My father, Ed Shipman, the founder of Happy Hill Farm, used to say, almost every day, “Happy Hill Farm is a modern-day miracle.” He firmly believed this for several reasons.
First, Happy Hill Farm has never taken any federal, state, or local tax funding. Happy Hill Farm is not a United Way agency. Happy Hill Farm is interdenominational, so it does not receive large funding through any one denominational body or church.
Even so, almost 90% of our students receive the scholarships they need to grow up in our safe, family environment and to receive a world-class education … thanks to caring donors like you.
Does it require a lot of hard work and effort? Absolutely. But my father knew that there was not another place like Happy Hill Farm in the whole country. While a handful of organizations work with poor children in a residential setting, each of them has massive endowment funds, and most of them utilize the public school system for their students’ education.
Other boarding schools almost exclusively serve the wealthy. In fact, in the largest 100 boarding schools, financial aid is granted to an average of 30% of the students, and this tuition assistance only covers 50% of their need.
Students from a truly poor environment have very few options to be trained and mentored in a private boarding school. This is Happy Hill Farm’s mission—to find high-potential students in low-opportunity situations and raise them up to be future leaders with compassion for others.
North Central Texas Academy (NCTA) at Happy Hill Farm is a Christian, independent, accredited, co-educational, interdenominational, college-preparatory school serving grades K–12. We belong to many school associations. When others learn our philosophy, the response is always the same: “That’s impossible. You just cannot run a program that size, offer scholarships to 90% of the students, and do it completely with donations from the private sector.”
But we can. Because of you.
Your support provides these talented and deserving boys and girls with opportunities, education, and life skills they would likely not otherwise realize in their lifetime. You are changing their lives for the better and replacing a negative life cycle with a positive one … one that will impact generations to come.
It is our mission, purpose, and commitment to steward the funds you provide to carry out the mission of Happy Hill Farm, cultivating and producing leaders with solid character, integrity, and compassion who are ready to give back to our society … and our world.
Thank you for caring. We need your help now more than ever.