CGLA Believes In Students Starting College Early!

Posted on August 10, 2016 by Donna Coleman filed under College, UTC, Chattanooga State, College Visit

Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy, a Chattanooga based, all girls, inner-city, Charter school, does not believe in just educating within the four walls of the school building. Dr. Elaine Swafford, Executive Director of CGLA, says, “education happens everywhere, and CGLA girls start the school year off, by attending college for a day”. “How will our girls know what the goal is if we do not show them early in the game, their potential and the expectation of preparing for college?” This educational opportunity confirms CGLA’s mission, to inspire hope in each girl, positively changing the trajectory in her life, and empower her infinite choices in the future.Mr. Justin Booker, Community Engagement Director at CGLA, spearheads this event at the beginning of each school year. On August 8, 2016, he arranged for the middle-school students to spend the day at Chattanooga State and the upper-class students to spend the day at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. “College tours are crucial to helping our students understand the importance of a great education, and the college visit, as early as entering the 6th grade, will help our girls believe that furthering their education is important to reaching their full potential”, says, Mr. Booker.Tashanti Samford, a freshman at CGLA, and a member of the CGLA Softball Team, described the tour of UTC as, “fun and exciting”. Tashanti stated that she has a much clearer picture of how college life will be and what steps she has to take now to secure this opportunity for her future.Dr. Swafford and the CGLA Mustangs would like to thank the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Chattanooga State for supporting our school mission and for opening their campuses to CGLA. While Tashanti may step up to the plate for the CGLA Mustangs, she will knock a home run for herself, because she started college early!