Please Consider Donating to Help Us Keep Our Momentum
This week, the Texas Education Agency rated Ector County ISD a "D" for 2024–2025. Despite billions in state funding - and hundreds of millions locally this year - student performance has stayed stagnant for three years.
We’re not pointing fingers at teachers. We’re saying what every parent knows: our kids can’t wait for the system to fix itself. That's why we need your help now.
A Different Model - And Proof It Works
Last August, Nerd Academy opened with 5 students and a promise: a real alternative for West Texas families.
We built small classes. We put literacy first. We brought AI literacy, coding, and PetroSTEAM into elementary school - on purpose and with heart.
One year later:
- 24 students started this fall
- 10 more expected by mid‑semester
- Nearly 7× growth in 12 months
See it in action:
And the community’s noticing:
- First Alert 7: Nerd Academy Combining Education with Oil & Gas
- Odessa American: New Private School Now Enrolling
- YourBasin: Beyond the Basics - Local Private School Digs Into Oil & Gas Education
- Telemundo 20: Academia Nerd Combina la Educación con el Petróleo y el Gas
- Midland Times: New school integrates oil, gas education into STEM curriculum
We’re Sustainable. Now We’re Scaling (Hire First, Grow Right)
Tuition now covers our lease and three full‑time teachers. We’re not asking sponsors to help “keep the lights on.” We’re asking to stay ahead of growth without sacrificing what makes Nerd Academy different.
Here’s the reality:
- Aside from the 24 currently enrolled, we have an additional 15 students who’ve expressed intent to enroll this semester; many families are relocating to Odessa and have already sent transcripts.
- We expect at least 10 of those to join by mid‑first semester.
- Our model is tuition‑sustained - but tuition follows the student. To keep classes small as they arrive, we must hire the 4th teacher now.
Think of your gift as a bridge:
- Hire now (keep class sizes tight) →
- Enroll incoming students (this semester) →
- Their tuition sustains that teacher next year (no repeat ask for salary)
$60,000 Gets Us There
We’re raising $60,000 to fund a fourth teacher this year - a single, measurable step with immediate impact.
What your gift does:
- Protects small class sizes as we grow
- Puts a great teacher in the room now, not “when budgets catch up”
- Keeps our focus on literacy mastery by 3rd grade, ethical AI, and PetroSTEAM — the stuff that changes lives early
We’re a 501(c)(3), so your gift is tax‑deductible.
Why Leaders and Families Back Nerd Academy
We’re not here to feed one industry - we’re here to open the world to our students.
From literacy mastery to AI literacy, from PetroSTEAM to civic leadership, we give kids the tools to understand the systems shaping their lives — whether that’s the energy that powers the globe, the technology that drives innovation, or the communities they call home.
Our goal is simple:
Cultivate tomorrow’s leaders. Help them see the possibilities. Let them choose their own path.
When you support Nerd Academy, you’re:
- Backing a model that puts critical thinking and curiosity first.
- Helping kids connect what they learn to the real world around them.
- Investing in a generation that will lead in energy, tech, arts, entrepreneurship — or wherever their talents take them.
Be Part of Year Two
We’ve gone from 5 to nearly 34 students in a year. Families are moving. Momentum is real. Help us hire now so those kids walk into the right classroom on day one.
Whether you give $100, $1,000, or $10,000, you’re funding a teacher in the classroom this year - and helping a sustainable model scale the right way.
SPONSORS & PARTNERS
