KIPP was founded upon the premise that it could change the outcome of a child’s life through education. The belief was that high expectations could overcome the obstacles created by race, economics, and environment. There are sixty-six KIPP schools around the country helping students change their expectations. This change is being tested no more thoroughly than right here in the Delta.

The logo for KIPP Delta is a triangle, the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet and the mathematical symbol for change, with a river running through it. It was with this promise of change that we knocked on doors offering a new, and often unsought, path to college. The families and students who were willing to change their aspirations soon became our founding class of 2010.

While some of those students have left us, many have stayed and many more have joined. Those who have stayed with us continue to climb the mountain to college and will graduate from KIPP Delta Collegiate High School in 2010. Equally important, many of these students have begun to change their perspectives. They understand that they are not just pursuing a college education for themselves, but for their younger brothers and sisters, for their cousins and friends, and for their neighbors down the street. They have changed themselves and now want to change their community.

KIPP Delta began with one fifth grade class at KIPP Delta College Preparatory School in 2002 and in time, our growing cluster of schools will expand to three additional Delta communities serving grades K – 12. In the coming years, KIPP Delta will double the number of students graduating high school in the Delta prepared for college.