Al Keith & Craig Karmazin Talk Milwaukee College Prep on Truth To Power

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I'm so excited to have the opportunity in the pleasure to be joined by Milwaukee college

prep CEO Al Keith today Al has joined us before so happy to have them back on in Milwaukee

college prep board member and founder and CEO of good karma brands Craig Carmers and gentlemen

welcome to truth to power happy to have you both join me today this be fun because y'all cool I

know y'all both so we cool right I think we are I just want to first know you have all the news

on these small screens and then you got Snoopy on the big screen here what what's going on the

TV the TV must have went sleep for some I don't know you know I just come in sit down I don't

be paying attention too much okay to the TVs I see headlines you know I got a little squirrel

brains of sometimes I might get distracted by it like right now I'm not hitting on Snoopy I was

just wondering okay we all love Snoopy but I have these gentlemen here today to talk about

Milwaukee college prepping you all know we love Milwaukee college prepping the impact that they

are making in the community and I'm glad you all are joining us right now during this time where a

lot of parents are making decisions about where are there students going to be enrolling that matter

a fact I had one of my friends his daughters only two years old but he was already talking about

you know what am I going to do for school coming up here pretty soon I know K three something

that also MCP has but that is something that is on the minds of a lot of parents and so I'm so glad

to have y'all here and out Milwaukee college prep continues to make his mark and grow here in the city

of Milwaukee the impact is truly felt but there's some folks who aren't too familiar with Milwaukee

college prep can you tell truth nation a bit about Milwaukee college prep and what makes MCP more

than just the school absolutely so Milwaukee college prep is a mission aligned charter school network

strategically placed on the north side of Milwaukee provide a top tier college prep experience to

families who may not have access to it otherwise you know the the the special sauce of MCP is what I

came to fall in love with 10 11 years ago gosh I'm dating myself now is you know there is an

unmatched level of support and I I know that sounds like a very cliche saying and you hear it

everywhere and I mean that for kids for families for staff for leaders you want to grow you want to

succeed not just in school not just in you know the profession but whatever it is there are

opportunities to grow to be supported and you know there's just a sense of love across the network

that is I've never experienced it anywhere else in a professional setting you know it really does

set us apart and you know as well as nation you just got to come and see it get to get to see it

yourself it's it's a special place I've never seen anywhere else either by the way because

that's how I got involved I literally got invited to the school there was a morning assembly

which like I was like oh this is crazy what is this like once a year and they're like no this

is every day and like I hated going to school it like my teachers were terrible I was so uninterested

and I walked into my Milwaukee college prep and I was like I might actually even want to go here

every day like the energy the singing the love the teachers hugging like it just it's a vibe and like

and again you see that and then you actually see that the results back it up in terms of the

education like it's why to me walking into a Milwaukee college prep campus is just a special

experience yeah no yeah that's the one thing I'm gonna say is that the one thing I know is that

the pride because right because where I went to school that a lot of us take great pride and where

we went to school at but the one thing that a lot of the alum and more importantly the families

the parents take a lot of pride in the fact that their students are mcp scholars and that's

something that means something to me because now they're going and they're talking about oh our

kid had a great experience but they feel like they're part of something and that's important

absolutely once you're part of the mcp family you're always part of the mcp family and so you know

for my time as a teacher there I mean I have families parents even former scholars reach back

and they talk to me all the time tell me how you know transformational number one my math class was

I'm not just talking about how great of a teacher I was but it was how transformational that was

and how transformational the whole mcp experience was for them from k4 all the way up through eighth grade

and you know they wouldn't be in the places they are today without it and so they come back for

support they come back just to see how they can pour back into the kids that we have now

and you know once you're part of that community you you can't go away from it but I've heard

people say like legitimately when they heard me talk about all that they're like yeah yeah that's

great but like I can't afford like to send my kids to a college preparatory like and I'm like no

no that's not like it made sound big and it might like the impacts big and you might not totally

get when you hear charter school what it means but like as a parent you know this is something that

you like you have to apply for absolutely but you're not paying for and in any different way

than public school it is so it let me be and I love that we landed on that and so

Milwaukee College Prep is a public charter school it is a public school I just want to be very clear

for everybody about that and what that means is we have completely blind admissions process

you apply you submit your application your documentation that's necessary and if you have a seat

if we have a seat available for you you're in and so it's that simple there's no screening there's

no interviews there's nothing that none of that and I think it's also what makes MCP such a

special place because we have the exact same students that are going to a whole host of number

schools in the area in the community in that area and we produce the results and it's not just

about the numbers and the metrics and the scores I think it just speaks to the level of number one

love care and support that we provide to every child that walks into our doors and so MCP is

100% accessible to anybody who wants to enroll their children in a top tier college prep experience

it's free it is a public school you know and don't let the stigma of a college prep discourage you

from getting involved yeah and to me Kyle the thing for me was like I saw all the love and excitement

and then I heard the numbers and the reason I went there to begin with was because having been

from the east coast and you know just all of a sudden get into Wisconsin and starting to hear

the numbers that the education gap was the largest in Wisconsin of any state in the country between

black and white test scores and then it's like wait this thing's in the north side of Milwaukee

which is the poorest zip codes and some of the most challenging family situations in our state

and here this school is proving that if you give the right resources you can equally perform

the average white student that is you know anywhere else in the state so this isn't about

you know black children not being able to compete it's about black children and again there are

all sorts of children at Milwaukee college prep it's just that like maybe 1950 out of 2000 of them

like can you know when given you know an equal opportunity even though they the rest of their day

their family situation everything they might not have all of the same equal things they might not

have the same access to food right they might not have the same access to all these things but if you

set up you know children with this opportunity they will perform and and so for me that's like a crazy

powerful combination right if there's all this love and joy and fun and then you actually see

the results like that like how could you not want to be involved in this when it's pretty clear

that the biggest way you can impact a community is with early childhood education like that's

a true that's the true right so so that's that's my excitement to this day every time I you know

think about Milwaukee college prep we are speaking with al key CEO of Milwaukee college prep and

Craig Carmerson who is also a MCP board member we're having a conversation talking about the

importance of having access to an education like this and I think Craig really hit it is the fact

that it comes down to having resources but one thing that always notice because my I'm I've

never worked full time in education when it comes I've worked in higher ed but when secondary

elementary education my mother was a principal my aunt was an assistant principal education is

something that runs through my veins and one thing I've always noticed is that parents play a

huge role and the fact that parents have to apply right not they don't have to go through a whole

long process but they have to apply shows that they want to be there and I think the environment that

you offer the family once they get there is what really brings them in so I think it's so important

of the work that you are doing is not just about having a student in the seat it's about creating a

great family culture and environment that's the community trust absolutely I mean MCP was built on

the fact that you know we can't do this alone and I think we would all agree education can't

happen in a silo you have to have a complete team approach and we all know the saying you know it

takes a village right and so we know to get our kids to where they need to be we have to be lockstep

hand in hand with our families and so MCP has always been an organization where families are welcome

to come and see what's going on you know as a principal my time there you know I would regularly

have coffee and donuts muffins things ready for families just to hang out after assembly and let's

just talk what are you seeing in the school out of the school what should be a what should we be

aware of and it's just an amazing place to be like I said we we partner with our families families

are engaged they love it it's funny I was actually just reviewing some really cool parent testimonials

that we surprise families with them parent teacher conference night but again it all just speaks

to the special sauce of you know providing opportunities not being odd by the challenges of

reality and then partnering and pairing with our families to give our kids the best outcomes

the best access to education possible now when you talk about access to educate education what

does success look like in your eyes right when we talk about Milwaukee college prep what does it

look like for your scholars when they leave your doors yeah you know I can talk numbers all day long

I can talk about the graduation rates I can talk about our college success rates you know I simply

put success for me as the CEO of Milwaukee college prep proud CEO is that our kids have the ability

to write their own story when they leave the doors of Milwaukee college prep they will not be

pigeonholed or or or stuck in a box based on any circumstance that they may or may not have any

controller influence on when they leave our doors the college is the goal but we know by preparing

in four college it opens up doors to everything else where they want to go into trades culinary spaces

whatever it may be I want our kids to have the option and the access and opportunity to write

the stories when they leave MCP yeah and the school goes till eighth grade right so it's not a high

school you know you're going up to eighth grade so preparing you know scholars you know all the way

to college you're talking eight years nine years before graduation so I always was just blown away

by the difference in the high school graduation rates and the difference in life outcomes and

incarceration rates and when you say that you're talking about from an MCP student that graduates

only K through eight which is great but then they go to high school but you're talking about

the graduation rates from high school exactly outcomes after high school I'm saying I'm saying the

Milwaukee college prep eighth grade graduate compared to the city of Milwaukee overall not speaking

about any specific school system in Milwaukee but Milwaukee college prep compared to the overall

city of Milwaukee graduate what those outcomes are in terms of graduating from high school

and then what that means for things like incarceration rate you know which we know is you know

something that has you know destroyed this you know playing underneath right yeah over

policing many different things so I mean I think that's so important is the outcomes right and

that's why when you have your school right and then there's organizations like the Boys and Girls Club

a greater Milwaukee than things that help these students get to in through college I think that's

all a part of the way that is so important but Craig I do want to ask you why is it important for

people to in the community to invest in schools like Milwaukee college prep I mean it's it's very like

I I don't know how you know I don't I'm not involved in that many organizations in Milwaukee

because I don't have that much time so when I'm thinking about I'm like where can I maximize my

impact and when I think about this education gap that exists when I think about where can you

make a difference when you think about early childhood education and we think about K4 through 8th

grade or even K3 to me if you want to impact your community this is where I can do it and I feel

like I can make the biggest difference and and I think it only then happens when families choose

you know to commit to sending you know their kids and trusting us you know with with their kids

and you know and again more times than not being really really happy with the outcomes now I love

that because you're talking about trusting in the you know MCP how how does MCP partner with local

organizations and businesses like good comma brands to expand opportunities for students and staff

because staff is important as well absolutely so we partner with a number of amazing organizations

in the community to bring in volunteers I mean we have people who come in from northwestern

mutual we've had folks come in from good karma to do tutoring to read to students to you know help

pour into our staff serve coffee I mean there's been a number of different ways and we welcome everybody

and anybody and who wants to be part of this mission and it can be just as small as coming in

for morning and walking K4 kids to their classroom there's a number of amazing organizations like

the ones I named that that come in and partner and work with us to again make sure that we are

providing the best place possible for our kids. Oh thank you so much Craig thank you so

we didn't get to have our AI debate oh yeah we I mean AI that's a whole another conversation talk

about AI of future I know and I have my little ones lower willing that uh they're going to be ready

for that AI and technology of the world but lastly now I do want to ask you for folks who are

listening and truth nation how can they learn more about Milwaukee college prep any open house

or how can they learn about enrollment or learn about how they can give and support

Milwaukee college prep absolutely and so the simplest way is go to our website you can google it

Milwaukee college prep it's also found at mke prep.com you can find all the information there for

ways to get involved either as a volunteer enrollment if you want to join the amazing team we have

there all of that information can be found there you can also find us on all most all socials

Facebook Instagram at Milwaukee college prep do a simple search and you'll find it a lot of

amazing information a lot of great stuff out there so you can actually see what we do and how we do it

mke prep.com if you want to volunteer you want to enroll your student or you're looking to join

their team as a staff member go to mke prep.com again CEO of Milwaukee college prep alkey thank you

so much for joining us here today and quid commerce in Milwaukee college prep board member in the

man who I do a show with on Sunday Sunday karma 10 a.m. to noon on ESPN Wisconsin as well thanks for

joining us here today being Kyle Wallace's co-host number one thing on my resume yeah well yeah

number one thing in a row mate I hope you tell people that you know you talked to a lot of great

people but thank y'all so much because again I love this conversation about education but more

importantly people in schools and staff that is getting it right and that's what's happening

Milwaukee college prep again thank y'all so much for joining us truth nation we come back on

the other side we'll continue the conversation talking about the importance of education this is

truth to pile with Kyle Wallace right here on the award winning 101 seven the truth more of truth

to power is next on 101 seven the truth the truth app and 101 seven the truth dot com