Luncheon speaker Stephanie Walters kicked off the 2023 Rotary Club of Norfolk year by highlighting the innovative YELLOWHAB school in Norfolk -- the vision of Pharrell Wiliams, the renowned singer, songwriter, and producer who grew up in Virginia Beach. Walters is the director of engagement at the elementary school that opened in September 2021 at the Y on Granby. Its mission is to even the odds through education. 

 

YELLOWHAB believes every student deserves a world-class education and currently has 41 Norfolk students in grades 3 through 6. Its name has "yellow" in it because that is an optimistic color. All students are from lower-income families with Title I status. The lottery for the tuition-free school drew nearly 400 applications for the current year. YELLOWHAB plans to keep adding a grade level each year, build a Norfolk campus and expand its program to other cities. It also creates progress evaluations it hopes other schools will adopt to gauge student success. 

 

Backed by significant grants from companies like Cisco, Boeing, Amazon, and S.E. Johnson, YELLOWHAB emphasizes science, engineering, technology, and math as well as the arts. Its 42 area partners include Children's Hospital of The Kings Daughters, Chrysler Museum of Art, NASA, NAUTICUS, and Virginia Opera. These partners help broaden students' learning opportunities through field trips, working in the school, and providing services and technology. The school's curriculum is child-centered and strives to make learning fun while teaching students problem-solving and entrepreneurship along with reading, math, and other basic skills. The school also helps parents gain financial literacy and career education. 

 

Rotarians had an abundance of questions for Walters and several raised their hands to volunteer with the school either individually or through workplace partnerships.