Published Mon, Dec 10, 18.
Written by Scott Chleborad.
Not every student who wants to go to school at Adams Thermal Academy (ATA) is granted their wish. ATA seeks out a very specific student body, and we're very intentional about the enrollment process. ATA desires to give students with the most need in the community a chance to get an education - something that they would not otherwise have due to their life circumstances. Yet, compared to most of the world’s standards, or at least the Western world’s standards, nearly every child in the community is considered impoverished. With tens-of-thousands of children in the area, how do the academies choose the hundred or so that get admitted?
Adams Thermal Foundation’s (ATF) mission statement is to “strive to alleviate the suffering of the most vulnerable. ATA operates with that statement in mind and is committed to finding the students who are the most vulnerable. To do that, we have partnered with the local government to help find these students. The smallest unit of the Ethiopian government is called the Kabela (pronounced: Ka-bel-ay). The Kabela is even smaller than city government or county work, and are in charge of small sections of land and people within the area. The purpose of the Kabela is to know the conditions of the people within their area. Conditions include: financials, health status, marital status, children, etc. The Kabela is extremely watchful in keeping an eye on the local demographic, which provides the larger government structures a detailed picture of what areas are struggling the most. Area churches often assist the Kabela by notifying them when the church identifies a struggling family. The Kabela is a wonderful partner to have in the enrollment process because they know their people, and their people’s needs. They know who is in extreme poverty, who is an orphan, whose parents are living with AIDS, etc. The Kabela knows which children are the most vulnerable.
The first step in the enrollment process is finding the students. While working together with the Kabela, ATA reviews letters and recommendations submitted by either the Kabela, local area churches, or received directly from community members. After the letters or recommendations are received, they are presented before an admissions committee. The committee is made up of a wide variety of people, with members representing the Kabela, others representing the Department of Education, the Department of Health, the ATF Headquarters, and local ATA staff and administration. The committee reviews the documents and turns them into formal applications, which detail the family’s situation. The application records how many living parents the child has, the child’s living condition, the child’s health status, the family’s health, how many meals per week is the child currently receiving, and the monthly income of the family. This gives the committee a general sense of which children have the most need out of all the applicants.
After the applications are complete and the academy has assigned a number of students to be accepted into each grade, the committee physically visits each home of the potential applicants, starting with those whose applications expressed the greatest need. The home visits ensure that the perception given in the applications truly matches the reality of the child’s situation. The committee spends time with each family at the family’s home and also interviews the neighboring community to verify that the family is being honest with their account of their home life. After all the home visits are complete and the information is verified, the data is assessed and prioritized. Data is then analyzed and given weight. The following is a breakdown of the current point system used to evaluate the need of a student:
| Full orphan (No parents) | 50 |
| Half orphan (single parent) | 25 |
| Living in poverty* | 10 |
| Guardian's health | 10 |
| Child's health | 5 |
* Living in poverty is only weighted with 10 points because nearly all applicants live in poverty. Very few exceptions are made to that rule.
The weighted numbers are added up to match the child’s situation. For example, a healthy child who is an impoverished (10) orphan (50), living with their widowed grandmother, who is extremely ill herself (10), would receive a total weight number of 70. The data is then sorted by weight, with children having the largest total number at the top. ATA now has a prioritized list of students who are truly vulnerable, whose condition has been verified. ATA sends out acceptance letters to the children, starting at the top of the list, working their way down to as many students per grade as permitted. Admission is based on a child’s situation, and nothing more. ATA does not discriminate on the basis of faith, belief or tribal affiliation. The Academies are available to any child who is among the most vulnerable in their community.
In conclusion, ATF’s mission to serve the most vulnerable children is taken very seriously. Each child is vetted and truly does live in an extremely tough environment. ATF’s commitment to helping the poor is coupled with the passion to bring eternal life to the community. In this way, we are seeking justice for the poor with a desire to bring both physical and eternal life.
“Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.” –Proverbs 11:4
“The righteous care about justice for the poor.” –Proverbs 29:7