Lt. Governor Gets Look at Findley’s Dreamer Academy
Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds greets a student during a recent visit to Findley Elementary School to learn about their Dreamer Academy.
The morning routine at Findley Elementary has the awakening power of reveille at dawn in boot camp. “2-4-6-8, WHEN DOES KINDERGARTEN GRADUATE?” They blow it loud and clear and last Friday morning it brought Central College president Dr. Mark Putnam and Iowa Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds to full attention before their tour of the school’s Dreamer Academy.
Findley’s Dreamer Academy was established under the auspices of the I Have a Dream Foundation, a national nonprofit dedicated to encouraging children from low-income communities to set and achieve long-range goals by providing mentoring, tutoring and enrichment.
Dr. Putnam, who is also a member of the executive committee of the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council chaired by Reynolds, invited the Lt. Governor to accompany him to Findley so she could learn more about the Dreamer Academy model of public/private partnerships in support of student achievement and post-secondary and career readiness.
Central College is an active Dreamer Academy partner, having “adopted” the Findley 3rd graders and hosting them on a campus tour earlier this year. Current 3rd graders, by the way, will graduate (from college, mind you) in 2029, a reminder they shout out first thing every school day morning of every year they attend Findley.
Some of them might even shake Dr. Putnam’s hand as they accept a college diploma from him about 13 years from now and remember when they started at Central – when they were eight or nine years old!
