Simon Youth Foundation supporters tee'd off over nation's dropout rate

FOUR! Simon Youth Foundation hosted the 4th Annual Tees for Education golf scrabble on Friday, July 29, to raise funds for its two major initiatives: Simon Youth Academies and Simon Youth Scholarships. In all, more than $29,000 was raised. That's enough money to support 27 senior-year students enrolled in our national network of Simon Youth Academies through their graduation day!

SYF had 21 foursomes hit the links at The Legends of Indiana Golf Club. Title sponsor Apparatus, an Indianapolis-based IT firm, and a host of other corporate and individual sponsors (click the photo at left to see the full list from the event program) made the day possible. A raffle as well as competition holes, like closest to the pin and longest drive, spiced up the day's events.

Ever wonder where Simon Youth Foundation ignites hope?

Click to enlarge

Simon Youth Foundation is a national player in the field of alternative education...and we've got a map to prove it!

Our nationwide network of Simon Youth Academies operates in partnership with 80 public school districts that stretch from Seattle, Wash., to Southern California on the West Coast and from Orlando, Fla., to the suburbs of Boston, Mass., on the East Coast.

In all, there are 23 Simon Youth Academies working with more than 3,200 students each year in 13 states.

But our academies are not points on a map, they are life-changing places where at-risk students begin to believe that through education they can go anywhere their dreams lead them. Each school is an investment in the future of the communities it serves, ensuring every member of the next generation has access to education, no matter their personal circumstances.  

Coins make change in Simon Youth Foundation students' lives

Simon Youth Foundation wishing wells are marvelous, beautiful things. First off, they are just fun! We love seeing those coins spin round and round, but more importantly, the wishing wells bring in crucial funds for SYF programs, particularly our Simon Youth Academies, which are non-traditional schools that serve students who have dropped out or are at risk of dropping out of their traditional high schools.

In 2010 alone, wishing wells located in Simon malls, outlets and centers raised $500,000. That is enough money to support, through their graduation day, 500 senior-year students in our network of 23 nationwide academies. So you see, those pennies, nickles, dimes, and quarters add up fast, and they ignite hope in so many students who otherwise may not have had an opportunity to pursue their high school diploma.

As you play the video below, remember that every 29 seconds, according to the America's Promise Alliance, a student drops out of school in this country. So in just about the time that it will take you to watch the clip, a student would have dropped out of school, if not for that coin dropping into that wishing well. Thinking about it in this way, maybe the wells are not so much about wishing but about doing...doing something to make graduation day a reality for a student who wants to earn a diploma but needs a little extra help.

Celebrate our winners with 2011 Simon Youth Scholarships video

We wanted to bring the 2011 edition of the Simon Youth Scholarships program to a rousing finish, and produced this video as one last tip of the cap to the 260 nationwide students who earned more than $1.15 million in awards from Simon Youth Foundation. Congratulations scholarship recipients, and thanks to all of our supporters at Simon Malls, outlets and centers throughout the country for your partnership in the program!

UPDATE: NFL's San Francisco 49ers donate $30,000 to Simon Youth Foundation

A Bowl for Youth event hosted by the National Football League's San Francisco 49ers in May, 2011, has raised $30,000 to benefit Simon Youth Foundation programs, including our national network of Simon Youth Academies, which are alternative schools that serve students who have dropped out or are at risk of dropping out of their traditional high schools.

We blogged about the fundraiser, which featured former 49ers greats hitting the lanes, in a post that included links to media coverage and a great video produced by the team, but the total funds raised for SYF was not known at the time.

Check out photos of the event that are new to this blog in the slideshow below. All of the pictures are posted here courtesy of Terrell Lloyd Photography. If you'd like to see even more photos, you can view nearly 700 of them at the photography studio's website.

Simon Youth Foundation outreach helps build a home, students' character

SYF student Logan Retz, second from left, with
classmates and his teacher Kara Larkin, far right.

With each brush stroke in late May, 2011, Logan Retz was making a difference.

The fresh paint he applied with help from three of his Simon Youth Foundation classmates at the Simon Youth Clark Pleasant Academy in Whiteland, Ind., was helping provide a fresh start for a family of seven.

Volunteering through Habitat for Humanity, the students were a part of the team building a new home for the Lyons family.

“Outreach is a very important part of our program at the academy, because learning to build one’s character is a lesson as important as any,” says Kara Larkin, the program director at Simon Youth Clark Pleasant Academy.

Larkin says groups of her students participate in outreach every Friday of the school year, working on a range of service projects from stocking shelves at community food pantries to interacting with nursing home residents.

“Anytime we can help the local community, we want to get involved,” Retz, a senior student, says.



But the habitat project for the Lyons family was particularly special for the students, because the new home’s owner is a member of the Simon Youth Clark Pleasant Academy family. Emily Lyons graduated from the school back in 2006.

“I was an at-risk student, too, and I know how the academy gives hope to students that they can overcome their obstacles and still earn their high school diploma,” Lyons says. “Having students, who were in the same position that I was, give their time to benefit my children means a lot.”

Lyons, who also completed hours of outreach work while a student at the academy, believes that what goes around comes around.

“My academy classmates and teachers were like a family to me, and I always will be a part of that school family,” Lyons says.

Emily Lyons with her husband, Matt.

The students who spent an entire day painting two of the new bedrooms for Lyon’s children agree.

“We are all a family, and we want to support each other whether it's alumni or current students,” Retz says.

In June, Emily and her husband, Matt, moved into their new home with their four children and Matt’s younger brother, for whom the couple serves as legal guardians. The five bedroom house provides just the space the seven needs. Their previous home had just two bedrooms.

“Simon Youth Foundation programs change lives, and years after my graduation, they are still impacting me and my family in positive ways,” Lyons says.

OPINION: Public education for at-risk youth must not falter, says SYF President and CEO

When the academic year 2010-2011 graduation season began in early May, Simon Youth Foundation President and CEO J. Michael Durnil, Ph.D., expressed his thoughts on the state of public education, specifically alternative education programs, in an op-ed piece that was shared with news outlets in the cities that are home to one of our Simon Youth Academies.

Now, as the end of June has brought a close to this most recent graduation season, Durnil's op-ed piece is being posted here for SYF blog visitors to read and share.


May 9, 2011

The moral imperative to save public school alternative education programs

In the short time it will take you to read this article, between eight and 10 American high school students will drop out of school.

This is not the promise of a great nation.

If you believe, as I do, that learning feeds personal liberty and happiness, education must be seen as an unalienable right.

Our country must make it a moral standard to extend focused opportunities to at-risk students so that they too can participate in the annual graduation ceremonies that millions of American families will celebrate this month. Indeed, at-risk students can go anywhere their dreams take them, and our public schools must be the place where it all starts for them.

Start here. Go anywhere.

This can and must be the promise fulfilled by the country’s public education system. However, as our national dialogue continues to have a near singular focus on relieving the country’s heavy debt burden, deep cuts to public education budgets have become the crucial component of balancing government budgets, demonizing our teachers along the way.

Such vitriolic discourse has led to anger among the many proponents of public education. Public education’s defenders argue that draconian cuts to school system budgets will further erode the performance of U.S. students, compared to those in other industrialized nations, which in turn will cripple the future competitiveness of the country’s workforce and industries. I see these fears as a real possibility.

Yet, my outlook is not completely bleak. I am a product of and a believer in public education. I see great opportunity in the difficult circumstances facing our nation’s school systems. The opportunity to form public school district partnerships with public foundations and leading corporations that are capable of bridging budget gaps to sustain quality alternative education programs and reverse the nation’s alarming drop-out rate.

At Simon Youth Foundation, we are proving these types of partnerships work, and we are serving as a national model. Our 501 (c)(3) public charity, along with local school district partners and private entities, like Simon Property Group, CVS Caremark, and the NBA’s Indiana Pacers, has established a successful nationwide network of alternative schools for at-risk high school students that since 1998 has helped more than 7,000 students earn a high school diploma, and another 1,200 will graduate this month as part of the class of 2011.

As this academic year closes, SYF has more than 3,300 students enrolled at the 23 Simon Youth Academies we sponsor in 13 states. In time for the start of the upcoming academic year, we plan to open a 24th academy in a 14th state.

In many of the communities we serve, our Simon Youth Academy is the only alternative public school serving our partner local school districts, and by pairing public funds with private money, we’ve been able to keep the doors open. The school systems provide passionate teachers and thoughtful, state-approved curriculum. Simon Property Group malls and other commercial real estate partners provide the rent-free learning space, often inside storefronts, and SYF covers related operating costs; hosts best-practices forums; and provides school enhancement grants and financial aid and scholarships to students.

Our SYF students want to learn and graduate, but regrettably, many have come to our academies after being told they can’t or they won’t. They may be forced to work full-time to help their families, some are homeless, and others just need a second chance. For a range of reasons, they are unable to participate in a traditional classroom setting, but SYF gives them the hope that they can and will earn their high school diploma. In the same way, I believe the success of our SYF model should provide hope to policy makers for the future of public education.

We can ensure all students earn their high school diploma, no matter the odds against them. As your communities celebrate graduations in the days and weeks to come, take time to remember those who want so badly to cross that stage but whose circumstances have dimmed hope that it can happen. Committed partnerships can reignite hope by sustaining programs that preserve the right to education for all students.

Start here. Go Anywhere.

This is our SYF vision and what we tell our students when they enter our academies. It’s a message of hope. I have hope that as a nation we can start here with a real, substantive discourse about the future of public education and be open to going anywhere that the best solutions for school districts can be found.

J. Michael Durnil

President and CEO

Simon Youth Foundation