About 10 years ago, our Valley of the Sun Alumni Chapter happened upon an opportunity to give back to our community in a way we had not yet imagined. Through the help of a second grade teacher, we “adopted” a charter school located in central Phoenix and took it upon our group to outfit them so those students would be ready for Mizzou (or any other college) when the time came for them to go. Our adopted school is the Tertulia Pre-College Community located at 812 6th Ave in Phoenix. They currently have two campuses (the other is at 12th St. and Washington, also in central Phoenix), K-4 at 6th Ave and grades 5-8 at the Washington St. location, and there are about 166 children enrolled at this time.

Our chapter has worked with this school by helping to finance and chaperon field trips to the Phoenix Art Museum, the Wildlife World Zoo, the Arizona Science Center and field days at the school. Most importantly, we’ve helped them develop a program to prepare these students for college. Part of the program includes a trip each year to a college campus, and Mizzou is the trip for the 6th grade class each year. So far, we’ve taken seven classes (one class per year and as many as 21 students in a trip) from Tertulia back to Ol’ Mizzou for excursions of three or four days. Each trip includes a walking tour of campus, a tour of the Journalism School, the Engineering School, the Law School, Ellis Library, a flashlight tour at the Museum of Art and Archeology, a visit to the Alumni Center to meet the staff, a tour of the Athletic Department with the likes of Gary Link and current Mizzou athletes, a personal visit with the Chancellor at his office or home, a tour of the Vet School and a football or basketball game, depending on the time of year we make the trip. No trip would be complete without lunch at Shakespeare’s so that is always on the agenda, along with a dinner at the Heidelberg.

Mizzou will forever live in the hearts of the kids who make these trips.