MADISON –On Monday evenings, a handful of parents gather at Lighthouse Christian School to better understand the vital role they play in the successful education of their children. One of them, Marcia Vinveza, joins her colleagues after a day working in a nearby factory. The single mother of a third-grader says she chooses Lighthouse Christian School because…

Sahara Aden is a St. Joan Antida success story.  Aden graduated from the all-girl, Catholic school in Milwaukee earlier this year and just completed her first trimester at Milwaukee School of Engineering, studying electrical engineering. “I don’t think I’d choose this path without the choice program,” she said in an interview. Ninety-eight percent of St.…

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,…

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…

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.…

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.…

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…

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,…