Rising Star Junior School

Rising Star Junior School This page is dedicated to communicate current happenings for Rising Star Junior School. Stay connec Please consider a monthly partnership with the school.

After graduating from Wayland High School in 2007 Ryan Kaminski found himself in Uganda teaching at several different schools over the summer. That first semester at Grand Valley State University he couldn't stop thinking about Uganda! Several trips back and forth, the purchase of land, accumulating ministry partners, financial resources and construction of several buildings the doors to Rising St

ar were open to over 280 students in February 2012. Children continue to be on a waiting list to be able to attend the school. For just $30.00 a month one child is able to attend Rising Star, receive a Christ centered education and meals. You may also consider a one time donation towards the next building project of additional classroom space. As resources come in and ministry partners commit the school is able to admit more students. You can find a paypal donation portal at www.k-hope.org

From up here, you can see the whole thing! Blue roofs scattered across a green hilltop. Classroom blocks and nursery bui...
06/10/2026

From up here, you can see the whole thing!

Blue roofs scattered across a green hilltop. Classroom blocks and nursery buildings and staff housing, all surrounded by farmland that rolls out toward distant hills. This is Rising Star — not a single building, but a growing campus carved into the Ugandan highlands.

Every roof you see started as an empty patch of grass. Every structure represents a season of giving, a stretch of construction, a community choosing to invest in the next generation.

What started small keeps getting bigger. And from this view, you can finally see just how far it's come.

Read what's written on the chalkboard behind her: "My school is Rising Star Junior School. I am in Baby Class. I learn t...
06/10/2026

Read what's written on the chalkboard behind her: "My school is Rising Star Junior School. I am in Baby Class. I learn the vowels."

This is where it all begins. Baby Class. The vowels. Counting to twenty. A teacher clapping along, celebrating every small victory like it's the most important thing in the world — because to these kids, it is.

The youngest learners need the most encouragement and the least judgment. They need someone to clap when they get it right and clap again when they try. That's what early education at Rising Star looks like: joyful, patient, and full of belief.

You can help make sure the clapping never stops. $35/month sponsors a child's full education — starting right here, in Baby Class, with the vowels.

👉 https://www.k-hope.org/monthly-child-sponsorship

When your friend says something so funny you have to hold your head on. 😂The uniforms match. The laughter's contagious. ...
06/08/2026

When your friend says something so funny you have to hold your head on. 😂
The uniforms match. The laughter's contagious. The day is good.

This is a full classroom doing the unglamorous, essential work of learning.Heads down. Pencils moving. A teacher at the ...
06/08/2026

This is a full classroom doing the unglamorous, essential work of learning.
Heads down. Pencils moving. A teacher at the chalkboard reviewing an English lesson about engines and steering wheels and headlamps. Kids in red and orange and green crowded onto wooden benches, notebooks open, working through it together.
On the wall: "Avoid Bad Friends." "AIDS Kills." Real lessons for real life, alongside the grammar and the spelling and the math.
This is the engine room of Rising Star. Not flashy. Not staged. Just the daily, faithful work of turning kids into students, and students into people who will change their families and communities.
And every kid in this room is proof that it's working.

She's not just a teacher. She's the one who holds the little one who's having a hard day.In the nursery section at Risin...
06/06/2026

She's not just a teacher. She's the one who holds the little one who's having a hard day.
In the nursery section at Rising Star, the youngest students are barely more than babies. They need more than lessons — they need patience, warmth, and someone willing to scoop them up when the day feels too big. This teacher gives all of that, every single day, surrounded by hand-drawn numbers and shapes and the words "Love One Another" on the wall behind her.
Early childhood is where everything starts. The research is unanimous: the first few years of a child's life shape their brain, their confidence, and their future more than any other period. Investing in early education isn't optional — it's foundational.
When you sponsor a child at Rising Star, you're funding teachers like her — the ones who hold the smallest hands. $35/month covers tuition, a uniform, supplies, and daily meals.
👉 https://www.k-hope.org/monthly-child-sponsorship

Lunch hits different when you've got someone good to talk to. 🍛These two could be discussing the meaning of life or argu...
06/06/2026

Lunch hits different when you've got someone good to talk to. 🍛
These two could be discussing the meaning of life or arguing about football. Either way, the plates are full, the conversation's flowing, and all is right in the world.

Caught him mid-smile on a break between classes — backpack on his lap, books inside, the whole valley stretched out behi...
06/05/2026

Caught him mid-smile on a break between classes — backpack on his lap, books inside, the whole valley stretched out behind him.
There's a quiet confidence in this kid. The look of someone who knows where he's headed. Who's got his bag packed and his books ready and his eyes on something bigger than this hillside.
That's what a school does. It doesn't just teach facts. It gives a kid a reason to smile like this — like the future is something to look forward to.

Rain? On a school field? With a ball? That's not a problem. That's an upgrade. ⚽🌧️Some of the best games of your life ha...
06/05/2026

Rain? On a school field? With a ball? That's not a problem. That's an upgrade. ⚽🌧️
Some of the best games of your life happen when you're soaked to the bone and don't care even a little.

A library. In rural Uganda. On a hilltop. Full of books.To Rabbittown. All My Little Ducklings. Brazilian Festivals. Dr....
06/04/2026

A library. In rural Uganda. On a hilltop. Full of books.
To Rabbittown. All My Little Ducklings. Brazilian Festivals. Dr. Seuss. Encyclopedias and picture atlases and storybooks lined up on handmade wooden shelves.
For a child who has never owned a book, walking into a room like this is nothing short of magical. It's a doorway to every place they've never been and every story they've never heard. Studies consistently show that access to books — even just having them in reach — is one of the strongest predictors of a child's academic success.
This library didn't build itself. It was stocked, shelf by shelf, by people who believe rural kids deserve great stories too.
Want to help keep these shelves full and these doors open? $35/month sponsors a child's full education at Rising Star.
👉 https://www.k-hope.org/monthly-child-sponsorship

This is what your investment grows into.A few years ago, he was one of the little ones in a red uniform learning his let...
06/03/2026

This is what your investment grows into.
A few years ago, he was one of the little ones in a red uniform learning his letters. Today he's a sponsored secondary student — older, taller, and standing on the foundation that Rising Star helped build.
This is the part you don't always get to see when you give. The long game. The kid who didn't drop out. The student who made it to secondary school because somewhere along the way, someone decided he was worth investing in.
Sponsorship isn't a transaction. It's a trajectory. And this smile? This is what it looks like years down the road.

Address

PO Box 888700
Grand Rapids, MI
49418

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Rising Star Junior School posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to Rising Star Junior School:

Shortcuts

Share