Spring Street International School has raised enough money to open in the fall and is on track to meet its next fundraising goal by the end of this month. In June, the school released a statement sharing its “dire” financial situation— which was attributed to low enrollment and financial mismanagement—and the need for $2 million in pledges to stay open.
A student-organized event on Saturday raised over $ 83,000, tipping the scales ever closer to the needed $1.6 million mark (80% of the total $2 million required, meaning pledges could start to be called in). If $100,000 more comes in by the end of July, pledges will become actual funds, and the school will likely be able to raise the remaining 20% throughout the school year.
“The kids did an amazing job,” Angela Maguire, interim Head of School for SSIS, said of Saturday’s event. “It was completely student-organized: logistics, publicity, designing the program, organizing all the student speakers, and even the food.”
Emmett Beadnall, a junior at the school, organized and led the event with the help of fellow students.
“I think taking charge and deciding to be part of the solution is something that happens naturally when you love something so much that you can’t turn away from it,” he told the Journal. “I decided to take power into my own hands and that of my fellow students so we could be part of the solution to help our school thrive in the years to come.”
Beadnall hopes that the community can see the students’ efforts and passion as a motivator to donate, but also as inspiration to advocate for things that matter to them in the same way.
“I hope that other students, young people from all around, feel empowered to go into this world and take important matters into their own hands,” he said.
Matilda Twig, who just graduated from SSIS, spoke at the fundraiser on behalf of future students, one of whom is her 13-year-old sister. Twigg shared about starting at SSIS when she was 13, and how afraid she was.
“Every challenge I faced here, every class, every backpacking expedition, made me a little more brave. And you need bravery to be a student. You need bravery to ask questions, to be wrong before you are right, to fail before you succeed,” she said during her speech.
“Being a student is acknowledging and accepting what you do not know because you want to understand. It’s an act of humility and of hope. When I interviewed for Spring Street, they asked me, ‘What is hope?’ I forget what I said then; I was too nervous. But I feel it now. I hope that my little sister Cleo, who is 13, may study here, and fall in love with learning, and graduate from Spring Street.”
SSIS has lost nearly 40% of its enrollment since 2023, according to the original email sent to alumni in June asking for help. With new leadership at the helm, the school is confident that cutting costs and scaling down is possible.
“Not so long ago, our school thrived with the number of students who were currently enrolled for next year. In many ways, this crisis is an opportunity to return to our roots and our values – to again be a lean and resourceful school that offers high-quality, personalized, rigorous and supportive learning experiences,” the email stated. “We did this – and will do this – with not a lot of money and a whole lot of creativity. We know how.”
The school, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, still needs to raise an additional $100,000 within the next 30 days. Donate at tinyurl.com/savespringstreet.