Moving Forward

By: Ricky Austin

Dear Friends of the Aim Higher Foundation,

Over the last two weeks, 2,900 Aim Higher Scholars returned to Catholic schools across the Twin Cities, bright-eyed, smiling, full of anticipation—and hope. Aim Higher Scholars walked through the doors of every one of the 80 Catholic schools in this community, ready for the year ahead.

Ricky Austin is the president of the Aim Higher Foundation.

We couldn’t be prouder. And we couldn’t be sadder.

Even as we celebrate these new beginnings, we share in the heartbreak at Annunciation. We grieve for Harper and Fletcher and their families. We walk with one school community in sorrow. We stand with them and the 79 other Catholic schools as they meet the needs of students, parents, and teachers in the wake of this tragedy.

And, like our scholars on the first day of school, we hope.

Mourning and hope must walk side by side. To grieve deeply is to affirm how precious children are. To hope fiercely is to ensure tragedy does not define their future—or ours.

Because as each new day dawns this school year, children across the Twin Cities, and the 80 schools we serve, will still walk into classrooms. They’ll laugh with friends, race through hallways, raise their hands with questions. And that ordinary sound—the sound of students learning—reminds us that the work of raising and teaching children is still the most important work we do.

And so, we extend an invitation to you to join us in that work: as the children move forward with their school years, let us move forward in supporting them. In the most immediate future, for the Aim Higher Foundation, that means beginning again to move forward toward the Night of Light Celebration on September 27.

This year, the word ‘celebration’ feels harder to say—and yet more necessary than ever.

Our annual gala will be what it has always been: a gathering of 700 (and still growing) supporters to shine a light on the children Catholic schools serve, and hope to serve. An evening about the hope children and their families feel when they can access the right education for their children, and the hope Catholic school educators nurture as they help form loving children who grow up to create a better world.

As we move forward this fall, let us hope—and keep doing our “one thing:” creating opportunities for more children and their families.

In service,