Private school scholarships allowed the Roland family to meet the academic needs of their children

Markala was Marlena and John Roland’s first child, and there were more on the way – four more, in all. And Markala was 5, so the Roland children were going to reach school age in quick succession.

This presented a dilemma.

“We wanted our kids in private school, but we didn’t have the money,” Marlena said.

But there was hope.

The year was 2005, and Marlena, a teacher at a private school near their Coral Springs home at the time, learned about a private school scholarship that had been established a few years earlier and was managed by Step Up For Students.

For nearly 20 years, a member of the Roland family attended a private school with the help of a scholarship managed by Step Up For Students.

She applied and was accepted, and for nearly all of the next 20 years, at least one of the Roland children attended a private school with the help of a Step Up scholarship. The exception was the two years the family lived in Georgia.

“It was a blessing for us,” John said. “The best thing we did was give them that education foundation.”

• Markala, now 25, used the scholarship to attend Abundant Life Christian Academy (ALCA) in Margate through the eighth grade (ALCA had yet to add a high school). She then spent a year at Westminster Academy before enrolling in her district high school for the next three years. She attended Stetson University on a full academic scholarship, graduating in 2021with a bachelor’s degree in biology. A certified nursing assistant who also works as a manager of a retail store, she’s in the process of applying to medical school.
• Maelyn, 24, attended ALCA until the seventh grade, then enrolled in district schools. She received a partial scholarship to Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach. She is now a fashion model, appearing on billboards for brands like Hollister, ASOS, and American Eagle. She spent part of this summer modeling in London.
• Meagan, 23, attended ALCA until the sixth grade before she switched to her district school. She attended Florida Atlantic University (FAU) and graduated in 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in management information systems. She currently works as a graphic designer.
• John Jr., 20, attended ALCA from kindergarten through third grade. He moved to his district school but returned to private school for high school when he attended Calvary Christian Academy in Fort Lauderdale. He’s entering his sophomore year at Lynn University in Boca Raton, where he studies wealth management and plays on the basketball team.
• Marcia, 22, is not the youngest of the family, but she was the last to utilize a private school scholarship. Marcia, who has Down syndrome, received the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities. She also attended ALCA, Fort Lauderdale Preparatory School, and other district schools until sixth grade. Afterwards, she transferred to The Randazzo School, graduating there last May. Marcia repeated several grades, including eighth, because of COVID-19. She thrived and had a successful year at Randazzo school with the support of staff and students. In the fall, she will attend FAU’s Academy for Community Inclusion, a college program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Marcia’s personal journey led her, her family, and close friends to co-found “A Special Miracle,” a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering families raising children with Down syndrome by providing community-based resources and support.

“None of that would have been possible without the scholarship,” Markala said.

Marlena was a teacher at ALCA when the kids began school. Even with the employee discount, she said the cost of tuition would strain the family’s finances. Still, she wanted her children to benefit from ALCA’s educational setting just like the students she was teaching.

“We wanted to set the bar high, to create good study skills and habits. We wanted them to be well-rounded,” said Marlena, who also taught at The Randazzo School for nearly 10 years, including the time Marcia attended.

Marcia, who graduated last May from The Randazzo School, was the last of the Roland children to use a scholarship managed by Step Up For Students.

It was by design that the Roland children split their education between private and district schools. Some were sports-related, but mostly, John wanted their children to experience both educational settings.

“John said, ‘Let’s put them in public school for a little bit and see how it goes,’” Marlena said. “He said they need to have both, and that will build character and build them as individuals.”

And it worked.

The private school experience helped the children excel at their district schools.

“It laid a really good foundation for us,” Markala said. “Just getting us excited to be in the classroom, to learn new things, to collaborate with others.

“I had friends (in high school) ask me, ‘Where did you learn this? Why are you thinking that way?’ All I could say was, ‘Thanks to my teachers at ALCA and Westminster.’ They really set us apart and prepared us for what was coming next. We were leaps and bounds ahead of our peers.”

John credited the private school education his children received but also gave credit to the emphasis he and Marlena placed on education at home.

“When I dropped them off at school, I told them we’ll add to it when you get home,” he said.

“They didn’t play with that,” Markala said. “That was non-negotiable in our house.”

She remembers a time when John sold the family pickup truck to help meet the expenses of her attending Westminster that the scholarship didn’t cover.

“As a kid, you see them doing that, and I'm like, ‘Don't we need that car to get places?’ They really valued education. That was what was important,” she said. “I see that now as an adult, the things that they're willing to do to make sure that we had a good education, putting us into spaces where we could learn and grow have been tremendous to me, even now that I’m in the workforce.”