Since graduating from The Shipley School, Alexandra Lennon Bradley ’09 has spent more time on campus than off.

 

“It brings joy to my heart to connect with the future and the past,” says Bradley, a former girls’ varsity basketball standout and 1,000-point scorer, who has served as assistant coach of the team since 2013.

 

When Bradley first entered Shipley as a sophomore, she knew she would have to work very hard to meet the School’s high standards for academic excellence. “What I didn’t know was that Shipley would open my eyes to a new world,” she says. “I was exposed to opportunities a young African-American woman could potentially only dream of. Shipley, along with my parents, gave me the tools to dream. I learned that I could do anything.”

 

In both her coaching role and full-time job as Program Manager at Junior Achievement of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Bradley does the same for the Upper School girls on her team as well as thousands of elementary, middle, and high school students throughout Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, and Philadelphia counties. Junior Achievement—now in its 100th year—inspires and prepares young people to succeed in a global economy through experiential learning programs in work readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy.

 

“I turned to youth development because I wanted to provide students with the tools they need to be successful,” says Bradley, who studied exercise science and athletic coaching—and was a highly prized athlete—at West Chester University before earning a master’s degree in sport science, with a concentration in sport administration, from Lock Haven University. “I have a desire to share as much knowledge as possible with the next generation.”