New member Jeff Colman was inducted.  Jeff was born in Rockford, met his wife (a member of HP Strings) while they both attended Lawrence University. He recently sold his company Gammaflux, (electronic temperature controls for mold-injected products) located in Virginia and has settled in Highland Park to enjoy retirement. Welcome Jeff!

 

Great News! Skip Jacobs is home and continuing with his physical therapy. He hopes to return next week! We can't wait to have him back!

 

At the last board meeting, it was decided to extend honorary membership to Pete Koukos. He was touched and accepted.  We will still see his smiling face along with is wife Peg's at social functions.

Alec Brown, Executive Director, Beyond Sports,  Speaker

Landon Cox, Athletic Director, Beyond Sports, Speaker

 

Happy dollars were given by: Mike Stroz (sporting a Philadelphia Eagles shirt) gave for his condolences to all the Bears fans present; Eric Ephraim for whoever may be the Bears next kicker; Ron Davis for Larry Block being honored this spring at the gala; Frank Lomoro for Larry Block and Pete Koukos; Cynthia Plouché happy to be back; Paul Munk in honor of Jeff Colman becoming a member; and Len Tenner for Corey Parker's unfortunate kick.

Alec Brown is the Executive Director of the Beyond Sports Foundation, located in Highland Park. He was joined by Landon Cox, Director of Athletics for the foundation.

 

The foundation prepares student athletes to succeed in life. Not just their life in sports, but when the time sports ends for the athlete and they need to be prepared for that day - whether it be one day after college graduation or ten years after the pros. The athletic students typically come from under-resourced families in underserved communities and will need financial aid in order to attend college. Many of the student athletes are from populations that are under represented in college campuses.

 

The Beyond Sports program is a four pillar approach:

  -  Athletic Development: state of the art athletic training to enhance speed and strength. Diet and nutritional counseling complement their training.

 

  -  Academic Development: an advanced and proven educational model leveraging academic tutoring. Individualized weekly tutoring and monitoring of academic progress. A comprehensive ACT tutoring program is also provided.

 

  -  Mentorship: one-on-one mentoring program which allows for adults to act as caring role models. Mentors expand the student athlete's base and help them see connection between school and future dreams; encouraging them to create their own pathways.

 

  -  Professional Development: enhancing soft skills/social skills. Exposure to the arts and culture through a series of culturing events and workshops. These exposures are geared to promote college readiness.

 

The student athletes in the program attend one of four sites - the main office in Highland Park (1350 Old Skokie Rd), Evanston, McCook, or Phillips HS in the Bronzeville neighbor of Chicago. Student athletes come from as far as south as Momence and as north as Gurnee to these facilities.

 

Since 2009, 100% of the 150 students who have gone through the program, became scholarship-ready and enrolled in college. Almost all (98%) of the student athletes are offered and accept a college scholarship and 94% of them are on track to graduate with a four year degree. The number of Beyond Sports student athletes that complete college is 88%.

 

Many of the students who participate in the program are referred by their coaches. All of them had to complete an application and an interview process. The parameters the board is looking for include athletic ability, household size, grades income and need. Parental engagement is another factor they look at. The ideal time to get these kids in the program is eighth to tenth grade.

 

The foundation is currently accepting applications from students. They are solely funded by donations and grants and hope to expand to accept for more female athletes. Currently the sports they are working with are: football, basketball, soccer and rowing. It takes about $8000 per year per student to go through the program.

 

Alec Brown has been Executive Director since July of last year. Before coming to the foundation, he served as Assistant Principal and Athletic Director at Instituto Health Sciences Career Academy (a public charter high school in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago. Aside from teaching English and History, Brown built a high school sports program that served over 300 students per year without the benefits of having a gym or any athletic facilities and very few resources. He built an internship and early college program for the students and saw over 90% of a graduating class leave high school having already earned college credit. He earned a bachelor's degree in advertising from Michigan State University, a teaching certificate from Wayne State University. Since moving to Chicago, he earned a Masters in Educational Leadership from Northeastern Illinois University and a Masters in Sports Administration from Northwestern University.

 

Everyday is a great day to get something special for yourself or someone you love and also give our club a boost by reminding you to shop at smile.amazon.com and Amazon will donate to Rotary Club of Highland Park- Highwood.