THRIVE Academy, a boarding school for underprivileged Baton Rouge youth, is set to host its second annual 3rd Street Grub Crawl on Thursday.
“It’s essentially a big block party on Third Street,” THRIVE founder Sarah Broome said.
From 6-9 p.m., attendees can walk Third Street in downtown Baton Rouge while taking in the smells and sounds of the city. The majority of the bars and restaurants on Third Street have partnered with THRIVE this year, offering food and drink specials to all of the attendees.
Tickets for the event are $10 and can be purchased on the event’s website. Each ticket-holder will be given a wristband upon arrival that will grant them access to specials up and down Third Street.
All of the proceeds from the ticket sales will go directly to THRIVE, as well as a portion of the proceeds made from each restaurant throughout the night.
Broome said she was inspired to launch THRIVE after one of her students was killed in a violent fight in 2010. Seeing such a bright girl pass away so early in her life due to inadequate living conditions and poor education made her wish that more could be done for these children during a traditional school day, she said.
Broome felt that some of her students needed more time and more services than any traditional school could be expected to provide, motivating her to offer the local students an alternative. So, THRIVE was born: a boarding school where kids are looked after, nurtured and given a chance at the best of what life has to offer.
THRIVE’s main goal is to promote independence and self-sufficiency in its students through a combination of nurturing and responsibility that, hopefully, will help break the community’s cycle of poverty.
The school began with a class of sixth graders and has expanded one year at a time since then. Currently, THRIVE accommodates grades 6-9, but Broome plans to expand to 12th grade within a few years.
The campus, currently located on Government Street, will be moved to a new location on Brightside Drive in August for the 2016-17 school year.
Residential life at this new location will be similar to residential life on the original campus, with students living in family units and sharing chore responsibilities, such as cooking meals and doing laundry.
“They also have access to sports programs, art opportunities, after school tutoring and things like that,” Broome said. “It’s a pretty well-rounded program that they have access to.”
The new location also benefits most of THRIVE’s residential advisers. The employees who work with the children in the evenings are also University students that are provided housing on campus in addition to their salaries.
“That’s another part of the reason we’re excited to be moving closer to LSU,” Broome said. “It’ll be a lot more convenient for our folks that actually attend the school.”