The Good Folks of The South Mountain/Laveen Village’s
By George Young
(gayoung@cox.net)
This is a series of articles profiling some of the residents who live and work in the South Mountain/Laveen Villages. In keeping with the original format of the Villager to only print the positive, we will attempt to acknowledge some of the great folks that have contributed so much to our lives and are hopefully role models for all of us. This month I would like to profile Mrs. Rachel Bennett, one of our new folks.
I have had the pleasure of working with her and PCA school, they are truly an asset to our Village’s. Her students have been active in our efforts to clean up our Villages by joining the South Mountain Village Clean & Beautiful.
Rachel Bennett serves as the School Director for Phoenix Collegiate Academy, spearheading the development and submission of a successful charter school application. In pursuit of an excellent school design, and to ensure the strongest educational opportunity for the middle and high school students of the South Mountain Village area of Phoenix, Ms. Bennett completed a year-long Fellowship with Building Excellent Schools which included a residency at Excel Academy, recognized by The Center of Education Reform as one of the top charter schools of the year in 2007. A graduate of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., Ms. Bennett received a B.A. in Economics before she joined Teach For America, a nationally acclaimed and highly selective teaching program. While a member of Teach For America, Ms. Bennett earned her Masters in Curriculum and Instruction from Arizona State University. She taught 8th grade for four years at C.O. Greenfield Elementary School, where she developed an annual program of travel with students to Washington, D.C. She also helped establish a mentoring program with Be A Leader Foundation. Ms. Bennett has obtained her Certificate in Administration from the University of Phoenix and has assembled a powerful and committed group of professionals from the Phoenix area to serve on the Governing Board supporting the academic and organizational success of the school. Ms. Bennett is the School Director for Phoenix Collegiate Academy.
God Bless the Rachel and God Bless America and God Bless the South Mountain/Laveen Village’s.








