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FACTS AND FAQS

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Climbers Served to Date

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Current Middle School Climbers

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Current High School Climbers

Our Climbers and their families make a four-year commitment to Jacob’s Ladder and come from all over the Commonwealth of Virginia. Our Climbers come from urban, suburban, and rural areas.

School Year 2022 - 2023

  • $790 per Climber for enrichment, advocacy and mentorship throughout the school year Enrichment Activities
  • Climber Spring Retreat: Weekend away at Camp Piankatank 
in Hartfield, VA
  • Fall Event: Fall Festival at Camp Piankatank
  • Winter Event: GardenFest of Lights at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

Summer Camp 2023

  • $3,776 per Climber to participate in the four weeks of residential camp
  • Twelve Resident Advisors helped to plan, lead, and implement camp programs while creating a supportive, safe environment. We have employed 338 RAs to date.
  • Fourteen instructors taught various hands- on enrichment classes

Total Expenses

  • $4,566 Total expense for the 2022-2023 year per Climber
  • $20,000 Average total expense for a four-year investment per Climber

frequently asked questions

What are the qualifications needed to get into the program? Do you provide equal opportunity for all gifted students to get into the program? How is underserved defined?
  • All students are identified by their schools as gifted. Levels of “giftedness” vary depending on the school in which the student is enrolled.
  • Underserved” is first defined by the fact that the overwhelming majority of our students qualify for their school’s free and reduced lunch program. All students are treated equally under the application process.
  • Students are recommended by their guidance counselors or teachers and then during the interview process many of the other underserved identifiers become evident. These include but certainly are not limited to one or more parent being incarcerated, students in living conditions that are at the poverty level (students living in hotels, in homes without electricity, or living with multiple families in one dwelling.) Often the grandparents are raising the student. The underserved characteristics are so varied, it would take a book to describe them. One Climber shared during a Chapel Talk that all of their friends had either been killed or shot at and they feared that would also be their fate if they went home after the program ended for the summer. The student was later enrolled in a boarding school to get them out of that home environment. 
  • Once a student is accepted into the program, all have the same opportunities. Any limiting factors usually come from the parents who do not understand all of the doors that can be opened for their child by being a part of Jacob’s Ladder.  All students are followed/tracked through high school with our advocacy program.
If you are oversubscribed on qualified students, how does your selection process work? Is there more focus on the gifted portion, the underserved portion, or something else? Who decides in the end?
  • All students are identified by their schools as gifted. Levels of “giftedness” vary depending on the school in which the student is enrolled.
  • Underserved” is first defined by the fact that the overwhelming majority of our students qualify for their school’s free and reduced lunch program. All students are treated equally under the application process.
  • Students are recommended by their guidance counselors or teachers and then during the interview process many of the other underserved identifiers become evident. These include but certainly are not limited to one or more parent being incarcerated, students in living conditions that are at the poverty level (students living in hotels, in homes without electricity, or living with multiple families in one dwelling.) Often the grandparents are raising the student. The underserved characteristics are so varied, it would take a book to describe them. One Climber shared during a Chapel Talk that all of their friends had either been killed or shot at and they feared that would also be their fate if they went home after the program ended for the summer. The student was later enrolled in a boarding school to get them out of that home environment. 
  • Once a student is accepted into the program, all have the same opportunities. Any limiting factors usually come from the parents who do not understand all of the doors that can be opened for their child by being a part of Jacob’s Ladder.  All students are followed/tracked through high school with our advocacy program.
Is getting these kids into college the end goal of your program? What other end goals beside getting into college do you focus on?
  • All students are identified by their schools as gifted. Levels of “giftedness” vary depending on the school in which the student is enrolled.
  • Underserved” is first defined by the fact that the overwhelming majority of our students qualify for their school’s free and reduced lunch program. All students are treated equally under the application process.
  • Students are recommended by their guidance counselors or teachers and then during the interview process many of the other underserved identifiers become evident. These include but certainly are not limited to one or more parent being incarcerated, students in living conditions that are at the poverty level (students living in hotels, in homes without electricity, or living with multiple families in one dwelling.) Often the grandparents are raising the student. The underserved characteristics are so varied, it would take a book to describe them. One Climber shared during a Chapel Talk that all of their friends had either been killed or shot at and they feared that would also be their fate if they went home after the program ended for the summer. The student was later enrolled in a boarding school to get them out of that home environment. 
  • Once a student is accepted into the program, all have the same opportunities. Any limiting factors usually come from the parents who do not understand all of the doors that can be opened for their child by being a part of Jacob’s Ladder.  All students are followed/tracked through high school with our advocacy program.
Is there any emphasis in using the gifts of these talented kids in their underserved low opportunity environments to improve their existing environment or is the focus to get the kids out of their underserved low opportunity environments by getting them into college with the hope that in the future these kids will return and give back once they have become successful by getting into college or in other ways of becoming successful using their gifts?
  • All students are identified by their schools as gifted. Levels of “giftedness” vary depending on the school in which the student is enrolled.
  • Underserved” is first defined by the fact that the overwhelming majority of our students qualify for their school’s free and reduced lunch program. All students are treated equally under the application process.
  • Students are recommended by their guidance counselors or teachers and then during the interview process many of the other underserved identifiers become evident. These include but certainly are not limited to one or more parent being incarcerated, students in living conditions that are at the poverty level (students living in hotels, in homes without electricity, or living with multiple families in one dwelling.) Often the grandparents are raising the student. The underserved characteristics are so varied, it would take a book to describe them. One Climber shared during a Chapel Talk that all of their friends had either been killed or shot at and they feared that would also be their fate if they went home after the program ended for the summer. The student was later enrolled in a boarding school to get them out of that home environment. 
  • Once a student is accepted into the program, all have the same opportunities. Any limiting factors usually come from the parents who do not understand all of the doors that can be opened for their child by being a part of Jacob’s Ladder.  All students are followed/tracked through high school with our advocacy program.
How do you define success as an organization? How do you define a successful kid that goes thru your program?
  • All students are identified by their schools as gifted. Levels of “giftedness” vary depending on the school in which the student is enrolled.
  • Underserved” is first defined by the fact that the overwhelming majority of our students qualify for their school’s free and reduced lunch program. All students are treated equally under the application process.
  • Students are recommended by their guidance counselors or teachers and then during the interview process many of the other underserved identifiers become evident. These include but certainly are not limited to one or more parent being incarcerated, students in living conditions that are at the poverty level (students living in hotels, in homes without electricity, or living with multiple families in one dwelling.) Often the grandparents are raising the student. The underserved characteristics are so varied, it would take a book to describe them. One Climber shared during a Chapel Talk that all of their friends had either been killed or shot at and they feared that would also be their fate if they went home after the program ended for the summer. The student was later enrolled in a boarding school to get them out of that home environment. 
  • Once a student is accepted into the program, all have the same opportunities. Any limiting factors usually come from the parents who do not understand all of the doors that can be opened for their child by being a part of Jacob’s Ladder.  All students are followed/tracked through high school with our advocacy program.