Sponsor-a-Student, Change a Life!

Dear friends of Summit Charter School,

Summit’s mission and the unique qualities of a Summit education are more important now than ever. As our community navigates the disruption and challenge of this current pandemic, Summit is uniquely positioned to ensure our students continue to discover, learn, and grow to become the leaders of tomorrow.

Through small class sizes, expansive facilities and outdoor learning spaces, Summit embraces opportunities for learning in dynamic and evolving contexts and settings. And, our incredibly dedicated faculty, families, and supporters enable us to adapt to the challenges before us while keeping our mission at the forefront each day.

Summit’s model of education brings immense value to the lives of our students, a level of impact made possible by the continued support of our community donors. As a tuition-free public charter school, Summit receives only 75% of the public funding of a traditional public school and zero funding for capital improvements. This year we need to raise $4,000 per student to close our funding gap.

The theme of our annual campaign is “One Summit Family” because, truly, we are all in this together to ensure a quality education for our children. For our community donors, in this spirit of family, your gift will directly sponsor the education of a Summit student–a personal connection to the impact of your gift. And, recognizing the value of this investment as a community, longtime supporter Don Sentell has agreed to a generous MATCHING GIFT of up to $100,000! Every gift raised for the One Summit Family campaign by December 31, dollar-for-dollar, will be matched by Mr. Sentell. Thank you, Don, for your unwavering commitment to our school.

Please find our Giving Levels below. By sponsoring a student today, you will have an immediate impact on the life of a student.

We are grateful for your support!

One Summit Family,



Kurt Pusch
Head of School
kpusch@summitschool.org

Sponsor-a-Student Giving Levels

• Summa cum laude – “with highest honor” – $10,000 (or $1,000 a month for 10 months)
  • Covers 100% of the funding gap for two students for a full year and two $1,000 scholarships (named in your honor) for two inaugural seniors (Class of 2022)

• Maxima cum laude – “with great praise” – $8,000 (or $800 a month for 10 months)
  • Covers 100% of the funding gap for two students for a full school year

• Magna cum laude – “with great honor” – $4,000 (or $400 a month for 10 months)
  • Covers 100% of the funding gap for one student for a full school year

• Cum laude – “with honor” – $2,000 (or $200 a month for 10 months)
  • Covers 50% of the funding gap for one student for a full school year

• Honor Roll – “with recognition” – $1,000 (or $100 a month for 10 months)
  • Covers 25% of the funding gap for one student for a full year

• Perfect Attendance – “with support” – $500 (or $50 a month for 10 months) or less
  • Donation go towards the general students’ funding gaps

Benefits of Giving

• One-on-one correspondence with your paired student
• Invitation to end-of-school-year Meet & Greet and Trail Hike at Summit with your student
• Recognition on Summit website and printed materials
• Pre-sale ticket access to the inaugural 2021 Festival of Trees – a new fundraiser benefiting Summit Charter School
• Reserved seating at Summit’s inaugural high school graduation in May 2022
• The opportunity to invest in a student’s education and sustain the qualities of a Summit education, such as small class sizes, stellar faculty and staff for individualized and character education, hands-on and innovative curriculum, and experiential field excursions
• The opportunity to improve quality of life in our beloved Cashiers-Highlands plateau

• Hired new Head of School from one of the highest performing charter school networks in the United States
• Added 10th grade level and opened new high school facility
• Facilitated college tours and Pre-ACT, ACT, Advanced Placement (AP) programs to high school students
• Opened facility for fine arts and health & wellness programming
• Launched Curriculum Committee to adopt new mathematics curriculum to ensure all students achieve confidence, growth, and academic success in math
• Launched inaugural volleyball and high school basketball teams in new gymnasium
• Hired a full-time certified school nurse, thanks to a grant from the Highlands Cashiers Health Foundation
• Continued whole-child, individualized education with small class sizes
• In our third year of high school expansion, matriculated 78% of graduating 8th grade students to Summit's 9th grade–an increase from 57% the previous year
• Conducted 12th Annual Citizen Science Monitoring Program on the Appalachian Trail in partnership with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy
• Exceeded annual fundraising goals, including a student-led lemonade stand that raised over $200,000
• Formalized a committee to build and launch a facilities endowment
• Launched Booster Club to support growing athletics programming
• Offered our families a virtual learning progam within 24 hours of the school's COVID-19 closure and provided around-the-clock care to our families for meal assistance, healthcare support, and internet accessibility
• Created a phased re-opening plan for 2020-21 that followed state and CDC health guidelines, and emphasized the safety of our children, teachers, families and community
• Added a climbing tower–gifted by High Hampton Resort–to our campus and created climbing program

For donations by check, please make your check payable to the Summit Charter School Foundation and mail your gift to P.O. Box 2493, Cashiers, NC 28717.

Questions about your donation? Please contact Development Director Melissa Hudson at mhudson@summitschool.org or 828-743-5755 ext. 251.