James and Maureen Cannalte know their children well – all eight of them. So when it comes to determining the best education for each, they have stretched the gamut of options. While living in Texas, home schooling seemed the best fit for their growing family. Then, when job opportunity brought the Cannaltes to Pell Lake, WI, virtual schooling became available and most instruction was accessed via the Internet. When another professional move to Modine Manufacturing brought the Cannaltes to Racine two years ago, they looked at the public school system to educate their children. Now, their youngest child, Blaze, will…

Summer emanates from Carissa Novine as she shoots her hand to the sky, wide smile stretching across her face, and explains why planting marigolds in a vegetable garden is a good practice. “It keeps the bunnies away!” the Kindergartener exclaims. Summer is on the minds of Carissa and her classmates at EverGreen Academy as the school year comes to a close. But for Carissa’s parents, the season presented a perplexing situation a few years ago, as their youngest daughter approached school age. Carissa is a summer baby, born at the tail end of August. Would she be ready for school?…

Ask 7-year-old Turner Ritacco to read a poem, and he’ll quickly wrap his arms around his tiny frame, slink into his chair and firmly tilt his head toward the floor with a sulk and a frown. With a little coaxing, he might slowly look up, muster up some courage and give the poem a try. Ask him what he likes, and he will twist his lips into an adorable, crooked smile, and with the slightest little lisp shout, “Tractors!” Well, basically, anything that goes fast, has movable parts and might be intriguing to take apart will capture this energetic second-grader’s…

Three little boys stand outside their new school on a sunny, fall day, and the photographer never has to urge a smile. Wide, and in some cases, toothless grins dominate their faces. This is a genuine happy. For their father, Pablo Rivera, nothing could be more assuring than to see that his boys are content. After losing their mother a few years ago, the small family has sought to continue their lives in the best way possible. For Pablo, that included getting them into a private, faith-based school. He had hopes for Concordia Lutheran School in Sturtevant, but the only…

Rosa Gonzalez shakes her head as she remembers where her daughter was just three years ago. “When Stephany was in ninth grade at the local high school, it was too bad,” she says, adding that she didn’t seem to have control over her daughter, who was disengaged from school, skipping classes and hanging around with other students who did not value education. “When she went into private school, everything changed. Her person was changed. Her life was changed. Now her grades are up. And, I’m happy, because next month my daughter will be a graduate.” On May 24, Stephany D’Avila…

Perhaps Nicole Romero’s greatest attribute would be the one that makes it easy to overlook her. She is silently resolved. The junior at Shoreland Lutheran High School does what she is supposed to do. She works hard, she encourages others through her actions rather than words and is a relatively quiet teenager. For those reasons, teacher Matthew Grow hardly knew the girl who had done so well in his social studies class. Then, he became her soccer coach, and the quiet but strong demeanor this student demonstrated made it impossible not to notice her. “It was during her time at…