Wilmington, NC – June 21, 2021 – Ken Lowe, a founding donor to the Girls Leadership Academy of Wilmington, GLOW Academy, announced on Friday night a donation of $1 million to name a wing of the school after his 92-year-old mother, Barbara Love Lowe. Mr. Lowe, a former colleague and longtime friend of GLOW Academy Founder Judy Girard, acknowledged his mother’s “lifetime of caregiving through nursing in her rural community and then on to a second chapter of management in the banking industry,” as he made the gift to North Carolina’s only single gender charter school. The $1 million will support GLOW’s mission and names a wing of the school Lowe Hall in her honor. The donation was made as the school hosted its sixth annual Celebrity Chef Event, featuring Chef Robert Irvine, host of the Food Network’s Restaurant Impossible series, Chef Ashley Christensen, a two-time James Beard award winner from Raleigh, and included video and Zoom visits by Chefs Emeril Lagasse and Tyler Florence, respectively. More than 500 guests, including Mr. Lowe’s mother and family, attended the event which was hosted on GLOW Academy’s campus.
“I have admired the mission of GLOW Academy since my friend Judy Girard first committed to its founding in 2015. I have seen how these girls are thriving and are so enthusiastically supported by the Wilmington community,” Mr. Lowe said. “It is truly my privilege to honor my mother’s personal determination and commitment to education by naming a wing of GLOW Academy Lowe Hall.”Mr. Lowe also made a contribution to name a GLOW Academy classroom in memory of Dr. Steve Martin, a mentor to him and Ms. Girard during their years together at Scripps Network.
“Ken Lowe has always been a supporter of women and recognizes their value to any endeavor chosen. His mother obviously instilled in him those values which will now get passed on to every GLOW student thanks to Ken’s generous donation,” said Ms. Girard.
ABOUT GLOW ACADEMY:
The Girls Leadership Academy of Wilmington is North Carolina's only single gender public charter school. The school opened in August, 2016, with its inaugural sixth grade class, adding a new sixth grade each successive academic year. The first class of students will graduate in the 2022/23 academic year. With a focus on providing a single-sex educational choice for students from predominately underserved communities who are often the first in their families to attend college, the 6th thru 12th grade school is part of a nationwide network of 16 groundbreaking and successful single-gender schools. This Young Women’s Leadership Network is guided by a proven educational model focused on academic rigor, personal responsibility, leadership and college preparedness. At GLOW Academy, she will: graduate, go to college and succeed in life. For more information about GLOW Academy, visit www.glowacademy.net or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/GlowAcademy1/