Project 10: Transition Education Network

Jeff and Joan Fortune and a group of community leaders opened the first Academy Prep Center in St. Petersburg's Midtown neighborhood in 1997, built on the Nativity Miguel model for economically disadvantaged children. We first enrolled only boys, welcomed our first class of girls in 2000, and today serve boys and girls in grades 5 to 8. Admission is for students who qualify for need-based scholarships, and families are strongly encouraged to start in fifth grade. Classes are capped at 18 students. Our college preparatory program adds extra English and math classes each week, four years of science and social studies with STEM, Spanish, character education, music, fine and performing arts, physical education and daily recess. Eighth graders study personal and business finance with Raymond James, and Fit Families for Life brings organic gardening, cooking and yoga into the health curriculum. More than 25 enrichment classes run each semester, from robotics, chess and karate to theatre with freeFall Theatre, songwriting, golf and flag football. After eighth grade, our Graduate Support program matches students with private, boarding and advanced public high schools and stays with them for up to eight years.

Apogee St Pete in St. Petersburg, Florida, is an innovative, project-based private micro-school and modern homeschool alternative founded in 2022 to serve students in kindergarten through 12th grade (ages 5–18). Part of the nationwide Apogee educational initiative, the school replaces traditional standardized desks and lectures with Socratic dialogue, self-paced digital mastery learning, hands-on entrepreneurial projects, physical fitness, and leadership quests. Maintaining a low 10:1 student-to-guide ratio, Apogee St Pete fosters radical responsibility, critical thinking, and real-world competency. The program is uniquely well-suited for creative, active, twice-exceptional (2e), and neurodivergent students—including those with ADHD—who flourish when granted autonomy, physical movement, and purpose-driven learning.

CES Academy of St. Petersburg is one of the Florida schools run by Children's Educational Services, a nonprofit founded in 2009. We serve kindergarten through grade 12 students who need a different setting than a traditional classroom, with small classes, no homework, and iPads, MacBooks and smartboards in every school. Families choose a program. Our Traditional program serves students on grade level or one to two levels behind, including students with IEPs and gifted students, and leads to an accredited high school diploma. The Foundations program teaches at each student's functional level with intensive language therapy for students with speech impairments, autism, intellectual disabilities and developmental delays, and those students finish with a certificate of completion or a diploma on Access Points. A Transitional program lets students earn a diploma over an extended period. Tuition is $11,000 for Traditional, $13,000 for Foundations and $16,500 for Achieve. Every CES school is accredited by Cognia. We track progress with goal contracts and weekly monitoring, and we accept all Florida school choice scholarships, including the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Unique Abilities. Our high schoolers can add dual enrollment coursework through Southeastern University.