Just having the resources available, the staff at the alliance, to be able to ask questions, the professional development that's associated with the planning and implementation grant, and then, of course, the conference and the ability to network and meet all people in a great location, nation in one place.

We are an incubator school, so right now we are in our planning and implementation stage. And so that is a lot of time and effort that it takes for the school to build and become an official brick-and-mortar school. We actually have a cohort of incubator schools, and we meet on a monthly basis. The Alliance also put us in connection with different financial resources, and then they also put us in connection with various vendors that can support us.

So they help us with all things you can think of, truly answering questions, connecting us with the people we need to know in terms of vendors, in terms of academic support, and so honestly and always operations as well. So she's been able to connect me with a couple of other principals throughout the area to kind of help me build that relationship and camaraderie that it takes to, as I say, it takes a village. And so I've truly been kind of encompassed with it all in terms of the alliance. They have truly taken us in under their wing and really try to make sure that we had all those tools and resources in order to succeed.

So the alliance helps by advocating and having an opportunity in a forum for all of the administration and teachers within the charter school system, for South Carolina to advocate with parents, politicians, maintain better curriculum. There's lots of professional development opportunities for new principals. I think that any opportunity to learn and grow and network and make connections and resources is going to be the best thing that's provided by the Alliance.

One of the things that the Alliance has done, particularly for us this year is they put on a training for HR managers that was really important because we know that policies and laws and procedures change all the time. And so the Alliance is always on top of what is going on, and they make sure that their network schools stay in the loop to make sure that we're always going to make sure that we're in compliance and that we're in good standing with any regulations or changes that may apply with the charter school law.

Everything is changing so fast, and if you don't stay ahead of the curve by interacting with other people that have great ideas, then you really are just doing the same thing over and over again. And usually, that's just not going to work. I feel like all of the greatest ideas from all of the charter schools are at [the conference} for everyone to hear about, learn about, and it's really just an excellent opportunity to find some practices that are working.