NOVEMBER 2019 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 15
For the past nine years,
Challenge Preparatory
Charter School in Far
Rockaway has ser ved
as a place where the
extraordinary potential
of children is recognized,
their accomplishments are
rewarded, and they can thrive
academically and socially.
In 2004, along with a few
dedicated local supporters
and advisors, Rev. Dr. Les
Mullings formed a team to
begin the long application
process for the charter
school. Six years later, the
school opened in August
2010, offering kindergarten
and first grade classes. In the
spring of 2012, the school
moved into a retrofitted
building at 710 Hartman
Lane that now serves grades
K-5. Including the middle
school that opened in 2016,
it now serves over 700 students in grades K-8.
We recently interviewed Rev. Dr. Mullings,
Challenge Preparatory Charter School’s CEO
and founder about the school’s mission, challenges
and more.
Q: What makes Challenge Preparatory
Charter School special?
Spotlight Long Island
Challenge Preparatory Charter School’s Founding CEO
On What Makes The School Special
A: Our school is and
remains very community
focused, and for us, it is not
just about what happens in
the classroom. Our goal is
to address the whole child
and, by extension, their
families, through resources,
workshops, services and
support.
Q: How would you say
things have changed at the
school since it first opened?
A : Our commitment
to access to rigorous,
high-quality education is
unwavering, no matter the
changes around us. We are
seeing a renaissance in Far
Rockaway, and our school
has been on the forefront
of positive change since the
beginning. We now serve our
scholars in three different
sites across the city, and we
are in the process of planning for Challenge
Charter High School, which opens at 15-20
Central Avenue in the fall of 2020.
Q: What is the mission of your school?
A: The mission of Challenge Preparatory Charter
School is to prepare students from the greater
Far Rockaway community to excel academically,
to demonstrate mastery of the New York State
and Common Core Learning Standards, and
to achieve their career aspirations. Challenge
cultivates and supports the intellectual, aesthetic,
social, emotional and ethical development of its
students and prepares them to be responsible
21st century citizens. To accomplish its mission,
Challenge offers a rigorous instructional program
in a safe, supportive, technology-infused and dataenriched
school environment.
Q: How do you use technology to accomplish
that mission?
A: We proudly use technology at every grade
level. We utilize a variety of digital resources and
apps for daily learning, and we use Smartboards,
Chromebooks, and Google Education. We
regularly obtain and use student data to enrich
and improve instruction.
Q: What is your vision for the school as its
founder and CEO?
A: In 2020, Challenge Charter High School
will bring college and job-ready learning to
students through an Early College and Career
and Technical Education (CTE) program. This is
a gamechanger for our city. Opening a high school
like this was my original dream, and now, after a
decade of serving our community, that dream is
being realized.
Q: How did you get started in education and
what was it that attracted you to the work
you do?
A: My background includes time as a youth
leader and mentor, and I have always been drawn
to helping students. For many years, I watched
generations of families in the area suffer from lack
of quality education, basic health care, affordable
housing, job opportunities and economic
development. I knew that offering a choice for
quality education was a long-term solution for
some of those needs.
Q: What is your favorite part of your job?
A: I love seeing the transformation in a child
attending Challenge Prep. We have students
who have been with us since our doors opened,
and I get to see the tangible personal growth in
them as they move to our middle school. Now,
with our new high school opening, it is exciting
to imagine the great things these global citizens
will accomplish with career-readiness and early
college choices available to them.
Custom Computer Specialists is proud to
sponsor Spotlight LI. Since 1979, Custom
has been dedicated to providing Long
Island’s schools, local government agencies,
healthcare facilities and businesses with
advanced technology solutions and support.
To learn more about Custom Computer, or to be
considered for a future Spotlight LI, please email
info@customtech.com.
Custom Computer Specialists
Right People. Right Results.®
Rev. Dr. Les Mullings, Challenge
Preparatory Charter School’s CEO
and founder, congratulates a
2019 graduate.
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