'25 MSAA Summer Institute

The Tenacity Challenge is an academic competition for teams of African American and Latina/o high school students, and on a separate date, middle school students. Students prepare for several months to compete in four events on the culminating day: the history argument before a panel of judges, the literature analysis (with with written rationale and videotaped performance), the math quiz bowl and the art installation.  On another date, the middle school challenge includes a leadership competition, the literature analysis, a STEM challenge and the math quiz bowl.   With over 2000 students impacted to date, the preparation and the competition build academic risk taking, collaboration, deep learning and leadership skills, all of which contribute to a sense of belonging and the closing of achievement gaps at their home schools.