inspirED
Meet our scholars, educators, donors and partners.
Transforming Our Community.
One Scholarship at a Time.
Step Up For Students Scholarships do more than fund education. They change lives. Students thrive in environments that fit their needs. Educators extend their reach to support vulnerable students. Communities grow stronger as educational systems improve.
This is inspireEd. Welcome.
Here, you will get an inside view of that transformation in progress. See what happens when students and their families discover the power of taking control over their academics. Watch as they forge new pathways to a better future. Find inspiration in their determination to achieve their dreams.
These are the stories of Florida students who have renewed hope because they have a school that better fits their needs or educational materials to unlock their potential. They are the stories of a community that has come together to support the belief that educational choice matters. Here, you can be a part of this incredible journey.
This is inspireEd. Welcome.
Here, you will get an inside view of that transformation in progress. See what happens when students and their families discover the power of taking control over their academics. Watch as they forge new pathways to a better future. Find inspiration in their determination to achieve their dreams.
These are the stories of Florida students who have renewed hope because they have a school that better fits their needs or educational materials to unlock their potential. They are the stories of a community that has come together to support the belief that educational choice matters. Here, you can be a part of this incredible journey.
Latest Posts
Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options, graduate, Rising Stars, Step Up For Students, Student Spotlights
Journey's journey includes volleyball, an education choice scholarship and now college
May 17, 2024 • By Roger Mooney
School Spotlights, Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options, Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, Step Up For Students
From a vision to fliers to students: Former legislator finds new way to help kids – by starting a school
Sep 25, 2024 • By Roger Mooney
Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities, Beyond the Scholarship, Gardiner Scholarships, Step Up For Students, Student Spotlights
From an idea to a goal to Emma's walk of a lifetime
Sep 8, 2024 • By Roger Mooney
Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, graduate, Step Up For Students, Student Spotlights
From Venezuela to the Naval Academy with the help of an education choice scholarship
Aug 19, 2024 • By Roger Mooney
Personalized Education Program, Step Up For Students, Student Spotlights
Wherefore art thou Genevieve? She's directing the Tallahassee Homeschool Shakespeare Club
Aug 9, 2024 • By Roger Mooney
Personalized Education Program, School Choice, Step Up For Students, Student Spotlights
Taking control of their children's education with the help of the PEP scholarship
Jul 29, 2024 • By Roger Mooney
Your gift will change a student's life
Our dedication to students doesn’t end when they receive a scholarship. Your support will enable Step Up to maximize the impact of the scholarships the students receive.
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Browse More From The Blog
The Cherry Family
The Cherry Family By Sherri Ackerman When Demetrius Cherry’s commissions plummeted at his cell phone sales job two years ago, his family of six lost their house in Land O’ Lakes and moved in with friends. “We were literally homeless,’’ recalled his wife, Nina Cherry. Within a few months, her husband found another job at […]
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June Welcome and Ryan Tetoff
June Welcome and Ryan Tetoff Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory Hollywood By Sherri Ackerman June Welcome looked forward to sending her son, Ryan Tetoff, to his neighborhood school. By first grade, though, she worried he wasn’t being challenged academically. "Sometimes I would go to school and have lunch with him," Welcome recalled. "I would find him upset. […]
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Savannah Lang
Savannah Lang Rhonda Ford wanted more of a say in her only child’s education. But the divorced mom and self-employed massage therapist thought her options were limited to her neighborhood school. Then one day in 2002, Ford learned about Step Up For Students and the income-based Florida Tax Credit Scholarship. Once the family received approval, […]
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Denisha Merriweather
Denisha Merriweather The daughter of a teenaged mom and high school dropout, Denisha Merriweather thought she was destined for a similar path. Receiving a scholarship from Step Up For Students changed her life. Today, the 24-year-old college graduate is working toward her master’s degree. “I’m just so grateful," Denisha said. “This never would have been […]
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Layla and Jeremiah Cirino
Layla and Jeremiah Cirino Adrienne Cirino’s children started their formal education at their neighborhood school, but soon her son started shying away from kindergarten and her daughter had days where she was ducking desks thrown by angry peers. “I felt scared,” said Layla, who starts seventh grade in August. “Me and my friends would go […]
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Julie and Faith Kleffel
Julie and Faith Kleffel Seven-year-old Faith Kleffel giggles in the background as her tutor, Tammy Forte, talks on the telephone. They’re at Faith’s house in Longwood, near Orlando, where the first-grader with Down syndrome lives with her mom and is homeschooled. “We have a room,’’ explained Forte, a former local school district paraprofessional. “That’s her […]
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Hayden and Cambria Rogers
Hayden Hernandez and Cambria Rogers It didn’t take long for Jenna Rogers to realize her son’s neighborhood school wasn’t working for him. A kindergartner, Hayden wasn’t grasping basic reading and writing skills. And he didn’t like interacting with classmates. “He was really struggling there,’’ Jenna said of the Clearwater school, rated a D at the […]
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Sualba Alejandro
Sualba Alejandro Ten-year-old Sualba Alejandro planted her Size 3 feet on the Faith Christian Academy stage in Orlando and tried to stay calm. In the audience, dozens of parents, children and school administrators were on hand to recognize Step Up For Students' Scholars of Excellence. The event united Step Up families from throughout Central Florida […]
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Holy Family Catholic School
Holy Family Catholic School (Published in October, 2013) Jacksonville - Any old red carpet simply wouldn’t do. So in the fall of 2012, Holy Family Catholic School rolled out a specially designed one that a family donated after the school received the prestigious National Blue Ribbon Award. It’s emblazoned with the National Blue Ribbon School seal, and it’s the […]
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South Florida Jewish Academy
South Florida Jewish Academy (Published in October, 2013) Coconut Creek - Baila Gansburg was preparing to open a Jewish preschool when opportunity came knocking at a site in Coconut Creek that used to house a school for children with special needs. “Parents came and begged us to reopen a special needs school,” Gansburg recalled. The former school, which educated […]
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