Hello my name is Melissa Brookens and I am honored to serve as the principal of Aspire APEX Academy. In 2010 I began my career with Aspire by becoming a founding teacher at APEX Academy teaching 3^rd grade. Through my time here I taught 4^th and 5^th grade where I was lead teacher until I joined the Principal Residency program in 2014 and became principal of APEX in 2015. It has been exciting to watch APEX grow into the school it is now. I am inspired each day coming to APEX to work with our staff, families, and Wildcats.  Each person is committed and passionate to ensure we are giving our Wildcats the skills needed to be successful in middle/high school and college. We are here to set the foundation in their elementary career to ensure success later on.

Being born and raised in Stockton and coming from a low-income family, I know the challenges that exist for our families which drives me to work harder to help our families succeed. When not enhancing the lives of our Wildcats I spend time with my husband, Peter and three children, Jon, Mariah, and Makayla. We enjoy doing many activities together as a family such as spending time hiking, reading, and snuggling to watch a good family movie.

At APEX we are committed to giving students the necessary skills both academically and socially. In thinking through the main goals for APEX, it would be to ensure students feel welcomed each day while at school and gain skills to establish and maintain their social-emotional well-being. In having strong social emotional skills where students feel a sense of community, it will support with them to achieve their academic goals. Each day our Wildcats will engage in quality standards driven lesson plans that allow them to explore and construct meaning of their new learnings. In Stockton, we are looking to defy the odds of students who come from low-income families and we know that each student can and will achieve success.

Here at APEX, we are home of tomorrow’s leaders. We are smart, we lead and more importantly we serve!

Sincerely,
Melissa Brookens
Principal, APEX Academy