Welcome to the Home of the Pride!

KIPP Gaston College Preparatory serves approximately 260 fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth graders in rural northeastern North Carolina. Gaston College Preparatory is a free, public school of choice. Our mission is to provide each of our students with the knowledge, skills and character traits necessary to succeed in college and most importantly in life. The school is founded on the five pillars of the existing KIPP Schools: high expectations, power to lead, choice and commitment, extended time on task, and focus on results. According to the North Carolina State Testing results for the 2002-2003 school year, KIPP Gaston College Preparatory is the sixth highest performing school in the state of North Carolina. In the fall of 2005 Gaston College Preparatory will open KIPP Pride High, KIPP's first rural high school. Eventually the entire campus will serve over 480 students in grades 5th through 12th. The tremendous results of the Pride's hard work will continue to improve and eventually translate into ALL of our students having the skills and habits necessary to become successful life long learners and leaders.

The Decision

In the fifth grade, two roads diverged and I was forced to decide,
there was no turning back, but no reason to hide.
Stay where it was simple or come to GCP;
you see this was the choice that lay before me.
The first road, quite simple, the answers right at my feet,
but this easy street had me worried about future troubles I might meet.
True, I had the easy life now, I could just skate down this road,
"Go with your first thought," That's what I was told.
Yet, I wanted more out of life than just to get by,
I wanted an education that would let my dreams fly.
I gazed down the other road, quite different in every way,
The work would be harder, and longer hours I would have to stay.
This kept me wondering, "Could I hand such a place?"
It had obstacles and hurdles that I would be forced to face.
Yet, at the end of this road, I saw what I would learn,
I knew that knowledge, college and power were what I would earn.
The choice became simple there was no need to fret,
a loving Pride would be with me for each problem I met.
So I chose the second road and I ventured to GCP,
I can never begin to tell you the pride I know feel inside me.
As I travel this road, I'm setting all my dreams free,
and it all started with one decision not be ordinary.
Years from now, it will all be clear and everyone will know,
in fifth grade two roads diverged and that difference will definitely show.

Chevon Boone
Pride of 2009
Written in Fifth Grade