The Mission of Synergy Academies is to eliminate the achievement gap that has persisted for generations among educationally disadvantaged students. Before Synergy opened its first campus in 2004, this achievement gap had not gone away in Synergy's neighborhood despite many people’s best efforts and best intentions. Synergy believes that only by working more effectively together can we eliminate the achievement gap and create educational equity for all students. Synergy Academies does this by creating a sense of synergy in everything we do.

Our Vision is that our students will meet or exceed the California Content Standards and be prepared to take college-preparatory classes in secondary school so that they can eventually attend the four-year university of their choice.

Why We Founded Synergy

As an administrator at the University of Southern California, Meg noticed that college students who came from inner-city public K-12 schools were often not as academically prepared as their peers. For this reason, Meg transitioned from higher education and became an elementary school teacher. As a teacher, she saw that inner-city schools were not improving quickly enough. Therefore, Meg co-founded Synergy Charter Academy and Synergy Kinetic Academy to more rapidly create educational equity for all students.

Randy began teaching in 1997 in a struggling inner-city public school. Even though the majority of the students at his school were performing significantly below grade level, Randy saw their potential and believed that this need not be the case. In order to create an environment where students could reach their full potential, Randy co-founded Synergy Charter Academy and Synergy Kinetic Academy in South Central Los Angeles.

Barbara co-founded Synergy’s middle school, Synergy Kinetic Academy, in order to use her science and secondary education background to provide a world-class education to inner-city students. Barbara holds two degrees in the biological sciences and a doctoral degree in science education. Her previous research and experiences helped shape Synergy Kinetic Academy’s emphasis on empowering more Latino and African American students to pursue a career in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM).