If you secretly thought I went “over the edge” when I opened the Russell Byers Charter School (RBCS) in 2001, you would be right. But my mother always said “only boring people get bored”… so on November 2, I will step backwards off the roof of a 21-story building and rappel to the ground using what looks like a very small rope. I’m doing it as part of Building Adventure 2012. My goal – raise $25,000 to support the Outward Bound program at RBCS.

Why did I choose to rappel and not something easier like, say, a game of checkers? Each year, I watch our 6th graders push their comfort zones and rappel off of the roof of RBCS. I’ve seen how nervous they were, but I’ve also seen the elation on their faces when they reach the ground and realize what they have done. I want to feel the same elation.

To those of you who’ve already supported me: thank you so much for all your help! If you haven’t had a chance to donate yet there’s still time.

A lot of exciting things are going on at RBCS – here’s a snapshot of our year so far:
• RBCS scored 9 out of 10 on the new GreatPhillySchools website
• Our combined PSSA scores for 2011-12 are 14th out of 222 district and charter run Philadelphia schools.
• We are getting ready to add 7th and 8th grade to the school! We hope to get our approval from the SRC on November 15th – I’ll keep you posted!

Check out RBCS in a featured story about the event on ABC News: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeYG0vJ-asU&feature=youtu.be&noredirect=1