For 25 years, the Chantilly Pyramid Minority Student Achievement Committee has assisted minority students in the Centreville, Chantilly, Oakton and Westfield cluster schools. And on Sunday, Nov. 8, at 3 p.m., it will celebrate its anniversary in the Commonwealth Ballroom of the Fair Lakes Hyatt.

Shirley and Johnny Nelson, of Chantilly’s Poplar Tree Estates community, founded CPMSAC in 1984 to help close the minority-student achievement gap in Fairfax County Public Schools. To do so, CPMSAC offers numerous academic enrichment programs — which are open to all students.

Three Saturday mornings a month, in partnership with Westfield High, CPMSAC services are available via the Bulldogs Instructional Tutoring of Students (BITS) for middle- and high-school students. And in partnership with Chantilly High, tutoring is given through The Saturdays Toward Excellence Program (STEP). In addition, STEP designed a reading program in partnership with the Chantilly Regional Library to help students improve their reading skills.

CPMSAC offers the Summer Math Institute, as funds are available, for students in middle and high school who want a head start in pre-algebra, algebra and geometry. There’s also an annual Academic Awards program, plus a Youth Enrichment Teach-In program focusing on school survival skills, leadership training, specific academic skills and parent advocacy consultation.

CPMSAC works with parents, students, schools and the community to form strong partnerships to help children succeed in school. For more information, see www.cpmsac.org. Contact Barbara Tyler at 703-450-2547 or btyler@nvcc.edu for more information about CPMSAC’s 25th anniversary event.