As a fifth grader, being classified a middle schooler feels odd. Being the only group of students in a building is also odd, especially when the building itself is still being built. Wearing khaki pants and a white t-shirt and calling it a uniform was odd. It’s odd to only have two rules: 1) work hard and 2) be nice. This, however, was the environment of the newly built school, KIPP: Impact.  

Latrella Jackson, one of the first students to attend, said, “I wanted to leave that school so much I kept telling myself I hate it here but really I just needed time to accept the fact that I needed this school as much as it needed the founding class.”

Impact is one of thirty KIPP schools in the United States and the first of the three built in Jacksonville, Florida. On August 14, 2010, classes started at the first KIPP  at 7:40 in the morning, ending at 4:40 in the evening. The middle school held hour-long classes, including band, physical education, and “Power Hour,” which could be used as a way to increase study in core classes such as mathematics and English or for extracurricular activities,sports or practicing “stepping” (Stepping is a rising art form and an important part of African-America’s artistic and cultural heritage. In stepping, the body is used as an instrument to create intricate rhythms and sounds through a combination of footsteps, claps and the spoken word).

The school also has Saturday School, for two hours bi-weekly. Attendance for at least one of these meetings would help boost a grade or helped with a certain subject. Ariana Battle (‘19), current Bolles student, said of the long hours, “KIPP really did prepare me for where I wanted to go academic wise.”

The school got its start when two KIPP staffers, moved to Jacksonville. They went to multiple libraries and community centers, promoting the school and in the end had a waiting list of 100 kids. They interviewed families and 60 students began fifth grade on the first floor of an under-construction four-floor building on an abandoned dog track.

60 students were split into four classes of 15 advisories. Mahiya Lawson (‘18), Bolles junior and former KIPPster said, “I developed bonds with peers and teachers that will last a lifetime. All the teachers care for student like their own. They were there for students who struggled with homework at 9 p.m. and struggled to get a ride to school at 7 p.m.”

Staff and faculty at KIPP see themselves as untiring student advocates., Lawson said, “No matter what the issue was, they went out of their way to solve it.”  Each advisory is named after a different college or university totaling up to 16 different college chants at the weekly celebration. Battle said, “Even though it was strict enough for us to hate it while we were there, it was a real family.”

At weekly celebration, the auditorium fills with all students in the school, and the crowd pushes the paraphernalia of daily use off to the side. The band director carries his microphone around the auditorium,, getting the room excited. In 2010, “Take Care” played in the loudspeaker as the students sang along, but each year brings a new popular song.

Lawson said, “From the Read Baby Read chant to rolling our multiples, and Friday Celebration, the KIPP experience provided joyous memories.”

Every Friday at 3:30, the entire school celebrates the successes of others, plays many games, gives school-wide announcements, and acknowledges the faults of the week. Advisory chants grants each class the opportunity to show their school spirit and have a chance to win the spirit stick (which gave the class a week of bragging rights).

The director pointed to each section for the loudest screams. The fifth graders, in dark blue polo shirts, screamed the loudest. Green-clad sixth graders second, burnt-orange-shirted seventh graders gave applause, leaving eighth graders, in Carolina blue, to either just clap or give an enthusiastic “eh.”

The college preparatory school considers itself a family community, referring to other KIPP schools as KIPP cousins and host when they visits the city. The school itself keeps in close contact with those who graduated. Annual alumni meetings are held in the winter and each graduated class has its own “group” on the social media website, Facebook. Another founding class member, Ja’Nya Stephens, said “KIPP also allowed me to visit multiple colleges, teaching me at a much younger age what college was and how to be successful.”

KIPP: Impact teaches the KIPPsters core life values along with the academics to continue through college. Lawson said, “I use many of the things at KIPP in high school everyday. Who would have thought that middle school could be so impactful. I guess that’s why it’s called KIPP: Impact Middle.”