As 2019 kicks off and we prepare for new initiatives and opportunities to elevate SYF’s mission to help students reach graduation day, we wanted to first pause and share some highlights from the fourth quarter of 2018.
In October, SYF celebrated the additions of several new Simon Youth Academies to our national network, and bolstered press coverage in new-to-SYF local and national markets. The ribbon-cutting ceremony for Simon Youth Academy at Baldwin (New York) yielded coverage from several broadcast, radio and print outlets. In addition to recognizing the partnership as the first of its kind in New York, the coverage highlighted the Academy’s focus on skills and job training. The district’s superintendent also praised the partnership in her district welcome letter.
On the heels of this celebration, SYF worked with reporters from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Gwinnett Daily Post to promote the newest Simon mall-based Academy at Sugarloaf Mills (Georgia). The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on the dedication of Simon Youth Academy at Sugarloaf Mills in a Sunday feature, and a week later, the story was picked up by the Associated Press and printed in outlets such as The Washington Times.
Shortly after, SYF President and CEO Dr. J. Michael Durnil appeared on Inside Indiana Business to discuss SYF’s 2023 Strategic Plan and local initiatives like the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art and Simon Youth Academy pop-up art gallery at Circle Centre Mall, a national case study profiling SYF by the Center for Effective Philanthropy / YouthTruth Student Survey and SYF’s educator conference. Highlights from this year’s conference included our Teacher and Administrator of the Year nominees and winners, surprise special guest appearances by the Indiana Fever’s Kelly Krauskopf and mascots Boomer and Freddy, and national experts delivering impactful sessions to educators from SYF’s 35 Simon Youth Academies. KnoweldgeWorks, one of SYF’s presenters, also wrote and shared a blog post about their session at SYF’s Conference!
SYF re-connected with many of our educators at December graduation ceremonies. Dylan, whose story proved to be one of SYF’s most engaging videos in 2018, graduated from Simon Youth Academy at Old Cockrill (Nashville, Tenn.) in December and was selected to deliver the student commencement address. SYF was present and live-streamed his speech on Facebook, reaching nearly 1,000 people.
Just before the holidays, Fox59 (Indianapolis) shared the story of how an unfortunate travel incident turned into a heartwarming example of the kindness of strangers. On a flight to a Simon Youth Academy graduation in Knoxville, a passenger spilled an entire Starbucks on SYF’s CEO. Instead of accepting his offer to clean or replace the garments, Michael encouraged him to help one of SYF’s students in a kind note on his business card.
Months later, the passenger unexpectedly emailed Michael: His family hosted its annual holiday fundraiser for a charity and raised $1,700 – and they chose SYF as this year’s recipient! The note came at a serendipitous time, as the Board’s matching campaign increased the donation to nearly $5,000, and Michael had just returned from a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the Knoxville Academy’s new location that a $100,000 grant from SYF made possible. The story, which Michael recounted on LinkedIn and in a follow-up blog, has already reached more than 329,000 thousand people on LinkedIn alone!
If you are active on social media, please follow SYF on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and like, share and comment on the posts that resonate with you. If you are inspired to help SYF reach more students in 2019, you can make a gift by visiting syf.org/donate!
