Golden Charter Academy transitional kindergarten, or TK, students feed giraffes on September 29, 2025 at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo. Students learned what and how giraffes eat.

Credit: Courtesy of Golden Charter Academy

Golden Charter Academy students spend hours each day at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo, getting hands-on lessons about animal and plant life.

On a recent school outing to the zoo, after reading the book, “If I Were a Giraffe,” transitional kindergarten, or TK, students fed the long-necked mammals. Taking cues from the book and the giraffes, they mimicked how the animals ate their lettuce.

Believed to be the nation’s first TK-8 environmental stewardship zoo school, blending academics and nature-based learning, Golden Charter was founded in 2021 by former NFL player Robert Golden, who grew up in the same West Fresno neighborhood where many of the school’s students live. The school’s hands-on learning and focus on environmental stewardship have attracted a diverse student population from across the city.

“Once they fall in love and care about where they’re at,” Golden said, “it’s going to give them the opportunity and the exposure to want to go out and care for the grander world.”

In its first four years, the school of 350, with a waiting list of 300, has earned a reputation for empowering students through community-based projects and student-centered approaches that focus on building self-worth. In particular, the school’s commitment to teach students to “be proud of who they are,” parents say, is something that has drawn many to Golden Charter.

“Our goal is to develop the whole child, academically, socially, and personally while inspiring them to care for their environment and community,” said Golden, the school’s CEO.

Environmental stewardship school was needed in West Fresno 

Robert Golden grew up in southwest Fresno, a historically marginalized neighborhood with one of the highest levels of concentrated poverty in the nation; the community lacks opportunities and resources due to decades of disinvestment. 

“It still looks the way that it looked when I was a kid,” Golden said about his return to Fresno after retiring from the NFL. He believed the area needed a school focused on environmental stewardship and education, involving caring for the environment and building awareness, knowledge and skills to do so.

“I wanted to give kids an opportunity to go out in their communities and make the change that is needed,” he said. 

Anywhere is a classroom 

The school considers anywhere a classroom for students — or “scholars,” as the staff calls them — to learn. 

In the school garden, students grow squash, lettuce, cabbage, peppers and watermelon. Teachers use the garden space as an outdoor classroom for intervention and enrichment. 

Golden Charter Academy transitional kindergarten students wave to a sea lion that swims by during their September 29, 2025 full-day, weeklong immersive experience at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo. Credit: Lasherica Thornton/ EdSource

Golden Charter Academy transitional kindergarten, or TK, students observe the living environment of a salamander on September 29, 2025 at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo. Photo courtesy of Golden Charter Academy

On September 29, 2025, Golden Charter Academy transitional kindergarten students toured the tree-covered sea lion cove at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo to learn about different trees and their role in the environment. Credit: Lasherica Thornton/ EdSource

Golden Charter Academy transitional kindergarten students learn about pine cones during a plant tour on September 29, 2025. Credit: Lasherica Thornton/ EdSource

On their September 29 visit to the Fresno Chaffee Zoo, Golden Charter Academy transitional kindergarten, or TK, students decorated pots, filled them with soil and added a radish seed for an experiment to see if they’ll be able to give the plant what it needs to grow. Credit: Lasherica Thornton/ EdSource

The school garden at Golden Charter Academy is used to plant, grow and harvest crops and as an outdoor classroom. Photo courtesy of Golden Charter Academy

The zoo, a founding partner of the school, plays a core role in the curriculum. Each class visits the zoo for three hours every two weeks. And starting this school year, each class will spend one whole week at the zoo in full-day immersive experiences led by zoo staff. 

In late September, TK students explored the different habitats of salamanders and lizards, studied the way meerkats communicate, and examined what distinct beaks allow birds to do.

“At the zoo, we get to have opportunities that other schools might not get to do, like going behind the scenes and seeing how the sea lion water was filtered or how the animals are fed,” fourth grader Zakiya Brown said. 

New campus will meet school needs

The construction of a $26 million facility adjacent to the zoo will give students even more access with the ability to walk from campus and address growing enrollment. 

After opening as a TK-3 grade campus, the school has added a grade level every year since 2021.

The new facility, set to open in July 2026, will allow the school to serve 550 students, room for an eighth grade and to expand, said Robert Golden, the school’s founder. 

The campus will feature four buildings, plenty of green space and indoor and outdoor learning environments for students. 

The school garden and neighborhood zoo aren’t the only places that students are exposed to nature. Students go on field trips with hands-on learning opportunities to places such as NatureBridge near San Francisco, Yosemite National Park and Sequoia National Park.

These visits help students grasp their science classes better, fifth grader Poppy Roberts said. 

For example, at the San Joaquin River, students mastered the concept of rocks forming through the rock cycle, seventh grader Daliela Garcia said. 

‘Little hands do big things’

Each unit in students’ classes is also tied to civic action, with each grade presenting what they’ve learned. 

“We have a slogan at the school that says, ‘Little hands do big things,’” said Golden, “and they’ve been able to do some really big things over these last four years.”

For example, after learning that milkweed plants are vital for caterpillars’ and butterflies’ survival, kindergartners in 2023 planted over 100 milkweed plants at the zoo. And this year, second graders planted trees throughout Fresno to make sure all neighborhoods have trees. 

“Slowly but surely, we’re making the world a better place,” fifth grader Peyton McNair said. 

Golden Charter Academy kindergarten students planted milkweed plants at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo in November 2023. The students wrote letters to advocate for the plants, which are vital to the survival of Western Monarch butterflies. Pictured is school founder and CEO Robert Golden reviewing the project findings with a student. Photo courtesy of Golden Charter Academy

Golden Charter Academy second graders volunteered alongside the organization Tree Fresno to dig and plan five trees in Fresno in March. Photo courtesy of Golden Charter Academy

The environment Golden Charter creates 

While nature-based education draws many families to Golden Charter, the school’s welcoming environment is why many students remain year after year, parents say. 

At an 8 a.m. assembly, morning “affirmations” start each day. Students recite the school’s GOLDEN mantra: G – Give respect, O – Obligation, L – Love Learning, D – Dedication, E – Elevate, N – Never Quit. A student or staff member defines a motivational or inspirational word of the day, explains what it means, and then encourages the student body to embrace that word for the day.  

“The affirmations in the morning — them speaking life into the kids — it just seemed like they genuinely cared,” said parent Ahjanae Brownlee. When the school opened in 2021, she watched the school’s assemblies on social media and thought the experience was different from anything she’d ever seen.

Now four of her children attend. 

Watch: Students and staff at Fresno’s Golden Charter Academy start their day by reciting the school’s mantra to be excellent.

Once in the classroom by 8:30 am, teachers check in with students to see how each is feeling “to address any type of issue that they might have had from the night before or the morning of,” said David Watson, the school’s dean. 

Students say the staff at Golden Charter also foster a sense of belonging. 

“They listen to (us) and make sure (our) voices are heard,” said Chariyah Grimes, a seventh grader. 

Serving all students — and all needs

As a public charter school, Golden Charter is open to all students. 

Even so, the school was designed to serve underrepresented students. More than 50% of its students are Black in a county that has less than 5% of Black students.

Kayla Mayner, a parent at Golden Charter Academy, wanted her mixed-race daughter to attend a school with students who looked like her and educators who could connect with her on a personal level. 

“We wanted her to go to a Black-owned school so she could learn more about her heritage — stuff that I can’t teach her,” said Mayner, who is white. 

The school’s student body makeup is also almost 37% Latino, about 8% mixed-race, and 3% white. 

“We’re different from each other, and they (teachers and staff) still find ways to get a good connection with (us),” said seventh grader Darrell Maxey. 

Watson said one of the school’s approaches is to adjust teaching strategies based on learning styles, which is different from what students said they experienced elsewhere. 

For example, the school has incorporated music as part of its curriculum. Martell Golden, a staff member and brother of the founder who is known as Telly559, collaborates with teachers to create songs based on what students are learning. TK students sing about their five senses. Older students harmonize class songs on light and air pollution. 

Although Golden Charter is touted for its student-centered academic approaches, less than 20% of students met state standards in English, and less than 10% met math proficiency. Most of the school’s students are from racial or ethnic groups that experience equity gaps in achievement. To improve achievement, Golden Charter provides a daily intervention class, tutoring during and after school, and an instructional coach to assist in teaching.

But school leaders say they don’t measure success by test scores alone. 

“We measure success by growth, engagement and impact,” Golden said. 

Seventh grader Jose Gutierrez entered Golden Charter four years ago as an English learner. He quickly learned the language and phased out of the English learner program. Now known as “JP Da Voice,” he also created songs for Golden Charter, such as “Great Choices” and “On My Mind,” about living out the tenets of what the school has taught him and his peers. 

“Give respect to people. … My only obligation: be the best in class,” he sings. ” You can all be GOLDEN; I’m living proof.”