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Good afternoon, Chairs and members of the Committee. My name is Sauvanie Lorrinvil, and I am a proud graduate of New Heights Charter School of Brockton. It is an honor to be here today to testify against various bills including S.320, which would harm charter public schools and their students across the state.
My alma mater, New Heights, is a grades 6-12 early college charter public school in Brockton. In fact, in Massachusetts, there are three early college charter public schools – Argosy Collegiate in Fall River, Veritas Prep in Springfield, and New Heights in Brockton. Each of these schools offer “wall-to-wall” early college programs, meaning ALL students enrolled at these schools take college courses and earn college credits – for free – while in high school. That’s right: every single student, not just a select subset, has access to early college! Many of us graduate high school with our Associate’s Degree, as I did, which is not just academically helpful, but also potentially saves families thousands of dollars.
New Heights changed my life. My parents immigrated from Haiti, and life has not always been easy for us. My parents always encouraged me to get an education so that I could have a better life than they have had, and they knew that the unique program New Heights offers would make a big difference.
At New Heights, there is a culture of shooting for the stars. While I’d always wanted to attend college, it wasn’t something I saw happening around me. That changed when I started attending New Heights. Taking college courses, on a college campus, from such a young age made me believe that I – the child of immigrants who had not attended college – could do what I once thought to be impossible.
I am very proud to share that I am attending the University of Pennsylvania, and while it is challenging to be a first generation college student living away from home, the confidence and skills New Heights helped instill in me have carried me through to this day.
One of the reasons I am sharing my story today is that if one of the bills before you, S.320, had been in effect when New Heights was trying to open in Brockton, the school would not not have been able to open, and hundreds of students like myself, would not be where we are today, with countless doors opened to our futures.
I understand that members of this Committee need to make difficult decisions, and solutions are often complicated. But I strongly believe that all students should have the opportunity to attend public schools that set them up for success. Public charter schools like New Heights, which has made such a positive impact on my life and on the lives of my classmates, should be supported – not thwarted, as many of the bills before you would do.
Thank you.
