With our annual report hot off the press and as we head into our sixth year of making a difference for a lifetime, it’s a great time to share what we — our champions, advocates, board, staff, volunteers and girls — accomplished last year. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing the past year’s highlights in a series of posts, with this being our first.
Our Miracle Year
We call 2015–16 our Miracle Year. Yes, we still pinch ourselves as we think about how our supporters and our community rallied to help raise a cool million — $1,146,440 to be exact — in a short three months to save our farm. While our Million Dollar Miracle may have been our most visible success, it was far from our only. We have much to celebrate.
Riding Academy Outcomes
Perhaps you’ve heard us say that our girls are awesome or maybe you’ve been fortunate to witness this firsthand. We’ve put together some numbers that show how amazing our girls are.
Of the 68 girls we worked with this last year — a 100 percent increase since we welcomed our first group in 2011 —
- 80 percent are passing their classes with a C after spending one year at CORRAL,
- 80 percent of our juniors and seniors are taking AP and honors classes, and
- 85 percent are no longer engaging in risky behavior.
Research-backed Results
Equally exciting is that for the first time we have third party data that backs up our work. During a months long sabbatical, Dr. Liz Craig, associate professor of communication at North Carolina State University, was onsite at CORRAL looking at “how human-animal interaction serves as an educator of what works and what doesn’t in a healthy relationship.” Her research showed that long-term intervention does work. Craig will present her work this fall at the National Communication Association’s 102nd Annual Conference in Philadelphia, PA.
There are so many who make CORRAL a success, and who played a part in the above. We are so appreciative.
Stay tuned as next week we look at program outcomes!
