North Omaha, NE – A brand-new school is getting ready to welcome its first students, and it is already making history before the doors even open. DerNecia Phillips, a local educator and community builder, has founded the Identity Preparatory Academy. This new private middle school is officially Nebraska’s first state-approved, Black-founded school for girls in grades five through eight.
For many families in North Omaha, this feels like a long time coming. Phillips saw that young tween girls often get lost in the shuffle during a very delicate time in their lives. They are trying to figure out who they are while also trying to keep up with math, science, and reading. She built this school to solve both problems at once.
The school’s motto is all about excellence, identity, and leadership. Instead of just telling girls to be quiet and sit still, Identity Prep wants them to speak up. Phillips believes that if you teach a girl that her background is a strength, not a weakness, she will perform better in every subject.
How “The Dreams of Our Daughters” Built a Liberated Learning Community
Phillips did not just guess what the girls needed. She went straight to the source. Before writing a single lesson plan, she invited local families and their daughters to a series of talks she called “The Dreams of Our Daughters.” During these listening sessions, the parents talked about their fears, and the young girls talked about the kind of school that would actually make them excited to wake up for class.
“We invited the families and their daughters to come in. We called it the Dreams of Our Daughters. They talked about what kind of education that would be nourishing for them would look like,” explained DerNecia Phillips, founder and chief executive of Identity Preparatory Academy. “And then we built it out.”
That’s why the school describes itself as a “liberated learning community.” The girls helped design the activities and the culture. Because the students had a voice in the building process, they are much more likely to respect the rules and feel like they truly belong there.
Why All-Girls Schools Boost Academic Engagement and Confidence
Some folks might wonder: why a school just for girls? Phillips points directly to the research. Studies have shown that when you remove the social pressures of mixed-gender classrooms, girls often take more risks with their answers and feel safer being wrong while learning.
According to an analysis by FFT Datalab (reported by The Guardian), students in all-girls schools do better on exams than those in mixed schools. Furthermore, a study from UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute found that graduates of all-girls schools have higher rates of academic engagement and much stronger confidence.
Phillips wants that for North Omaha. She is not just building a place to pass a test; she is building a place where a 12-year-old learns to lead a meeting, solve an engineering problem, and walk with her head held high.
The Sankofa Symbol Guides Culturally Fortified Education
Walk into Identity Prep, and you will notice a special symbol. It is the Sankofa bird from the Twi language of Ghana. The literal meaning is “to go back and get it.” For this school, that means bringing the strong, respectful, and brilliant values of the past into the classroom of the future.
This is what Phillips calls a “culturally fortified” education. The girls will see leaders who look like them. They will read history books where they are the heroes, not just the side characters. They will learn Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), but they will do it while honoring their roots.
“We want high-quality education and academic excellence at the forefront. The way we’re getting there… is that it needs to be culturally fortified. Our girls need to see people that look like them and leadership that looks like them,” Phillips added.
North Omaha Community Steps Up to Shape Future Leaders
One of the most beautiful parts of this story is that the educators are coming from the neighborhood. Community members have stepped up to serve as teachers and mentors. They know the streets the girls walk on, and they know the specific challenges of growing up in North Omaha.
By opening a state-approved private school, Identity Prep offers an alternative to families who felt the public system couldn’t see their daughters fully. The goal is not just to pass the 8th grade, but to send young women into high school with the tools to handle anything.
Phillips explains that academic success is the engine, but identity is the steering wheel. When classes begin this upcoming school year, the staff will focus daily on fostering creativity, confidence, and serious academic achievement. For the families who attended those early “Dreams” sessions, seeing the school open is a dream finally coming true.
