TCU’s Starpoint School celebrates its 40th anniversary

Comissioned by the Neeley family in honor of Alice Neeley, the statue "Yearning to Know" in front of Starpoint School was sculpted by Randolph Wardell Johnston.

Fort Worth, TX

2/22/2007

Starpoint School is the tangible result of M.J. and Alice S. Neeley’s dream

Starpoint School, TCU's laboratory school for children with learning differences, celebrated its 40th anniversary, acknowledging the tremendous impact the school has had on more than a thousand children. Part of the celebration included a banquet, featuring alumni from Starpoint School, Saturday, March 3 at the Dee J. Kelly Alumni & Visitors Center. There was also an open house Friday, March 2 at the school.

"It has been quite exciting and a great honor to serve and help children over the last 40 years,” said Marilyn Tolbert, director and Jean W. Roach Chair of Laboratory Schools. “Starpoint School continues to be an outstanding academic environment for children. As [former director] Mrs. Laura Lee Crane said so many years ago, 'the term Starpoint carries its own meaning. A star is self-luminous; a point gives luminosity a place. Starpoint School is self-luminous, a shining place.' Truer words were never spoken. Starpoint continues to shine and shine brightly into the future."

During the past 40 years, Starpoint School has worked with over 1,600 children. Many of the students who have graduated from Starpoint School have excelled academically in middle and high school. Some have even returned to TCU and others are teaching special education.

One student, after graduating from Starpoint School, progressed through high school and then went on to earn a degree at Yale and advanced degrees at Cambridge University. “Without Starpoint, Yale or Cambridge couldn’t have happened,” said Bryan Rigg, author, historian and investment banker. “When I arrived at Starpoint, I was demoralized because the previous schools didn’t know how to deal with me. Other kids called me a ‘moron’ and ‘freak’ and counselors even predicted I probably would be a junior high drop out. I was eight years old, had flunked first grade twice and couldn’t read and didn’t know the alphabet. After one year at Starpoint, I was reading at a fifth grade level and my soul began to heal (from all the negative feedback). Starpoint provided the opportunity where I could empower myself and be excited about learning. I was blessed to have Starpoint, that provided the attention I needed.”

Another student, who couldn’t read or write when she arrived at Starpoint School, advanced her academic skills all the way through college to achieve a degree in communications. One student went on to become a dentist; one became a systems analyst with a high-tech firm and another graduated from culinary school in New York.

Starpoint School was established on TCU’s campus as a result of M.J. and Alice S. Neeley’s dream to develop a school where children with learning differences could learn and university students could learn to teach them. The Neeleys, who’s grandson struggled academically in school, felt that teachers should be trained to help children with special needs. In 1966, they founded Starpoint School with a goal to provide individualized academic programs for children ages 6-12 years old with learning difference and/or attention deficits that interfere with academic progress.

In keeping with Neeley’s original intent, Starpoint School is an active educational laboratory where TCU faculty, staff and students are afforded the opportunity to observe, study, research and participate in a quality education program for young children with academic difficulties. TCU students from across all academic units have benefited from their interaction with Starpoint students.

For more information on Starpoint, visit www.starpoint.tcu.edu and or more information on the anniversary, call 817-257-7141.


Media contact:
Shawn Kornegay
Asst. director of communications
817-257-5061
s.kornegay@tcu.edu