Mission Matters: Phil Johnson and Lou Raders

Denver Academy has been an integral part of our family for 25 years. Our son Bryce attended DA from fifth grade through graduation. During those years, he evolved from a hesitant, risk-averse child for whom school was a source of failure and stress to a confident, self-aware and empathetic student whose success in college continued with an honors MBA and the establishment of his own investment advisory firm. DA provided the academic and emotional tools that allowed Bryce to recover his self-respect and willingness to accept new challenges with confidence and humor. DA changed his life, which changed our family's life.

 

We have continued our relationship with DA through the years with Phil's Board and our capital campaign service, and we currently sponsor an annual scholarship for students demonstrating a strong commitment to community service. We sincerely believe that there is no institution in Colorado that more successfully and consistently impacts the lives of diverse learners and their families. We recently hosted our 15 year-old nephew from Florida while he attended a DA summer program. After three weeks, he said that DA felt like "home" more than any school he had ever attended and he didn't want to leave it. After a month, he said that he had made more friends at DA than he ever had before and his behavior began to reflect a dramatic increase in maturity. When he returned home, he sent us two notes, one saying that he'd never forget his time at DA and the other thanking us for "helping me cross the border from childhood to adulthood."