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"To be educated you have to have guidance. UPSTART was a guidance for her that I couldn't provide. I could tell her what that letter or that word is. But it was just the way UPSTART made it adventurous for her. With my granddaughter, it was encouraging her, teaching her how to focus.

“It doesn’t just say, ‘You're wrong.’ It gives her opportunities to try again and try again. Then when she gets it, they praise her for doing it. And that's what makes it so awesome for her. I'm praying that it can guide her through the rest of these grades. She's definitely ready for kindergarten. I really believe she's ready." | Rhonda Flippen, grandmother of 5-year-old Neesha

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"She's hyped to start kindergarten in September. Every time we go to school now, she’s like, ‘Oh, man! That baby school. I'm tired of it.’ There’s still some things that she needs to work on, but when I met the teachers, they told me, ‘What you told me she’s doing, she’s already advanced. As long as she knows how to spell her name, her birthday, her address, we got the rest.’ She's ready. She’s ready." | Rhonda Flippen, grandmother of 5-year-old Neesha. 

Follow their education journey at A First Chapter: afirstchapter.org #afirstchapter

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"I see a difference now, even the way she talks. With my health, getting her up in the morning is a process. Especially trying to get her to dress herself when I'm having a bad moment, because I had to relearn how to dress myself, too. So, I'm like, ‘Okay, it's time for you to grow up. You gotta dress yourself. Mommy can't help you 'cause I'm trying to put my own socks on.’ She looked at me like, ‘Mom, it's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay.’" | Rhonda Flippen, grandmother of 5-year-old Neesha. 

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"Neesha was put in my arms when she was five months. I had to start all over again like she was a newborn. I had to focus on her and re-mold her. I had to show her how to eat. Today, she's five. I’ve been going to these parenting classes, and they told me I have an actor on my hands. She’s about to start — she calls it “real school” because she doesn’t have to take naps anymore. Sometimes it’s kind of hard to get her to focus because she just wants to play. That’s my challenge with her. But I tell her, ‘When you go to real school you need to learn these things. You need to know these things. You want to be smart.’ And she’ll be like, ‘Okay.’ I’m gonna get her there." | Rhonda Flippen, grandmother of 5-year-old Neesha. 

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"I'm in West Oak Lane. I really don't care for it. I can't relax when the kids are outside. My daughter said, ‘Ma, we need land. So nobody comes near us and we can play outside.’ I said, ‘Mommy working on that. I'm trying.’ That’s why I want them in these books. The street is gonna be there all day, every day. I want them to learn, and books are the key. Books are definitely the key. If somebody puts something in their head, I want them to be able to read it and understand it and make their own decisions. I put that in my kids now. ‘I want y'all to be smarter than me. I want y'all to do better than me.’ I just want better for my babies." | Rhonda Flippen, grandmother of 5-year-old Neesha. 

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Meet Philadelphia, PA grandma Rhonda Flippen and 5-year-old Neesha — a lover of acting and hater of naps who is eagerly awaiting "real school." This is the start of their education journey. 

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That feeling when you know you're ready to roll into kindergarten...

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"I remember school when I was her age. It was a whole lot different, a lot more laid back. Now there are tests that you have to take to even get out of certain grades. You have to be able to read before you go to kindergarten. She’s already there. She doesn’t want you to read to her. She’s like, ‘Mom, let me read you a bedtime story.’ It makes me feel good because I know that she’s excelling in a whole lot of areas that I didn’t think she was going to for her age. There’s one book, ‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear,’ — I don’t think she could read it. But we read it just about every day now. I know it by heart." | Crystal Cooper, mother of 4-year-old Mikyla. 

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"With sickle cell disease, they say she’s not able to do a lot of things like normal kids. But you’d never know it because she’s such an active, spontaneous little girl. She’s overcome a whole lot, and reading has helped make her strong and independent. It gives her the feeling that she can do anything she wants. She wants to become a doctor, she says. I’m hoping she pushes through and is able to fulfill her dream." | Crystal Cooper, mother of 4-year-old Mikyla. 

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"She’s very excited about starting school. I’ll ask, ‘Are you ready for kindergarten?’ ‘Yes ma’am.’ She won’t be one of those students who hang on and cry for their parents. She’ll be like, ‘Bye Mama, I’m going to class.’ I can just see her coming home on the first day of school saying, ‘Mama, I learned this and this and I told the teacher I already know how to do this.’ I think she’s more than prepared." | Crystal Cooper, mother of 4-year-old Mikyla. 

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"Reading is unlocking different adventures and avenues for her. When she learns a new word, she’s gonna say that word all day long. She’s gonna make you feel excited about whatever she’s reading just like if you were in the book yourself. Sometimes, she goes into her room and plays teacher. She takes her little dolls and bears and sits them on the floor, and she reads to them. Then she pretends like they’re talking back to her. She just has an exquisite imagination." – Crystal Cooper, mother of 4-year-old Mikyla. | Jackson, MS

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“My greatest hope for Mikyla is for her to be the best that she can be. And for her to believe that she can be the best she can be. Test scores and reading levels in Mississippi are real low. And there is so much stereotyping here, not just in Jackson, but around the world. I’m hoping that she doesn’t let that affect her, and that she makes the best of it. There’s a little ball of fire inside her. I hope she keeps it lit.” – Crystal Cooper, mother of 4-year-old Mikyla. | Jackson, MS

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Meet Crystal Cooper and her children, including Mikyla: a fiery 4-year-old who loves riding her scooter, drawing and Peppa Pig. This is the start of Mikyla's education journey.

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“I see myself in him. We actually lived in Southwest Philadelphia when I was his age. And my mom kept me close to her, stayed on me. ‘Gotta do your homework, read,’ — all that stuff. Everything my mom taught me, I try to teach my children. I’m on the program with him just to guide him. He makes his mistakes, but if we have to go over it again, we do it again. Sometimes, I might say something, but he already knows. ‘Mom,’ he says. That makes me feel good, because I know that he knows what he needs to do. My 17 year-old will work with Kingston and I tell her, ‘Listen, don’t do his work for him. Let him show you, because he can do it.’"– Kimberly Johnson, mother of Kingston, age 5 | West Philadelphia, PA 

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"He has to be able to learn to speak and talk to people, and use that in everyday life. If somebody's speaking to him, he needs to be able to understand it. He talks totally different from last year. He's not talking that baby talk like he was the first year when he started school. Now it’s like he’s his own person, you know? He tells me his own opinions. What he wants, what he doesn’t want. His language and his words. He can write his name. He knows his colors. He can count up to 50. He can cut with scissors, straight lines and everything. It's unbelievable, but he's up to the point where he need to be." – Kimberly Johnson, mother of Kingston, age 5 | West Philadelphia, PA 

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"His dad was a college grad in Jamaica, so I want that for my son. It's a must. I just can't let him fall to the wayside. So I make sure that this child reads every day, an hour or 30 minutes or whatever. It’s something that must be done. All I want him to do is stay in school, do his work, stay on task, and make me proud. Be a scholar or a soccer player, if that's what you want to be. The sky's the limit for my son. I just want the best for him." – Kimberly Johnson, mother of Kingston, age 5 | West Philadelphia, PA

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“I put two kids through public school, and it was okay. But I wanted something different with him. He’s my only boy, and it’s just crazy out there. I don’t want the street to suck him up. I worked very hard to try to get him into the right school. I applied to three different private schools. When we did the interview with the one Catholic school, the teacher said he counted over 30. She said, ‘He did excellent.’ And I’m saying to myself, ‘Thank God.’ He got accepted to all three, and I had to pick one. He will start in August, and I think he’s beyond ready for next year.” – Kimberly Johnson, mother of Kingston, age 5 | West Philadelphia, PA