Charter schools give early introduction to CMU’s family feeling

Samantha Rodriguez-Osorio and Terrence Stallworth grew up in different parts of Michigan and graduated from high school in different years. What they share is a feeling that a sense of belonging brought them to Central Michigan University.

“It just felt right to me,” said Rodriguez-Osorio. “It felt like a second home to me.”

Rodriguez-Osorio was introduced to Central Michigan University as a student at the West Michigan Academy of Environmental Science, a CMU-authorized charter school, from kindergarten through high school graduation.

West Michigan Academy of Environmental Science, and the Detroit Leadership Academy that Stallworth attended, are two of the 69 charter schools CMU partners with in Michigan. This year is the 30th year that CMU has served as the authorizing sponsor for authorized charters.

West Michigan Academy of Environmental Science is a small school where everyone knows everyone else and has tight connections, Rodriguez-Osorio said. She got a sense of those tight bonds during a visit to CMU.

“That’s when I fell in love with campus,” she said. During the 2024-25 school year, 1,250 charter school students in middle and high schools across Michigan visit CMU every year.

They slept in residence halls and were introduced to college life, she said. When it came time to make decisions about her future, it helped her know where she fit in best.

Since coming to CMU, she’s learned that like every tight-knit community everyone on campus wants to see her do well.

“Everyone at CMU wants you to succeed,” she said. She has embraced that. She currently works as a resident’s assistant to help freshmen get the most from their time at CMU. She plans to graduate in spring 2026 and start work on her graduate studies at CMU.

That sense of belonging encouraged Stallworth, a bit of an introvert, to work outside of his comfort zone to try new things.

When looking at his future, he was concerned about going to a bigger school where he might get lost in the crowd. He’d attended the DLA since sixth grade and was familiar with CMU’s good reputation as a university.

It wasn’t just CMU’s reputation that brought him to campus. It was also a feeling that he belonged on campus.

At CMU, he said he didn’t feel like he was lost. He felt like he had room to grow. Stallworth joined clubs and helped a professor with a radio drama project. His biggest growth came as a student worker in the admissions office.

“You learn how to talk to different people,” he said. He learned how to talk in front of strangers.

Stallworth graduated with his bachelor’s degree in 2022 with a degree in integrative public relations and a minor in advertising.

After working in the Mount Pleasant community for a year and a half, last year he returned to familiar ground: the admissions office. He recruits CMU students from 12 counties on Michigan’s west side.

“It just felt comfortable to come back,” he said.

At the end of the 2024-25 school year, 29,237 from across Michigan enrolled in a CMU charter school.

CMU was the first Michigan authorizer of charter schools in 1994, and the first public university in the nation to do it. The university launched its charter school program on the idea that every child deserves equitable access to a quality education.