Tambra Pendleton has always believed education should do more than prepare students for college — it should teach them how to build a life.

As founding principal of BELIEVE Academy on Garrison Avenue, she leads an innovative new charter high school where financial literacy, self-sufficiency and representation are woven into every lesson.

The school opened this year, and her vision has earned her recognition as one of five Excellence in Education Award recipients to be honored at the Salute to Excellence in Education Gala on Nov. 1, sponsored by the St. Louis American Foundation..

Unknowingly, the roles of provider, nurturer, educator and motivator were instilled in Pendleton as a child growing up on Chicago’s West Side. Her single mother, Lestene Norris, worked at a hospital, and her fa

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