I don’t listen to talk radio very often, but on long drives when I get bored of music, I switch over to the AM band. If it’s on, I’ll listen to Dave Ramsey. He’s “an American financial author, radio host, television personality, and motivational speaker” who is mainly focused on helping people get out of debt and stop paying the “stupid tax.” His company is called The Lampo Group (but they smartly use the DaveRamsey branding when it comes to posting jobs), and it’s based in Brentwood, TN. The Lampo Group’s mission is to provide “biblically based, common-sense education and empowerment that gives HOPE to everyone in every walk of life.”
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Two weeks ago it was my birthday. Amy wanted us to do something fun and new in Chicago, so she surprised me with trapeze lessons. Unfortunately, she forgot that I have an elbow injury that would make doing such things a bit painful. We called the place to see if they could give us a credit for future lessons, and they were able to. While I certainly didn’t want to mess up my elbow more, I have to admit that the idea of soaring through the air scares me a little bit. Maybe if I had been exposed to acrobatics at an early age through a program like AcroSports, I would have had a better attitude about trying trapeze lessons. They are a San Francisco, CA based “non-profit organization whose mission is to teach and develop the physical, performing, and circus arts.” They’ve been at it for two decades now serving their “community in a safe, positive environment, offering activities that encourage teamwork and build strengths and self-esteem, and enhancing life’s experience.”
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One of the best parts about having a significant other is discovering embarrassing moments from his or her past. While my greatest find is the Cosmo cover with my wife’s 4 year old, lipstick smeared face and the headline “How to Attract Men Like Crazy,” a close runner up is the recruiting video that she sent to college volleyball coaches. Her mom shot it with the family camcorder, and it starts with a cheesy opening like “Hi, my name is Amy Gordon, and I want to play volleyball for your team (thumbs up).” It’s priceless, though I shouldn’t make fun considering that this video helped her get recruited to Cornell’s volleyball team–and that’s how we met. College sports recruiting has come a long way, and now most of it happens online. National Collegiate Scouting Association is a Chicago, IL based company that “was founded in 2000 to help student athletes and their families navigate the cutthroat, competitive, and often confusing world of college recruiting.” While they may sound like a non-profit, NCSA is a for-profit business that has seen tremendous growth over the last decade.
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I was the kid who couldn’t finish the mile run in elementary school. I had a semi-legitimate excuse in that I had asthma, but even now that my lungs are healthy, I still hate running. But I know for many people running makes them feel more alive. It’s an empowering sport that is accessible to almost everyone, and it’s pretty much cost free. Chicago Run is a non-profit that uses running to achieve its mission of promoting “the health and wellness of Chicago children through innovative, engaging, and sustainable youth programs.” Chicago Run already reaches more than 16,000 children in Chicago public schools, and that’s in less than 6 years of operation.
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I think I saw one of the best hockey games I’ll ever see in my life last night. I made the drive from Chicago up to Green Bay, WI to see the heroic Cornell Big Red take on the evil University of Michigan Wolverines in the first round of the Division I NCAA Tournament. I was devastated when Michigan scored two goals in the first minute and thirty three seconds and relieved when the second goal was called off after the officials viewed the replay. In addition to the overturned goal, there was a shorthanded goal, a missed penalty shot, a 5 minute major, a prolonged 5×3 that didn’t lead to a goal, a game tying goal late in the 3rd period (for the bad guys), and an overtime game winning goal for the good guys. I woke up with no voice and an inability to think about anything but hockey, which is why we’re going to take a look at Colorado Springs, CO based USA Hockey today. It was founded in 1936 and has been “the National Governing Body for the sport of ice hockey in the United States” since.” In addition to that, USA Hockey does everything that it can to “promote the growth of hockey in America and provide the best possible experience for all participants by encouraging, developing, advancing and administering the sport.”
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I was lucky to go to a school that committed significant resources to both sports and arts. Though I certainly wasn’t a standout in either area, I’m convinced that I was a better student because of both. It’s that connection that drives what the Sports & Arts in Schools Foundation does. They’re a New York, NY based non-profit that aims to “bridge the academic performance gap among under-achieving students by extending the school day and year with wholesome, skill-building activities designed to improve New York City children’s academic performance, health and wellness, attitude towards school, self-confidence, character and values, and opportunity for lifelong employment.” The organization was founded in 1992, and it now serves more than 50,000 students across more than 300 public schools.
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Which do you think is preppier, rowing or squash? I’ve never seriously participated in either sport, but I grew up in Connecticut, so I had plenty of friends who did. Both sports have reputations for being easier ways for privileged kids to get into college. It makes sense. Access to rowing shells and squash courts is expensive, so most people never get exposed to either sport. That means the few who do participate in squash and rowing have a lot less competition when getting recruited for spots on college teams. We’ve seen non-profit organizations like StreetSquash, Surf City Squash, and SquashBusters open up squash to a new crowd and use it to promote academic achievement. Today I learned about an organization that is doing something similar for rowing. They’re called Row New York, and they’re based in New York, NY. They aim “to empower young people from New York City’s under-resourced communities to pursue excellence in all facets of their lives, through a unique combination of competitive rowing and individualized academic support.” It’s an awesome idea, and it’s already making a serious impact.
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Fellowship Programs are the new big thing for college graduates. There are quite a few highly competitive programs like Teach for America, New York City Teaching Fellows, and The New Teacher Project that focus on turning new college grads into teachers in low-income public schools. What about coaching? Athletics has become significantly linked to education in America, and it is also one of the few areas where low-income schools can be on par with their well funded counterparts. Sounds to us like there’s an opportunity to initiate change there. Coaches often seem more accessible to students than teachers are, so why not put the same types of young leaders that are being recruited as teachers in coaching positions at high needs schools and see what happens? That’s what Philip Kovoor wants to do with National Coaching Fellows, the non-profit organization that he recently started.
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At the time that this post is set to publish, I should be off to my first softball game of the Spring, unless we get rained out (which is unfortunately looking likely). Now, I consider my Sunday morning softball games to be an “educational experience,” but the truth of the matter is that my team consists mostly of dirty old men who are 20-40 years my senior, and all I learn from them are new ways to insult people and other forms of colorful language. Still, Sunday softball is a good way to keep me off the streets and out of trouble. Harlem RBI does the same thing for inner-city kids, while also offering educational programs. I sure hope the kids in Harlem RBI are having a more meaningful educational experiences associated with their baseball and softball than I am.
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