2012 APS PROUD Event 

Thank you to The Summit - 91.3 FM for conducting a live remote broadcast at last night's "Their Success Is Our Success" Event.  We greatly appreciate Tommy Bruno, the radio station's director for doing this for SEI. 

Derran Wimer, Executive Director at SEI shared his thoughts with listeners about the importance of tonight's event and announced the big goals that the Cradle to Career Alliance (formerly the P-16 Alliance) will be addressing in the coming months.  Nick Browning, President at FirstMerit Bank/Akron Region discussed the benefits of having a Cradle to Career Alliance (CCA) and how he thought members of the business community could engage in the work of this alliance.  Dr. Joe Zarconi, Vice President of Medical Education and Research at Summa Health System shared his viewpoint as to why it is important for people from different groups to participate in improving student outcomes and Jeff Ferguson, Tallmadge City Schools Superintendent discussed how the CCA will benefit a suburban district in Summit County.

In summary - the Cradle to Career Alliance is a collective, community wide effort that conduct work all along the education pipeline to significantly improve the educational outcomes for ALL students in Summit County. 

Thank you to all that joined Summit Education Initiative on Monday evening for our "Their Success Is Our Success" event at the Martin University Center.  Individuals representing various stakeholders in education (schools, businesses, government and civic agencies) throughout Summit County enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and drinks while networking with each other.  During the program guests heard from SEI’s Executive Director, Derran Wimer, about the organization’s reinvigoration in Summit County, including the organization’s vision and mission, formation of the Cradle to Career Alliance, and the plan on how SEI envisions a future in which education is Summit County’s top priority and that this county has the top rated education system in Ohio.  In addition, Kirstin Toth, Senior Vice President from the GAR Foundation shared remarks about the collective impact of working together – having all the partners not only cooperate, but collaborate and combine efforts to realize the bigger goals for our children and our community of improving student achievement along the education pipeline.  David James, Akron Public Schools Superintendent shared his thoughts about how SEI will benefit schools – working on the continuum or “pipeline” cradle to career and the importance of using specific measurable outcomes to monitor our progress.  We also heard from David Jennings, Director of Akron-Summit County Library about the importance and the impact of education on the public sector – ensuring that every young person receives a quality education.  Ramona Hood, Manager from FedEx shared her thoughts on why SEI’s work will be important to the business community – having future employees who have more than a minimal education.  Businesses want employees that can think independently, work creatively and collaboratively, anticipate and solve problems, come to work ready to work, have a desire to advance and improve, have a positive attitude, and value learning and training.  Mike Sherman, Senior VP and Provost at The University of Akron discussed the alignment of the university with the schools in our county and why it is important that student success rates, both persistence and graduation increases.  We also heard Dan Colantone, Executive Director at the Akron Chamber of Commerce viewpoint about how education affects our region.

The informational documents distributed at the event are posted on our website in the “About Us - Cradle to Career Alliance” section.

Also, listed below for your review are the links to Derran’s presentation.

The Cradle to Career Alliance

Stand By Me Video

Summit Education Initiative’s work is just beginning.  It is our goal that as an organization we will forge strategic alliances among the education, business, civic and community leaders and that these alliances will increase the educational aspirations and outcomes for all Summit County children.

Charter One seeks students making a difference in their community for its

2012 TruFit Good Citizen Scholarship^TMprogram

                                                   Application entry period begins April 1 for $50,000 in college scholarships

CLEVELAND – Charter One today announced that the application period for its annual TruFit Good Citizen Scholarship program will begin on Sunday, April 1 and close on Monday, April 30, 2012. Charter One parent company Citizens Financial Group launched the scholarship program last year, awarding a total of $50,000 to college students whose volunteer efforts have made a difference in their communities.

This year, 40 scholarships will be awarded to high school seniors and current college students across the country who are attending or accepted to a federally accredited four-year college, university or graduate program and who have been active in community service. The scholarships will be awarded this summer for the 2012-2013 academic year.

“We are excited to launch this year’s TruFit Good Citizen Scholarship program to help college students supplement the cost of their education and to recognize the extraordinary work they are doing in their communities,” said Ken Marblestone, President of Charter One and RBS Citizens in Ohio. “This scholarship program is a natural extension of our own dedication to community service and of our commitment to helping college students finance their education to make it more affordable. We know from last year’s inaugural class of winners how meaningful it was for them to be acknowledged and rewarded for their hard work, so we look forward to this opportunity to honor a new class of students who are doing good work in their communities.”

Forty scholarships totaling $50,000 will be awarded to students by Charter One parent company Citizens Financial Group. One winner will receive $5,000; four winners each will receive $2,500; and 35 winners each will receive $1,000. Applicants are asked to write an essay of no more than 250 words or to record an up to 60-second video explaining the responsibility and leadership skills they have developed through their community service experience. For full details, rules and to apply, go to www.charterone.com/scholarship. The application deadline is April 30, 2012 and winners will be announced this summer.

Charter One is committed to making education more affordable by offering student banking and borrowing products that help college students finance their education and do their day to day banking. Its TruFit Student Loan^® product is available with a fixed or variable rate, giving students the choice to select the option that best fits their needs. The TruFit Student Loan offers three repayment choices: immediate, interest-only or deferred until six months after graduation. Borrowers will receive a 0.50 percent interest rate reduction for automatic payments from any eligible Charter One account or a 0.25 percent interest rate reduction for automatic payments from accounts at other banks.

Plus, Charter One’s online tips and tools for students will help them prepare and save for college as well as find information on how to apply for financial aid. The site includes a financing calendar with important dates and deadlines for securing funding and a student loan calculator to help students determine how much they will need to borrow to pay for college and how much they will owe once they graduate.

Information about the TruFit Good Citizen Scholarship program can be found on Charter One’s (http://www.facebook.com/charterone) Facebook page.

About Charter One

Charter One is a division of RBS Citizens, N.A., operating in Illinois, Michigan and Ohio. It has 365 branches and 554 ATMs. It has 147 branches and 178 ATMs in Ohio. Charter One’s website is charterone.com.  

RBS Citizens, N.A., is a subsidiary of Citizens Financial Group, Inc., a $130 billion commercial bank holding company. It is headquartered in Providence, R.I., and through its subsidiaries has more than 1,500 branches, approximately 3,900 ATMs and approximately 19,700 colleagues. Its two bank subsidiaries are RBS Citizens, N.A., and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania. They operate a 12-state branch network under the Citizens Bank brand in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont, and the Charter One brand in Illinois, Michigan and Ohio. CFG has non-branch retail and commercial offices in more than 30 states. CFG is owned by RBS (the Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc). CFG’s website is citizensbank.com.  

2012 Adult College Fair Information 

There will be a short program that will define both the ROLE of SEI and the groundwork for HOW the work will be completed.

The success of this effort is dependent upon collective interest, investment and involvement of individuals, businesses, public and non-public K-12 schools, early childhood providers, universities, career training providers, and civic, non-profit, and philanthropy organizations across the community.

We hope to see you there!

The change in their confidence levels between taking the first ACT and the second is difficult to quantify. After a 10-day Summer Academy that focused on skill development and ACT test-taking strategies and a full day of math review at an event called Mathpalooza, students view the ACT totally differently. According to Akron Public Schools College Access Program Manager, Diettra Engram, "When they take the ACT in October they recognize the traps and tricks embedded in the exam. Many look forward to the challenge of outsmarting the test writers and leave the test feeling confident that their scores have increased."  

Because Destination College focuses so heavily on ACT preparation and student practice, ACT Day is a celebration; albeit the earliest party ever! Mentors picked up students from their high schools before 6 a.m. to bring them to the former Central Hower High School where they had breakfast and worked out last-minute jitters (and sleepiness) before walking over to the ACT registration site on UAs campus. Once the students were in line, mentors held up posters with encouraging messages, whispered last words of support, and took photos before the students were escorted to their respective classrooms. 

The students returned after the test relieved, proud, optimistic, and tired to the sounds of applause and cheering. These are the moments we hope they will take with them and cherish for many years to come. We definitely will.

Derran Wimer Press Release

There were:

• FREE immunizations
• FREE dental services for kids ages 3-6
• FREE physicals
• FREE school supplies
• Teen fashion show presented by Plato's Closet at 1 p.m. on the event stage
• Lots of entertainment – singers, dancers, karaoke, face-painting, etc.
• Meet-and-greets with: Diego from Nickelodeon, Word Girl from Western Reserve PBS, Ronald McDonald and  Zippy from The University of Akron
• Operation Fresh Start program
• Crafts and activities for children
• Educational sessions for parents

Our group provided several hands-on activities for children age 2 months thru 6.  We gave out cards describing the activity – how to make it at home, how to play / interact with your child, and why the activity is important to the development of your child.  In addition we gave each family a CD “What to Do to Get Your Child Ready for Kindergarten”, which was donated to us by the Summit County Library.

Summit for Kids was a collaborative project involving the County Executive's Office, Summit County Juvenile Court, Summit County Children Services, AMHA, Akron Public Schools, ADM Board, First Things First, Child Guidance & Family Solutions and United Way.
 

Examples of the activities that the Kindergarten Readiness Group displayed are below:

2 Month Old Batting Activity (pdf)

14 Month Old Shape Sorter Activity (pdf)

17 Month Old Tossing Objects Activity (pdf)

23 Month Old Digging Activity (pdf)

4 Yr Old Fishing Game Activity (pdf)

The Mission

Going forward, the First Things First (FTF) Early Care and Education group’s mission will be to create opportunities in safe and nurturing environments where children can learn to succeed in school and in life.