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G O D H A S P R O V I D E D U S W I T H T H E R I G H T P E O P L E
A former police officer for the Birmingham Police Department , May worked in the Woodlawn area before earning his Master of Divinity at Samford University . Currently , he fills the critical role of Bible teacher at Cornerstone .
A native of Hueytown , May credits his law enforcement and educational background for informing his teaching today .
“ Being at an interdenominational school prepared me in a way to be able to not only speak from or teach from a denominational aspect , but it also enabled me to speak to those that are not from my denomination because not every student here is from the same Christian background as I am ,” May explained .
“ Being a police officer from this particular area dealing with inner-city youth … it ’ s not a struggle with connecting because I ’ ve had experience through my previous occupation of being able to have conversations and to understand the students ’ world versus coming in and trying to implement my way of things without having a complete understanding of their world . Policing helped me in that area .”
career & college preparedness
Teachers and mentors like the aforementioned play a crucial role in the future lives of Cornerstone students .
Preston London is one of these . A former Cornerstone student-athlete , London currently studies mechanical engineering at Alabama A & M , where he is also on the track and field team . He credits his Cornerstone coaches for preparing him for adulthood .
“ All the coaches … taught us to work hard but put in the same work towards God and the same work toward school as hard as you work at sports ,” London said . “ A lot of them really prepared us to be men .”
Upon graduation , Cornerstone ’ s Class of 2023 cumulatively earned $ 1,495,876 in scholarships to continue their education if they chose .
MarKayla Bell is a 2018 Cornerstone graduate who received a scholarship from a donor to attend Samford University . Now in her first year of medical school at the University of Alabama at Birmingham , Bell sees her Cornerstone academic experiences as good preparation .
“ I think I kind of wanted to do medicine before I got to Cornerstone , but they definitely had resources in place that kind of inspired me to continue ,” Bell said . “ We would do career preparedness events as early as middle school . We would have people come in and talk to us about our careers , and they would encourage us to do research , so I knew pretty early on how to become a doctor , just the logistics of it , that I needed to go to med school , that I needed to major in a STEM major for undergrad , and I learned all of that really , really early on .”
Yet Bell didn ’ t recognize the benefits of Cornerstone ’ s dual enrollment opportunities until she got to college .
“ I didn ’ t realize the significance of that when I was doing it , but when I got to college , it turned out to be very helpful because I came into college with 26 college credits ,” she explained . “ I could ’ ve graduated early , but I was a chemistry major and a biochemistry major , so I needed an extra year to finish up that coursework , but I was ahead of all of my peers .”
According to Sullen , Cornerstone partners with Jefferson State Community College to provide Cornerstone students with dual enrollment opportunities . Cornerstone pays for these opportunities in full , enabling students to take college classes online .
“ Typically , in years past , it ’ s just been juniors and seniors , but this year , we have actually pushed it down and let our sophomores participate ,” Sullen said .
Cornerstone also offers student scholarships through the Rotary Club , which furthers student education in trade and technical colleges . London went to Jefferson State on one of these scholarships , later transferring to a four-year college .
the cornerstone way
Academics :
An International Baccalaureate certified school , Cornerstone prides itself on academic rigor .
“ I think Cornerstone … was really rigorous ,” London said . “ Getting through community college was a breeze compared to Cornerstone .
According to Carr , the school falls into the 60th percentile in test scores , meaning all students are at grade level and above . Student ACT scores are also above average .
“ Our rigor and the way we go about our academics — our kids are functioning above [ other ] kids in the neighborhood ,” Carr said .
Cornerstone works with parents to make education affordable , and most students only pay around $ 500 a year in tuition .
“ If you ’ re paying something , you ’ re more likely to be more [ on ] time , you ’ re more likely to be in correct uniform ,” Carr explained . “ So we require tuition .”
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