All-girls Christian school opens in Cochran, with mission to “transform the lives of God’s precious daughters”

Beauty From Ashes, an all-girls Christian academy for girls grades four through seven, has opened in Cochran.

Head of School Sonya Wright says that in 2025, God called her out of her teaching position at Central Fellowship Christian Academy to form an all-girls program. Within just a few months, she had quit her job and was running a successful all-girls youth program from her home. 

The program lasted six weeks, with workshop topics ranging anywhere from art to health and wellness. At the end of the program, 15 girls graduated. 

Then, Wright turned the program into a real school.

“When people always ask me, ‘Why an all-girls school?’ I say to them, ‘One, because the Lord told me,’” Wright said. “‘And two, our girls are in trouble. They really don’t know who they are.’”

Wright grew up in what she describes as a rough area in Brooklyn, New York. 

According to her, she struggled a lot with her identity growing up, and because of that, she often found herself in a bad position fighting with “the enemy,” until one day, she told herself she’d need to make a major change in her life if she wanted to keep living.

“I just went through a lot of hard things, and most of it was because of identity,” she said. “I just didn’t know who I was or who I belonged to.”

That’s when, she said, she surrendered her life to God, and suddenly there was a change in her life. She started to feel more comfortable in, not only who she was, but ‘whose’ she was. 

In February of 2026, she moved to Kathleen with her husband Lee, and in August, the two opened Beauty From Ashes.

“Our desire is to really to help transform the lives of God’s precious daughters,” Wright said.

The school is located inside the Elevation Worship Ministries church, where Lee serves as pastor.

The school itself makes up much of the church’s dining hall, decorated with butterflies, famous women of history and learning materials.

The reading corner, to the side of the dining area, is dedicated to Wright’s grandmother, Mary Magdalene Bowden, who Wright says taught herself how to read during a time it was illegal for her to attend school.

According to Wright, the girls have classes Monday through Thursday each week.

On Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the girls learn core academics including math, science, history, English, spelling and Bible. On Thursdays, the girls have “leadership enrichment,” where they learn things like financial stewardship, music, home economics and social justice.

Sometimes, the girls are visited by special guest teachers, like Mayor Carla Coley, who on Nov. 5 taught the girls a lesson on mimicry and helped them build their own models.

The title itself “Beauty From Ashes,” comes from Isaiah 61:3. 

“To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.” (KJV)

“Beauty From Ashes stems from…God taking these broken pieces in your life and turning it into something beautiful,” Wright said. “All of these girls have a story at eight, nine, ten, eleven years old, but I want to remind them that the story they have is the story God has given them specifically.”

“No matter how bad it is, or how great it is, it’s a beautiful story. It’s like a butterfly,” she continued. “Everybody dismisses the butterfly when it’s in a cocoon. It looks ugly. But it’s going through the process, and it turns out into all these beautiful butterflies.”

Because of this, the school mascot is a butterfly.

“When I see all the butterflies,” she said, “I see how unique God created people.”

Beauty From Ashes is currently accepting girls in grades four through seven.

Tuition is listed at $6,000- $6,500 per year per student, but Wright said scholarships are available.