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Silas Farley
CSF Alumnus, former New York City Ballet dancer, choreographer, and dean of the Colburn School’s Trudl Zipper Dance Institute
Growing up in Charlotte, Silas Farley always dreamed of dancing with the New York City Ballet.
Growing up in Charlotte, Silas Farley always dreamed of dancing with the New York City Ballet.
The youngest of seven, Silas was homeschooled with the rest of his siblings until it became too difficult for his parents to manage. Fortunately, the Farleys learned about CSF-Charlotte, which awarded all of their children scholarships so they were able to enroll at local private schools, including Charlotte Christian School where Silas excelled in both academics and athletics. In fact, all of the Farley children thrived at their respective schools and several earned athletic scholarships to college, including Matthias, now a safety for the Tennessee Titans.
“I’m just so grateful. It would not have been possible without your help,” Falinda Farley, Silas’s mother, told CSF. “You put all these children through the best private schools in town. They’ve been able to get a tremendous education.”
With the support of his family and teachers, Silas flourished in the classroom and dance studio, eventually earning a full scholarship to the School of American Ballet and completing high school at the Professional Children’s School. He officially joined the Ballet one year after high school. In 2021, he became the dean of the Colburn School’s Trudl Zipper Dance Institute.
“I knew from the time I was nine years old that I wanted to dance with the New York City Ballet. I’ve been incredibly blessed. I can’t imagine being who I am apart from the Children’s Scholarship Fund because CSF put me in the settings where a whole village of nurturers trained me to be the person I am.”
Photo Credits: Silas Farley, in class at the School of American Ballet. Photo © Rosalie O’Connor Photography (top photo); Children’s Scholarship Fund (2nd from top); Professional Children’s School (3rd from top), and Choreography George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust. Photo © Paul Kolnik (bottom photo).
In the 2022-23 school year alone, CSF and our local partners are distributing $54.2 million in scholarship awards.
CSF scholarships change lives: they provide students with the tools and opportunities they need to succeed and reach their full potential.
Since 1998, CSF has provided scholarships worth $989 million, changing the lives of 200,750 children.
CSF Omaha reports that its recipients have a 99.6 percent high school graduation rate, and a college entrance rate of 87 percent. [Source: CSF Omaha Website]
A CSF Philadelphia study found that 96 percent of CSF eighth graders graduated high school on time – compared to Philadelphia’s public school graduation rate of only 62 percent. [Source]
The BASIC Fund, CSF’s partner program in the San Francisco Bay Area, reported high school graduation rates of 89-94 percent compared with graduation rates of only 73 percent in San Francisco public schools, and 43 percent in nearby Oakland public schools. [Source]
CSF’s Denver partner program, ACE Scholarships, boasts that its scholarship recipients have a 92 percent graduation rate, compared to the Denver Public Schools’ 54 percent and the 61 percent average for the state of Colorado. [Source: ACE Scholarships Annual Report, 2012]
In Toledo, 97 percent of CSF partner program Northwest Ohio Scholarship Fund’s alumni have graduated from high school, and 95 percent have attended college. [Source: Northwest Ohio Scholarship Fund Website]
In New York City, 98.8 percent of CSF alumni responding to our alumni survey graduated high school on time in 2021, compared to the most recent average NYC public school graduation rate of 78.8 percent. [Sources: CSF Alumni Survey Data, 2021]
A recent study of CSF Baltimore alumni found that Baltimore scholarship recipients had a 97 percent graduation rate and 84 percent enrolled in college. [Source: Friedman Foundation]
Learn more about CSF and CSF partner programs in our research section.