Asenath Andrews, Educator

Asenath Andrews is the founder and formal principal of the Catherine Ferguson Academy in Detroit, a school for teenagers who are pregnant or parents. With studies illuminating how most pregnant teenagers or teenage mothers drop out of school due to lack of childcare assistance, the Academy was created to provide on-site child care while mothers continue their education. The school has a 90 percent graduation rate with a vast majority of graduates going on to attend two to four year colleges. In 2004, the school was recognized as one of 12 schools selected nationally as a Breakthrough High School by the National Association of Secondary School Principals. After the school transitioned from a Detroit Public School to a charter school, the Catherine Ferguson Academy later closed in 2014.

Prior to her work with the Academy, Andrews received an award as Fulbright Hayes Study Tour Teacher in Zimbabwe. She also earned a Master’s degree in education from Wayne State University and an A.B.D. in Education Psychology from the University of Michigan. She serves as board member and Trustee of Olivet College, where she attended college, and is an adjunct faculty at the University of Michigan and Madonna University. She is a founding member of the Detroit Professional Women’s Network and task force member of the National Committee to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.