Use Your Life Award Winners
Schools for Educational Evolution and Development (SEED)
PAGE 6
Received by:
Rajiv Vinnakota and Eric Adler
Sponsored by:
Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com
Rajiv Vinnakota and Eric Adler, two Ivy League graduates, gave up their high-paying consulting jobs to give inner-city children a priceless gift: a chance for a better education. "[Being a management consultant] was a great job, but that was not the social footprint that I wanted to leave. I really wanted to make a difference in people's lives," says Rajiv.
Planting the Seed
The SEED Public Charter School is the first of its kind: a public boarding school built in the inner-city for grades 7 through 12. "Our kids, many of them, come from very poor neighborhoods and they're hard neighborhoods to grow up in," explains Eric. "We know that if students are going to succeed in school, they need to have had a good night's sleep, a good meal, have taken a shower, be in clean clothes, and have done their homework to be prepared for the day."
Not Just a School, a New Home
At the SEED School, students receive 24-hour supervision, tutoring and life-skills training. The school has very high academic standards, with only 14 students per teacher and a rigorous college-prep curriculum. Students who study the hardest are rewarded with trips to places like New York City and even Greece. Their ultimate destination is college.
Because of the positive changes SEED is making in kids' lives, demand to get into the school is high, so all students are chosen by a lottery system. Established in 1998 with only 40 students, there are now 150. In the fall of 2002, the number of students will double to 300!
Special Thanks to All the Angels
SEED is currently building a new dorm to accommodate the growing student population. Oprah's Angel Network is providing enough beds, desks and dressers for all 150 new students. The Angels at Linens 'n Things (www.LNT.com) are donating bed and bath linens, and fun accessories for all 300 students!
That's not all! Every student will receive a high-performance Gateway computer made possible by a gift to the Angel Network from Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos. And Gateway (www.gateway.com) is donating a new printer for all 150-dorm rooms!
See what's on the SEED School's Wish List.
For more information, please contact:
Rajiv Vinnakota and Eric Adler
The SEED Public Charter School
c/o The SEED Foundation
1712 Eye St., NW, Suite 300
Washington, D.C. 20006
PH: 202-785-4123
FAX: 202-785-4124
E-mail: SeedFoundation@seedfoundation.com
www.seedfoundation.com
Rajiv Vinnakota and Eric Adler
Sponsored by:
Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com
Rajiv Vinnakota and Eric Adler, two Ivy League graduates, gave up their high-paying consulting jobs to give inner-city children a priceless gift: a chance for a better education. "[Being a management consultant] was a great job, but that was not the social footprint that I wanted to leave. I really wanted to make a difference in people's lives," says Rajiv.
Planting the Seed
The SEED Public Charter School is the first of its kind: a public boarding school built in the inner-city for grades 7 through 12. "Our kids, many of them, come from very poor neighborhoods and they're hard neighborhoods to grow up in," explains Eric. "We know that if students are going to succeed in school, they need to have had a good night's sleep, a good meal, have taken a shower, be in clean clothes, and have done their homework to be prepared for the day."
Not Just a School, a New Home
At the SEED School, students receive 24-hour supervision, tutoring and life-skills training. The school has very high academic standards, with only 14 students per teacher and a rigorous college-prep curriculum. Students who study the hardest are rewarded with trips to places like New York City and even Greece. Their ultimate destination is college.
Because of the positive changes SEED is making in kids' lives, demand to get into the school is high, so all students are chosen by a lottery system. Established in 1998 with only 40 students, there are now 150. In the fall of 2002, the number of students will double to 300!
Special Thanks to All the Angels
SEED is currently building a new dorm to accommodate the growing student population. Oprah's Angel Network is providing enough beds, desks and dressers for all 150 new students. The Angels at Linens 'n Things (www.LNT.com) are donating bed and bath linens, and fun accessories for all 300 students!
That's not all! Every student will receive a high-performance Gateway computer made possible by a gift to the Angel Network from Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos. And Gateway (www.gateway.com) is donating a new printer for all 150-dorm rooms!
See what's on the SEED School's Wish List.
For more information, please contact:
Rajiv Vinnakota and Eric Adler
The SEED Public Charter School
c/o The SEED Foundation
1712 Eye St., NW, Suite 300
Washington, D.C. 20006
PH: 202-785-4123
FAX: 202-785-4124
E-mail: SeedFoundation@seedfoundation.com
www.seedfoundation.com
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