Scholars of Tomorrow: Boot Camp
Earlier this summer, through the Causeway Challenge we awarded grants to 10 different projects that answered the question, “How can parents help transform public education in Chattanooga?”
Melissa Jo Brassel has a passion for supporting and equipping teen mothers aged 13 to 20 in Chattanooga, and created an organization called 22:6 Incorporated. 22:6 is a means of educating, empowering, and exposing young mothers to positive education and learning opportunities to best benefit themselves and their children.
As an extension of this passion, Melissa formed Scholars of Tomorrow, a winning response to the question our Education Challenge posed to the community. Melissa saw a recurring problem in working with these young mothers and their children:
“A lot of children who struggle in school turn to criminal activities. It may be seen as the easy way out but these children did not get the foundation and support they desperately needed early on and in turn, they struggle through the educational system. Eventually, this leads to other unfortunate events.”
It is this issue that drove Melissa to create Scholars of Tomorrow, an educational “boot camp” for young mothers. This boot camp is both a preventative measure and constructive way to get young mothers engaged in their children’s education and partner with their schools early on in their children’s development.
This past weekend, in a beautiful cabin tucked away on Signal Mountain, young mothers brought their children and gathered for the Scholars of Tomorrow boot camp, where for three days they participated in a series of interactive sessions. In these sessions, Melissa brought on speakers to share helpful resources for parents and teach the young mothers about early childhood development, brain function, literacy, and school and teacher expectations.
Melissa emphasizes that the purpose of her project is not on achieving goals in any one area, but is a holistic and personalized approach to help the individuals involved achieve as students, mothers, and positive contributors to society.
