Village Gate Children's Academy

Village Gate Children’s Academy was founded in September 2009 by Bobbi & Larry Cecio. This newly formed school is based on the notion that each child has an innate capacity to learn and grow. We believe that by placing every child in a learning environment that meets their learning style & needs, every child will blossom. Village Gate Children’s Academy is founded on the principles of academic excellence coupled with a global understanding, respect for all people and all things, community service and partnership. We believe that the whole world is our classroom and seek to expose our students to as much of it as we can so as to educate our students to be citizens of the world. 

As part of our commitment to raise children with a global understanding and a commitment to making a difference, we have created a program to explore significant current issues that our students are interested in and passionate about, teaching the about activism and how to best make an impact and giving them the skills to communicate their ideas and contributions to people in a position to make a difference. We have named this program OWL (Opportunity for World Leaders)

Mission Statement for the OWL Trip:

To build citizens of the world by activating students’ curiosity about issues in their communities and empowering them to effect change. 

The purposes of this trip are:

To promote student interest in Current Issues; To provide an opportunity to connect to and interact with students from around the world; To strengthen student research, writing and communication skills; To further learn about current events, government working and the experience and impact of the peoples of our nation; To develop critical thinking skills, problem solving skills and evaluative skills; To debate current issues and national problems; To practice and use leadership skills in a real life situation; and To understand the need for peace and conflict resolution throughout the world while developing their own conflict resolution and debating skills.

This issues our students have deemed important to them are:

Ocean Pollution, Water and Conservation, Climate Change, Food Security, Animal Cruelty, Women’s Rights, Gun Safety, Equality and Equity and Homelessness

This project will culminate in a weeklong trip to the East coast, first to New York City where our students will learn of the history of immigrants into NYC, Wall Street and the historical events that have shaped our country. From there, we will head south to Washington DC for more learning about history, politics and the early development of the United States before getting our students in front of congress people, senators and representatives so that they can present their positions on a variety of issues. 

There are 61 students, 4th - 8th grade, 6 teachers and many parents taking this trip. It is no small feat with a significant cost. Your support and contributions to this trip will make a huge difference. 

Thank you. 

Bobbi Cecio