Last year the Grossman family did not know what to do to help their daughter.
She was being bullied at her public school to such a horrible degree that she was not learning and falling horribly behind. Even worse, the bullying had gotten so bad that she had threatened to commit suicide.
“They said there was nothing they could do about it. They kept saying that next year would be better,” said her father, Adam Grossman. “So we started looking into private schools.”
Grossman said they had no choice but to explore other educational options if they wanted their daughter to have a future, but that his family was worried about how to pay for it.
Thankfully they found out about the MOScholars scholarship program and were able to get a full scholarship to send their daughter to Outreach Christian Education (OCE), a small student-focused private school in the Kansas City area.
“If we weren’t able to get the scholarship we may have been able to pull things together,” he said, “but I would be working 80-90 hours a week to make sure that I could provide for my family and get her school money for each month.”
Grossman said that when his daughter started at OCE this fall she was tested for placement and they discovered that she was about four grade levels below in almost every subject.
“It has been a phenomenal change around,” Grossman said. “She’s enjoying subjects that she hated before, she’s catching up, she’s making friends. She has gone from hating school and being depressed to being happy and excited and being a kid again.
“She couldn’t even write and was starting ninth grade,” he said. “They went back and started her where she belonged and brought her back up. She is still a little behind, but she’s working so much harder and wanting to get those grades and wanting to learn.
“I think another year or two in public school and it would have been way, way too late,” he added. ” (At OCE) the teachers are interacting with them one-on-one, helping them through everything and communicating with the parents. It is 100 percent better.”
Grossman said getting the MOScholars scholarship had made it possible to send his daughter to OCE and still be able to spend time at home with his family.
“I would never have been home,” he said, encouraging other parents to explore what chances they have to improve their children’s educational options. “You just have to dig sometimes to find out what is best for your kids.
YOU can help more students receive a MOScholars scholarship!
If you would like to help more students access better educational options, you can find out how to convert your state tax liabilities into private school scholarships at https://www.showmeschooloptions.org/supportmoscholars.
“I would definitely say the scholarship saved her life,” he added. “Or, at least, it saved her from a horrible, horrible future. Now she is actually finding more of what she wants to do in life. She’s starting to come back out of where she was. It gave her a life back.”
If you would like to help CEAM continue its work to expand education options across Missouri you can donate at https://www.ceamteam.org/donate/