About Lee High School

Lee High School is a public (Houston ISD) high school located in the inner-city of Southwest Houston. Founded in 1962 to relieve high attendance at Lamar High School in River Oaks Houston, Lee originally served a predominantly middle- to upper-middle-class, Caucasian student population. Throughout the late 80’s and 90’s, fluctuations in the Houston economy stimulated the movement of working populations within the inner city, which resulted in great demographic and socio-economic changes in Southwest Houston... and thus, Lee.

Today, Lee serves approximately 1,950 students, ~93% of which are classified as economically-disadvantaged [1]and at-risk [2] youth. The majority of students at Lee are first-generation immigrants, which is why close to 40% of the students are classified as “English Language Learners.” In fact, Lee boasts itself as being the school where “the world comes to learn.” With students from over 70 different countries and families that speak over 40 native languages, Lee is one of the most diverse public schools in the United States.

How the Lee Next Step Fund began

In 2007 the former principal of Lee High School, Steve Amstutz, launched an initiative to ensure Lee H.S. students received access to college- and career-preparatory learning experiences outside of traditional schooling. These experiences would be called “fantastic learning opportunities” (or FLOs), and a FLO Coordinator was hired to manage students’ application and participation in such programs (all offered by external institutions, such as universities, non-profits, companies, etc.).

For many Lee students, a FLO presented them with the first challenge to engage in learning outside of their school or community, the first time to travel outside of the city, and the first time to fill out a formal application or engage in formal interview processes. For students, applying to a FLO meant taking a big risk. As students learned about the promise of FLOs for their long-term development and preparation for college, the number of applications processed and acceptances received very quickly took off, with close to 100 students getting accepted to and/or participating in FLOs by the end of the initiative’s first year (2007-08).

However, amongst this success, a serious obstacle presented itself as more and more students were accepted to programs. Ms. Piquet-Rodriguez, Lee's FLO Coordinator, observed that roughly ½ of all external programs offered for high-school aged youth had associated costs, including application fees, program tuitions, and travel costs. Given that the average Lee student lives at or below the poverty line, few Lee students and families have the economic resources to follow-through on such financial obligations.

With the need for fundraising in sight, Monica and a committee of Lee faculty and community members worked to start a non-profit corporation (501c3) that would financially support Lee students’ participation in FLOs because they help students prepare for the next step of a successful future. With this vision, the name “Lee ‘Next Step’ Fund” was coined and through the assistance of the Texas Accountants and Lawyers for the Arts (TALA) as well as numerous members of the Houston community, the Lee Next Step Fund was up and running in six months. In its first fiscal year, the Lee Next Step Fund raised a total of $25,200, generated through the school community, individual donors, as well as a substantial pledge from the Rainwater Foundation.

[2] “At risk” is defined as a student who in one or more academic, behavioral, or domestic situations that make it more likely that the student will drop out from high school before completion (such as multiple course failings, assessment failure, pregnancy, being placed in alternative education centers, or suffering from homelessness)