CBS radio: SYF academy is model of community partnerships to improve education



©2011 CBS Local Media,
a division of CBS Radio Inc. 



The Simon Youth Peabody Learning Academy at Northshore Mall in Peabody, Mass., was featured in an April 1, 2011, report from the CBS radio affiliate in Boston, WBZ NewsRadio 1030. In the story, the superintendent of our local partner in education, the Peabody Public Schools system, says the academy is a model for providing crucial educational opportunities through community partnerships for at-risk students.

Superintendent Milton Burnett, Ed.D., goes on to tell the story's reporter that opening the academy was "absolutely the right thing to do" for the students whose personal circumstances require a learning an environment that differs from the traditional classroom model.

You can listen to the entire radio story by clicking the link below. You can learn more about the Simon Youth Peabody Learning Academy at its website.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/04/01/the-parent-report-the-learning-academy/

Simon Property Group regional event sinks big donation for SYF

If the best score in golf is a hole in one, Simon Youth Foundation scored the fundraising equivalent at a recent annual meeting for Simon Property Group's Florida Region.

SYF's administrators were presented with a check for $131,000 dollars during a mini golf and Hawaiian luau themed event that was hosted as part of the two-day meeting.

Florida Region staff worked with more than 60 sponsor companies to raise the funds, collecting donations ranging from $200 all the way up to $10,000. Enjoy some fun event photos in the slideshow below!

Tight budgets could make for lost futures

Photo property of the TC Palm
Photo by Deborah Silver

Simon Youth Foundation President and CEO J. Michael Durnil, Ph.D., is currently touring some of our nationwide academies. While visiting the Simon Youth Academy at Indian River Commons in Vero Beach, Fla., he worked with administrators on ways to save the school. Despite strong success since opening in 2007, difficult budget realities facing the local school district, our partner, Indian River County Schools, have put the academy's future in jeopardy. Durnil, photographed by photojournalist Deborah Silver at left, spoke to the TC Palm, the local newspaper, about the academy's uncertain future, saying school systems throughout the country must try to save programs that benefit at-risk youth otherwise "it's a lost future" for too many students. You can read the full story at the link to the paper's website below.

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2011/apr/11/indian-river-schools-simon-mall-dropout-program/

SYF thanks you for wearing your blue jeans

Who doesn't want to wear jeans to work? I mean, for those of us stuck in the rut of business casual dress codes, a jeans day is a chance to shake things up and sit comfortably all day long. The only thing better than your average jeans day is one that also benefits a great cause, like say, Simon Youth Foundation.

As of April 7, 2011, SYF Jeans for Teens, or JFT, fundraisers supported by Simon Property Group employees have already raised nearly $5,000. For a five-dollar donation to SYF, employees at SPG headquarters are able to break free of business casual on five selected dates each year by wearing their jeans into the office. We are grateful for their support!

In recognition of their willingness to support JFT, our SYF team and some students representing Indianapolis-area Simon Youth Academies hosted a thank-you luncheon for the volunteers who coordinate selling JFT event tickets on each floor of the SPG building. The students spoke about the impact of SYF on their lives, and SYF provided free boxed lunches to attendees, which were donated by Jug's Catering.

Simon malls hop to support SYF dropout-prevention mission

Spring is here and Easter is upon us. The season is a great metaphor for Simon Youth Foundation. Just as the season promises new beginnings, our 25 Simon Youth Academies offer hope for the future to hundreds of high school students at risk of dropping out of school by giving them a fresh start in the classroom. Similarly, our Simon Youth Scholarships over the last 11 years have helped nearly 3,000 students from 42 states begin college careers, many of them becoming the first person in their family to attend a university.

SYF can only extend these second-chance educational opportunities through the financial support of its amazing donor network, including our partners at Simon malls throughout the country and their generous patrons. Simon malls and their shoppers donated more than $1.7 million to benefit SYF schools and scholarships in 2010 alone.

On Saturday, April 2, 2011, the Northshore Mall in Peabody, MA, hosted a breakfast with the Easter Bunny for members of its kids club network. Around 200 parents and kids attended the event, and families donated five dollars to SYF to participate. SYF sponsors the Simon Youth Peabody Learning Academy at Northshore Mall, so the community's support of SYF is really an investment in its own future. You can read more about the event and see more photos like the one above, which is courtesy of Tara Vocino, by visiting the community's Peabody Patch website.

SYF students go for win at international DECA contest

Senior high school student Amanda Miller spent much of the current academic year refining a proposal for the business she wants to start, a nonprofit that would use community donations to purchase bundles of blankets, coats and Bibles and distribute them to the needy.

Now the business she thought up to help others may actually help Miller advance her young business career with a win at a major competition.

Miller and three other students from an alternative learning academy in Missouri that is supported by Simon Youth Foundation will compete with as many as 14,000 other worldwide students in a business entrepreneur contest at the DECA International Career Development Conference, April 30-May 3, 2011, in Orlando, FL.

“You want to always do your best, but I did not expect to even be named a finalist of the district competition,” Miller says. “I ended up winning the DECA district competition, finished third at the Missouri statewide competition and earned my place in the international conference.”

Amanda Miller, third from left. Janessa Mitchell, fourth from left.
Blake Bolin and Caleb Carlisle, sixth and seventh from left.

Miller and fellow seniors Blake Bolin, Caleb Carlisle and Janessa Mitchell will represent the Simon Youth Academy at Independence Center located in Independence, MO, at the DECA international competition. The school, which operates inside the Independence Center mall that is owned and managed by the Simon Property Group, offers its students an alternative, business-focused curriculum.



Bolin and Carlisle, working as a team, and Mitchell and Miller, working independently, have spent their senior year at the academy developing their three business projects. Bolin and Carlisle went on to win the statewide DECA contest in their respective category, and Mitchell and Miller both placed in the top four of their judged events to move on to the international competition.

“Our Simon Youth Academies exist to bring hope to students that their academic and professional dreams can be realized,” says J. Michael Durnil, Ph.D., president and CEO of Simon Youth Foundation. “We are so proud of the students from the academy at Independence Center who have chased their dreams and caught them by earning a spot in the international DECA competition.”

Carol Bolin, the academy’s administrator and its single teacher, says that in addition to their DECA business proposals, the students in her program complete eight-week internships and are responsible for managing the Independence Center’s gift wrap service.

“Simon Youth Foundation’s support of our academy has given these students opportunities that most kids their age do not have access to, and they will prove very successful in their future endeavors because of their experiences,” Bolin says.

“I did not know what Simon Youth Foundation was until I began studying at the academy this last year, but I now appreciate every little thing I’ve been able to do with its support,” Miller says.

The students behind the business presentations selected as the best at DECA’s international conference could receive scholarships and trophies or ribbons of recognition.

SYF President and CEO is leaving on a jet plane

Simon Youth Foundation President and CEO J. Michael Durnil, Ph.D., is trading the comforts of his office chair for the cramped confines of an airplane seat. Durnil is taking to the friendly skies as part of a tour of Simon Youth Academies throughout the country in April and May, 2011, to meet our great educators and inspiring students.

At all of his stops, which include cities in Texas, Missouri and Massachusetts, Durnil also is taking time to thank the leaders at the Simon mall locations that support so well the SYF mission with their time and treasure each year. In particular, he's attending Simon mall regional meetings, and alongside Simon Youth Academy students, he's sharing the story of how the malls' support is changing the lives of at-risk high school kids who came critically close to dropping out of school.

The praise for the Simon mall family and Simon Property Group is well deserved. Together, in 2010 alone, they generated more than $1.7 million for SYF, including coins collected in SYF wishing wells, which our mall partners graciously locate in high-traffic areas in their shopping centers.



In the slideshow above are a few photos from the Simon malls Central Region meeting attended by Durnil and SYF students. The students, from the Simon Youth Academy at Independence Center, a Simon mall in Independence, MO, are seen in a couple of pictures presenting an SYF Best Fundraising Award to representatives from Simon's Orange Park Mall, which is located in Florida.