Though Lift for Life Academy, a charter school in Soulard, has been open for 17 years, its students have never played a basketball game on their home court, and never had a school dance in their school building. That’s because, as of yet, the school doesn’t have its own gym. Instead, students must commute to other locations for P.E. classes and athletic team practices, and the scale of events the school can host has been limited.
All that might change soon, as the school embarks on a fundraising campaign to build a gymnasium of its own.
Marshall Cohen, executive director of Lift for Life, said that one of the problems with not having a gym is it wastes precious school time on transportation.
“We lose a lot of academic time driving the students to rented facilities like 12th and Park and the Salvation Army,” he said. “Kids have to get on the bus, then drive 10 or 15 minutes to a location, have their P.E. class, which takes time, and then they have to get on the bus and drive back.”
The necessity of saving time, however, isn’t the only reason for the new gym. It will also help students with morale and school pride, Cohen said.
“It’s important for a lot of the students that we serve to participate in sports,” Cohen said. “It kind of keeps them committed to having good attendance and better grades. But they’ve never had a home game, and we always have to go to other schools to play.”
On top of that, he said, the lack of a gym can limit parents’ ability to watch their children compete: “It’s difficult also for the parents to come see their kids, because some have to rely on Metro and public transportation.”
So far, Cohen said, the school has raised enough money for the “shell” of the gym – the brick and mortar, along with the basics like windows, air conditioning, and electricity. Now, they just need the things that make a gym a gym, like wood flooring, basketball hoops, bleachers, and a scoreboard. To that end, the school has started a GoFundMe campaign to raise the final $175,000. To date, they have raised $60,000, according to Cohen.
In a promotional video, Lift for Life senior and varsity basketball captain Cornell Dabney explains why having a gym at his school is important to him.
“The first week or two that I started here, I was so quiet that you wouldn’t even know that I was in the room,” Dabney said. But being in the Lift for Life environment, and working with his basketball team, has made him a leader.
“Being a part of a team helped me realize that being a leader not only means improving yourself, but also improving the people around you,” Dabney said.
“Our team here isn’t just a team, it’s a part of my family. For my last year on this team, my goal is to be able to play a game on my own home court. Thinking of that feeling of being the home team, having that feeling of school pride in the crowd as I play one of my last games as a Hawk, I get chills thinking about it.”
Lift For Life Academy, which opened in 2000 as the first independent charter school in the City of St. Louis, serves students in grades 6-12 from throughout the city. It is supported by state and federal funds, as well as through fundraising.
To provide support, visit LiftforLifeAcademy.org. For more information, call 314-640-5211.
