Our Story

Why FOCUS

From our Founder: 

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When my husband and I got married, we were very idealistic and enthusiastic about starting and having a large family. The children came quickly and joyfully. We weren’t really aware of the state of education in the area where we were raising our children. Unfortunately, although their formative education was great and we supplemented it by putting them into many programs and activities in the community, we weren’t prepared for how limited secondary education would look in our suburban school district. The outlook was daunting, and we made radical decisions to provide the best education for our kids. Some of those decisions cost us our credit because of our limited economic access. 

We have five kids, and my husband is a barber, and I worked in social services, so finances were limited. We got creative. We figured out how to apply for scholarship programs that our children earned based on their grades and talent. We also took out loans. We did whatever we needed to do to educate our children, and ultimately, it paid off. Our kids have had a phenomenal education through private school and private sources. They’ve had wonderful global experiences traveling around the world, earned their college degrees, performed on stages, and done many things because of the radical choices we made during their secondary education. However, the cost was severe. Our credit was ruined in the process, and it took us years to rebuild.

In reflection, I realize that this is not a realistic option for many parents in South Suburban Cook. The need for public school choice became very apparent to me. Not everyone could figure out how to pay for private school. Not everyone would have the support from family and friends or the resources that we had access to in order to provide a private school education for their children. The idea of a charter school in the south suburbs became more appealing because it offered an opportunity to create the school we wanted our children to attend, free of cost for the residents of South Suburban Cook. Great educational options should not be based on economics.

When I look at our private school option, which came with a price tag comparable to what many parents pay for college, I wanted to create a school that offered the same things: 
1. A rigorous, exceptional academic experience.
2. A varied program with extracurricular and curricular activities, workshops, and clubs.
3. Access to global experiences through travel.
4. An opportunity to earn a skill trade while in high school.
5. A real exploration of their interests so they are prepared to go to college with some idea about the world they are entering and what job, career, and trade opportunities exist today.

I wanted to create a school that my children had access to, combining a private school experience with a scholarship program and many extracurricular activities into one program. That’s what Focus is: an opportunity for kids to learn about themselves, connect with others, become educated academically as well as globally, and create a path for economic sustainability at a time when life is tough for college graduates. That’s the program I wanted to create.