The Rise School of Corpus Christi aims to educate all students, including those with a developmental disability. Now, that mission is about to expand.
Come next school year, The Rise School will move into a new 10,000 sq. foot building. With six newly-furnished classrooms, the school hopes to provide more preschool education opportunities to even more children.
Until the new building opens, services like physical therapy, speech therapy and even music therapy, have helped many students at The Rise School learn all the skills they need for Kindergarten.
Vanessa Nisbet, the executive director at the School, says many of the students make great progress in a short amount of time.
"Within months they’re talking, within months they’re walking," Nisbet said. "It’s one step at a time to succeed and get to this level of kindergarten ready-ness."
The Rise School offers a unique approach to teaching. All students, regardless of having a disability or not, are taught in the same classroom. This allows students to learn from not only their teachers, but also one another.
Amberlee Allee, is a mother of two children who both attend The Rise School. Her oldest son is five, and was diagnosed with Asberger syndrome. It’s a disease that affects his ability to socialize and communicate.
However, Amberlee says, integrating the students together, allows children like her son to take after their peers.
"It’s just amazing how the children are really watching each other and learning about like, ‘oh that’s what you’re doing over here? I should be doing that too,’" Allee said.
Allee adds, before her oldest son began attending The Rise School, he wouldn’t interact and play with others. That changed within six months of going to the school.
"My son Noland came into here, he couldn’t even draw a straight line at the age of three," Allee said. "He wasn’t drawing people, he wasn’t drawing anything. He came to Rise, and he’s writing his name."?
Meanwhile, the school encourages siblings of enrolled students to attend as well. Allee’s youngest son is three years old, and also goes to The Rise School.
"They really give children the tools here to thrive and to go on whether they’re typically developing or not," Allee said.?
The Rise School of Corpus Christi helps many students shine, but the school has recently gotten some help of their own. The school received a $25,000 grant from the Jordan Speith Family Foundation. Jordan Speith is a professional golfer from Texas who has a younger sister with down syndrome. The money from the grant will go toward furnishing a classroom in the school’s new building.
The new building is located at 2030 Rise Rd.
For more information on The Rise School of Corpus Christi, click here.
