His results-driven ‘boarding experience’ stands out as an ambitious, immersion-style live-in operation designed to help students thrive.
Now, almost 50 years later, that memory helps Bowman explain why he opened At Last! The Urban Boarding Experience. It’s an idea born of his own experience — and his candid grasp of the struggles his own loving mother faced. The operation’s rigorous and results-driven strategies reflect the same standards that made Bowman a successful corporate lawyer and logistics company owner. He’s interested in creating proficient learners ready to tackle whatever path they choose after graduation.
Based on the individual reports that Bowman shared with me, the enrolled participants, who range from third- through fifth-graders, have already seen significant academic progress. He hopes to eventually expand to two more buildings planned nearby and to serve 180 students from first to sixth grade. Bowman’s own mother, Annie Lois, remains the single greatest influence on his life. The pain he saw daily in her eyes is the fuel that propels him to do this work.
Jill Louis, Randy Bowman's wife, is one of At Last's regular volunteers. On Tuesday night, she taught a lesson on creative writing. “They are at least as aspirational as they are impoverished,” Bowman said. “I am not seeing them through a lens of judgment. They get enough judgment from society.” The day followed At Last’s regular schedule: The first part of the afternoon was devoted to learning, with specially trained staff counselors using precise data-driven tools. During dinnertime, “house mom” Elicha Edwards played question-and-answer games designed to sharpen social-emotional skills.
Lacy, who grew up in South Dallas and graduated from DISD’s Townview Science and Engineering School and SMU, was the head of the math department at the Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy when Bowman persuaded him to join At Last.
SharonFGrigsby as usual, grigsby did not bother to review the 990. this place is far too new to gather info, Charter schools run by one person notorious for abuse of funds. Bowman is paying himself aprx $300,000 annually in most recent - 3 years old, publicly available 990.