The Ryan Banks Academy was a dream in Valerie’s Mind for many years before it became a reality for the 2018/2019 school year. She shares the story and mindset behind the school opening.

Valerie Groth was a Social Worker in the Southside of Chicago and worked with awesome kids facing a lot of challenges. They had such tough environments that they self-harmed and tried to commit suicide.

She had the dream to create a boarding school that would provide a safe place for kids to receive an education for 11 years.  She had thought she would do it once she retired, perhaps when she had piles of cash lying around. Haha, she jokes with us as that is unlikely to happen.

A few events happened that caused her to begin now. She quit her job four years ago and began to make it a reality.

What happened in your mindset to take this from someday to today?

1. She lost a student to gun violence. It was not the first, it was one she was close with and enough was enough.
2. Valerie attended the World Domination Summit in Portland and Michael Hyatt was giving a speech. He told the audience that an actuary had told him that someone in the audience would die in the next 30 days.
3. She had the realization that her dream was so big that no one else would know what to do, not Oprah, not the President, They Mayor didn’t have a blueprint so therefore it helped her to ask, Why can’t I do it. The bigger the plan is, the easier it was for her to see, it is never about the How, it is making the decision that you are going to do it.
4. She made the realization that “this is massive, audacious and requires sacrifice” and she made the decision every day to keep on moving forward.

Her dream is for it to be a boarding school in a few years. Today, they are operating with their first grade 7 class as a day school.

Talking about team

Valerie shares that there are two teams. The Ryan Banks Academy team and the team of people that support her personally. They helped her by coaching, advising and mentoring her along the way. The audio interview is available on Anchor: Here 

Links

• Website: http://www.ryanbanksacademy.org
• Book The Power of the Possible https://www.amazon.com/Valerie-Groth/e/B077T5PRB1
• Valerie’s Website http://valeriegroth.com
• Music credits: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Scott_Holmes/
• Listen to the podcast here

Gina Johnson