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West Aspect Excessive Faculty celebrated the launch of the varsity’s new L.E.O. (Management, Entrepreneurship, and Alternative) Program in partnership with the Leonidas Basis on Monday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. West Aspect acquired a $15,000 endowment from the muse for the event and launch of this system, and the grant will help it for not less than 5 years.
West Aspect Principal Akbar Cook dinner, West Ward Councilman Dupré Kelly, Leonidas Basis Vice President James Ebert, and hip-hop legend Anthony “Treach” Criss of Naughty By Nature attended. The ceremony passed off on the faculty’s newly redesigned enterprise middle, the centerpiece of which is a inventory ticker.
The L.E.O program, which started this week and can lengthen into subsequent fall, is educating 19 juniors enterprise abilities reminiscent of public talking and networking.
College students needed to fill out each an internet utility and questionnaire. Dale Omowa, one of many college students chosen, by no means envisioned himself in a program like this.
“I’d by no means be doing this if not for this class. I’d be at house sleeping,” Omowa, 17, stated. “However now, there’s so many individuals, so many issues to do, so many alternatives, and I wish to benefit from this.”
Jamal Smith, this system’s educating advisor initially was hesitant to tackle the additional work. “However [Principal Cook], he all the time talks about being extraordinary and never bizarre,” Smith stated. “And he requested me, ‘So, you wish to be bizarre?’ and I’m like, ‘Nah, I don’t wish to be bizarre.’”
Smith is glad he took the prospect and is ready to present college students a path to entrepreneurship.
“I believe beginning a enterprise is essential for college kids to grasp, particularly at this age, in order that in the event that they don’t go to school, or in the event that they don’t do one thing else they’ll have entrepreneurship to lean on,” he stated.
Cook dinner described this system as “a contented marriage, as a result of we’re the varsity of enterprise and finance, and the Leonidas Basis talks quite a bit about entrepreneurship, and children discovering a option to a residing wage. However how can we get them to a residing wage? And I believe this is among the out-of-the-box methods of pondering to get them in the direction of that.”
The Leonidas Basis, based in 2017, honors Leonidas Vagias, who handed away in 2016 in a automobile accident whereas in school on the College of Rhode Island learning enterprise. Vagias was one of many high kickers within the nation. His father, Ted Vagias, who’s on the board of trustees, stated that “households, buddies all acquired collectively and stated, ‘Now we have to honor Leo’s identify,’ as a result of he liked his faculty, liked enterprise, the camaraderie. In order that’s once we stated, ‘Let’s begin a program that is rather like Leo.’”
This system started at Leonidas’ highschool alma mater, Don Bosco Preparatory Excessive Faculty, an all-boys non-public faculty in Ramsey, then expanded to Mount St. Dominic Academy, an all-girls academy in Caldwell. West Aspect is now the primary coed and public faculty to host this program.
Matthew Frankel, a spokesperson for the Leonidas Basis, stated West Aspect was chosen as the primary Newark public faculty due to its emphasis on work-study alternatives for college kids.
“Our first two packages have been at non-public faculties, so it was a extra concerned means of moving into the general public faculty system,” Leonidas Basis Vice President James Ebert stated. “In order that’s what makes as we speak an enormous, large milestone for us.”
“Whenever you’re combating for Newark college students and guaranteeing each baby is offered fairness, that is what it seems like,” Kelly stated. “And it begins with creating progressive and precious packages like this for our kids and rightfully gives alternatives that they deserve.”
Darius McClain is a Rutgers College-Newark reporting intern for Chalkbeat Newark masking public training within the metropolis. Get in contact with Darius at dmcclain@chalkbeat.org or attain the bureau newsroom at newark.ideas@chalkbeat.org.
