How one Rapid City private school is providing alternative learning for children

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) -Empowered Ed is a private school that has been around for one year, providing holistic, kid-centered, and collaborative learning for kids kindergarten through 12th grade. While most public schools focus on reading comprehension and test scores, educators at Empower Ed say children’s mental health is equally important.

Omaka Mendoza, a student at Empower Ed says he enjoys being around his peers again, especially since covid caused most schools to go to online teaching for two years.

He states, “A big thing for this school is having that social interaction because like sixth grade I was online, and it was hard not being around kids so definitely there is a big change.”

Angela Giffin, President of Empowered Ed says the most important part of learning is though sharing your emotions.

She states “The social emotional learning, having mental health and physical learning. All of those are as important as kid’s intellectual growth. So, we provide a space for them to do that all together.

The school shares space with St. Andrews Episcopal Church, but Giffin says they are not religious.

Giffin states “We are not a religious school. We welcome all religions and beliefs here and sometimes the kids talk about it, and they learn about different ideologies from around the world. We never say this one is right and this one is wrong; we welcome all those belief systems. Regardless of money or ability, we want to be able to provide an exceptional learning environment for anybody who wants it.”

The school plans to expand enrollment and plans to find a larger space with help from grants in 2023.

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