nearly impossible for them to ever be independent in the classroom, ultimately closing door after door to any future outside of the situation to which they were born. It frustrated me even more to know there were so many great resources out there yet none of my students would ever have access to these opportunities because of their socioeconomic status.
About a year and a half into my teaching journey, Lellow was born. I woke up one morning with the realization that my purpose in life was not to cruise along in a job that facilitated a better life style for myself. It was my responsibility to use the blessings I was given, to help others. I knew I wouldn’t be as effective as I needed to be if I stayed in the public school system. My calling was to establish a means for these children to receive the services, support, and resources they needed.
As we are just getting started, our initial goals are to begin raising funds for small term projects which will help provide resources, such as school supplies, for children in special education living in underserved communities. Long term, it is our goal to fund larger projects which would pay for the tuition of children to receive interventions through private institutions in the Houston area, and eventually expanding nationally. The public school system is missing the bar, and The Lellow Foundation is dedicated to providing our exceptional learners with the support they need to reach their highest potential.
In 2011 I took a job at a prestigious learning center with the intent to “build my resume” as I pursued a Master’s Degree in School Counseling. While I was appalled at the $98 an hour this company charged families to receive their services, I was far more impressed at the lives they changed. Students would walk in the door at the beginning of summer hating school. After 100+ hours of intensive interventions, they left with a new light in their eyes, now able to decode and comprehend words and language like they had never experienced before. They were excited to return to school, a whole new world of opportunity had been opened for them.
Realizing my passion for helping struggling learners, I decided to change career paths. I began my teaching career in one of Chicago’s toughest west side neighborhoods. Here, my eyes were opened to the incredible discrepancies in our education system.
I experienced children with such great potential being pushed through a broken system in which their individual learning needs were not being met. Children identified as “diverse learners” were overlooked and lost in a system ignorant to what learning diversely actually meant. Students were crippled by the system which made it nearly impossible for them to ever be independent in the classroom, ultimately closing door after door to any future outside of the situation to which they were born. It frustrated me even more to know there were so many great resources out there yet none of my students would ever have access to these opportunities because of their socioeconomic status.
About a year and a half into my teaching journey, Lellow was born. I woke up one morning with the realization that my purpose in life was not to cruise along in a job that facilitated a better life style for myself. It was my responsibility to use the blessings I was given, to help others. I knew I wouldn’t be as effective as I needed to be if I stayed in the public school system. My calling was to establish a means for these children to receive the services, support, and resources they needed.
As we are just getting started, our initial goals are to begin raising funds for small term projects which will help provide resources, such as school supplies, for children in special education living in underserved communities. Long term, it is our goal to fund larger projects which would pay for the tuition of children to receive interventions through private institutions in the Houston area, and eventually expanding nationally. The public school system is missing the bar, and The Lellow Foundation is dedicated to providing our exceptional learners with the support they need to reach their highest potential.