This year, Pepin Academies celebrates a major milestone: 25 years of providing special education to students with learning disabilities and supporting them in becoming prepared for life onward.
Pepin Academies is a not-for-profit, tuition-free, independent public charter school for grades three through 12 with a transition program offering workforce education for students ages 18-22. Its campuses provide individualized instruction, career readiness and extracurricular activities through comprehensive programs that empower its students to excel academically, socially and emotionally.
“What has been innovative 25 years ago is still innovative today, in that the model still holds true — where we provide a therapeutic model to ensure that students get all the interventions that they need on-site as they need them throughout the day,” stated Dr. Jeff Skowronek, executive director of Pepin Academies.
Pepin Academies marked its anniversary with a special evening on May 3 at the Egypt Shriners Event Center in Tampa. There, around 200 community members — including former staff, current staff and even some alumni — honored Pepin’s past, celebrated its achievements and looked forward to an even brighter future. They played the Kentucky Derby live during cocktail hour, dressed in their best derby or dressy casual attire, danced to live music, enjoyed a fun photo booth, took part in an exclusive silent auction and experienced special presentations honoring Pepin Academies’ legacy.
“Over 25 years,” said Dr. Skowronek, “we have over a thousand students that have graduated high school thanks to this model, and for many of them high school graduation was not something in their future. We also have students that have gone on to a wide variety of jobs that their families truly felt would never have been possible without our school.”
Pepin Academies started as one school with 17 students, and today it has three campuses in Tampa, Riverview and New Port Richey that serve almost 1,150 students — another testament to the success of its mission. But when it gets down to it, Dr. Skowronek stated, Pepin’s greatest success is giving each of its students the opportunity to find their potential in an environment that supports and recognizes them as students first.
“They all have dreams and aspirations, and it’s our job to continually push the boundaries on how to make sure they reach them,” said Dr. Skowronek.
Pepin Academies’ campuses are located at 3916 E. Hillsborough Ave. in Tampa, 9304 Camden Field Parkway in Riverview and 7710 Osteen Rd. in New Port Richey. For more information, visit the website at https://pepinacademies.com/.
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