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How It Began
"Kids like you don't go to college."
The Founder and Dean, Bishop Wade Moore Jr., created Urban Preparatory Academy so that children could have opportunities unlike he did growing up in rural Arkansas. He was 1 of 10 children and in high school when he went to see the academic counselor, he was told, “Kids like you don’t go to college.” He remembers instead of deflating him and breaking his spirit as it would have for most children, those words motivated him to seek improvement. He joined the U.S. Army after graduation and while in service visited a church in Wichita, Kansas that happened to have a Christian School. During this visit, he remembers feeling in awe of the opportunities outside of traditional education that he never knew existed. He decided to join the church and spent 9 years growing a youth program from 8 kids to over 200 kids. After those 9 years, he was called to begin his own church. The vision for a school was still burning inside and God opened a door to purchase a large building. A few months after purchasing the building, a struggling Christian school came to him and asked to use some of the building to house their school. He was excited to help because his dream was to create a school that could help children like him. However, due to management issues within the school’s organization, the Christian school did not last long and eventually closed leaving all their school supplies and setup. Pastor Wade remembers the Lord whispering to him that it was now time to realize his dream.
Bishop Moore purchased a closed public school building at an auction. Urban Preparatory Academy opened its doors in 2014 to the first class of 8 students! Pastor Moore made it his mission to create a community for children to give them opportunities and choices. Urban Preparatory is now the first private school of its kind in Kansas and is funded by a Tax Credit Scholarship Program for Low-Income Students, donations, and tuition. The school serves over 120 students and is a beacon of hope to children in the area.
Our Culture
UP Your Game
The Academy’s motto is, “UP Your Game.” We will level up our education and develop our character by fulfilling our vision, mission, and goal throughout our community.
We exist to provide educational opportunities serving children from low-income and working-class families who choose and alternate route in the children’s educational journey.
Our mission is to provide students with a world-class school that gives students the knowledge, skills, character, and disposition to meet and exceed Kansas State Common Core Learning Standards, and prepares students for college and career. We will be a leading example of education in our community by becoming the first school of choice. We will grow a grade level each year until we reach 12th grade.
Our goal is to build students’ intellectual character, motivating them to think critically, creatively, and reflectively in an environment infused with community empowerment. Our instructional methods, educational philosophy and mission are carefully aligned to promote high academic achievement. We will partner with families and community organizations to help students develop the necessary skills to navigate the path to academic and career success.
We are the only private school in Kansas that offers full transportation for our scholars. We currently have 6 bus routes that can provide transportation to and from school. This option is available on a first-come first-serve basis.
A great meal to start the day plus a delicious and healthy lunch is important to our children’s success. We offer free breakfast and lunch to all students at our school.
Until we can scale up to high school, we assist in helping our scholars choose from 5 of the Christian and Private high schools we have built relationships with. This helps them decide which one will be the right fit as they journey into high school. We take 8th graders on tours of the 5 schools and assist them in applying for scholarships.
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