Christine Kemper Leading the Kansas City Girls Preparatory Academy towards Empowering Young Women

Founder & catalyst of the all-girls charter school

In the heart of Kansas City, Missouri lies a unique institution known as the Kansas City Girls Preparatory Academy (KCGPA), an all-girls charter school established in 2019. The visionary behind this empowering and college-based education model is none other than Christine Kemper, the founder and chair of KCGPA. Yet, she often prefers to be seen as simply the “catalyst” in what she considers a “team effort.”

An unconventional path towards KCGPA

Kemper’s career trajectory has been far from straightforward, spanning roles in the justice department, political campaigns, entertainment projects, banking, marketing, and entrepreneurship. Over the last 25 years, she has heavily invested her time in education-related philanthropy, eventually leading her to conceive the idea of KCGPA. The school’s founding stems from Kemper’s encounters with the educational philosophies of The Young Women’s Leadership School (TYWLS), a charter school network in East Harlem nurturing young women’s intellectual curiosity and creativity to stimulate their academic achievement, emotional well-being, and post-secondary success.

Emphasizing community ownership and representation

Despite countless challenges and roadblocks, including the need for extensive fundraising and the struggle to find the right school facility, Kemper and her team stood resolute. A key aspect of KCGPA’s philosophy is that it should serve the community, reflecting their needs, values, and ambitions. The school aims to provide high-quality educational opportunities in communities that have lacked such access in the past. Kemper emphasizes that the decision to situate KCGPA in northeast Kansas City was based on addressing unmet demand for performing school seats, not based on the faults or deficits of the community.

Leading with love & addressing systemic issues head-on

At the core of KCGPA’s values lies the principle of “leading with love,” a phrase coined by their founding school leader Tara Haskins. Kemper elaborated that the idea suggests that if a child feels loved, she can endure challenges, learn from her mistakes, and work towards meeting expectations. Besides love, KCGPA also confronts the systemic problems many of their students face. The school proclaims itself as a fiercely anti-racist and feminist institution, aiming to uplift the voices of Black and Brown girls who have traditionally been marginalized.

Battling the pandemic’s adversities

While the pandemic’s onset posed unprecedented challenges academically, including the shift to remote learning and maintaining student engagement, KCGPA was quick to adapt. They provided internet devices for their students, delivered meal kits to students’ homes, and hired a social worker to connect with their families and provide critical support services. Despite the testing times, Kemper reported that KCGPA’s approach began showing positive impacts on their student body once in-class learning resumed, fostering principles of sisterhood among the students and unity among the faculty.

Building a supportive and diverse academic community

As KCGPA continues to face challenges of funding gaps and lack of diversity among its staff post-pandemic, Kemper remains persistent. She believes that the school’s intent to empower young women and nurture their potentials relies heavily on representation from all races, genders, and communities. Kemper emphasized that the goal isn’t to get every girl to go to college, but to equip them with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to lead the lives they aspire. She vowed to continue striving for representation among the faculty and staff, expressing the school’s determination to create an empowering environment for young women.

Looking ahead with hope and determination

As the oldest class at KCGPA enters 9th grade, Kemper’s sights are set on securing a separate facility for high school students, fueled by the hope of continuous support from the community. The remarkable academic growth of the students ranked the school fourth out of 555 public entities in Missouri, a testament to its commitment to fulfilling unmet needs within the Kansas City community.

Kemper concluded on a hopeful note, “I want these kids to be empowered to live the lives that they deserve and want to lead. So if our school can play a role in helping girls believe they can be whatever they want to be, that’s what success will look like.”