North Philly school gets $1 million pledge

    The Gesu School in North Philadelphia has received a $1 million pledge for scholarships from a Paoli-based family foundation. The James and Agnes Kim Family Foundation’s pledge will create eight endowments — to pay the tuition of eight Gesu students annually. School President Christine Beck said such a gift is a validation of the private Catholic school’s commitment to justice in education — that students of any background can succeed.

    “They all deserve a chance to empower themselves and to break through the cycles of poverty and violence and drug use and become productive adults,” said Beck. “You can sense the school’s values at work in every classroom.”

    Susan Kim of the Kim Family Foundation agrees. “When my family and I visited the first time, we were completely blown away,” Kim said.  Both her parents were educators, Kim said, and her family believes strongly in the value and opportunity that education provides. The prekindergarten through eighth grade school has 455 students.

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