In Durham, North Carolina, this KIPPster is ready for college

KIPP alumnus Myles Jackson Nicholson When Myles Nicholson was a little kid living in California, his mom gave him an old, rickety computer with QBasic, a programming language, and a copy of QBasic for Dummies. By the time he was eight, Myles was hooked. “I started making my own little programs, testing them out on my mom and sisters. It was my introduction to computer science, and I loved it,” he remembers.

Ten years later, Myles is a senior at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM) in Durham. NCSSM is the first school of its kind, a public, residential high school serving students from across the state. NCSSM aims to prepare North Carolina’s youth to become leaders in the development and application of science, mathematics and technology.

Journey to Gaston

For Myles, NCSSM is a perfect fit, the culmination of years spent learning as much about math as he could. Six of these years were at the KIPP schools in Gaston, North Carolina. Myles and his family lived all over the country before ending up in Gaston, a move Myles sees as serendipitous. “My mom heard about KIPP when we were in California and thought it sounded great. As luck would have it, we moved to Gaston when I was in the fourth grade, and KIPP was waiting there for me,” he recalls.

Myles knew he wanted more from school, and from what his family had heard, KIPP Gaston College Prep (GCP) was the place to look for that challenge. Although he was just entering the fourth grade, he and his mother set up a meeting with Caleb Dolan, the founding school leader of GCP, to talk about starting middle school a year early. “Mr. Dolan sat with us in his office, and talked through what I could expect from KIPP, and what would be expected of me. He really wanted to make sure we made the best choice for my education. I knew right away that I wanted the challenge he described.”

Looking back, Myles is confident that he found what he was looking for at GCP. He describes an environment where teachers always pushed him to explore beyond the basics. “I learned more than I think I would have in other schools, and got really excited about my classes.” KIPP’s approach was especially influential in math, where Myles remembers learning unique ways to solve multiplication problems, and working with teammates to come up with chants.

Myles in high school Choosing a high school

Myles is thankful for the emphasis GCP placed on helping each student find the right high school so he could follow his dream of getting to college. At first, Myles considered a private school in New Jersey, but worried about being so far from home.

Then when Myles heard KIPP Pride High was opening, his plan fell into place. “I was relieved I could go to a local KIPP school that I knew would be good for two more years, before attending NCSSM [a two-year school]”, Myles says. “I had visited NCSSM’s campus and was impressed at how cool it was, how close to home, and with so many resources.” Another benefit of this plan was the chance for Myles to focus on his passion, math.

The past year and a half at NCSSM have given Myles that opportunity, while also pushing him in other ways. NCSSM’s structure feels a lot like college, with block classes and space for students to manage their own time. “The curriculum is challenging, at a step above high school; my former teachers tell me this is work for first or second year college courses,” Myles explains. NCSSM draws on its proximity to Duke University, and students can work with professors from Duke on research projects or in special classes at NCSSM. Myles also studies Japanese, and is thriving in a language program that is rare for a secondary school.

Always a KIPPster

Myles stays true to his roots as a KIPPster and fulfilled his community service requirement by working at GCP and Pride High School this past summer. While there, he enjoyed reconnecting with his former teachers.

Myles is still influenced by the KIPP culture he experienced before NCSSM, especially the support that team and family provide for each other. “Survival of the fittest doesn’t fly at KIPP—we take care of each other. There’s a sense of community, actually caring about other students and knowing that teachers care about you too,” Myles says. He has also given back to KIPP by meeting with potential students. “I recommend KIPP because it opens the doors to so many opportunities. If I hadn’t gone there, I wouldn’t be at [NCSSM]. Imagining myself somewhere else is crazy.”

College-ready

Now that he is a senior, Myles sees the powerful impact of KIPP’s emphasis on college. “We talked about college 24/7 at GCP,” he remembers. Myles emphasizes that this was a good thing; “In fifth grade it felt really far away, but towards ninth and tenth grade, I started to see it wasn’t way out there, but right in front of me.” Over time, Myles developed both a list of potential schools and the motivation to get there.

When his GCP eighth grade class went to Northwestern University in Chicago, Myles first encountered the school that is now his number one choice for college. “KIPP helped me figure out early in school that if I wanted to choose a college, I had to imagine myself as a student there, right then. At Northwestern, that was easy.”

Myles considers his future full of many possibilities. He plans to continue studying computer science at whichever college he attends, but is keeping his mind open to where he’ll take those skills afterwards.

Staring down the rest of his senior year, Myles is excited for college, either at his first choice of Northwestern, or at Morehouse or Stanford. Wherever he ends up, he knows he’ll be ready. “KIPP got me to NCSSM, and this is what I need to be prepared for college.”