"Inspiring youth to do the most good!" TM

THE PRIZE COALITION


The Mission of “The Prize Coalition”
The purpose of The Prize Coalition is to provide resource opportunities to every deserving and willing young person who desires a higher educational experience.

Who Can Serve on “The Prize Coalition”
To develop a successful coalition will require the participation of individuals whose lives, both past and present, have relationships, influence, and experience to help establish a community partnership who come from every walk of life.  What is required are those persons within our community, educational, business, community leaders, government, organizations, having a committed interest to help guide and influence young people to develop an achievable education with a Southeast Michigan career path for their lives.

The Role of The Prize Coalition”

  1. Identify students who are currently in a higher education institution or high school who are qualifying to enter college and evaluate their needs to better help them reach their academic goals.  (Scholarships without other needed life support resources often result in student and academic failure.)
  2. Create a student data base:  Within our metro community there are available educational resources designated for special student needs.  Because there is no coalition currently networking resources of Coalition students, educational institutions, and funders are limited to meet special student needs.
  3. Develop and operate a virtual resource center of all scholarship opportunities, tips and tools on how to apply and access scholarship resources.
  4. Business Participation:  The greatest benefit to improve college graduate success is within our business community.  Within the coalition, a “student opportunity” program will be developed designed as a special partnership within the coalition.  A major function of the coalition is to find viable paid internships with the opportunity for a career.
  5. Student Mentoring:  One of the biggest needs for our local students is having someone who is a bona-fide mentor who can provide life skill and educational support through direct or a new E-Mentoring program to better connect each student with the support they need.
  6. Emergency Student Funding:  Fundraising to fill the gaps for students in need will also be part of the coalition.  The purpose is to establish a fund for special needs that are not a part of other community scholarship programs.


Overview
The state of K12 education in Michigan is not a secret to anyone who has been paying attention.  It seems that every school district in the state has been cutting back and trying to find ways to manage their budgets better than the previous year and still educate their students.

Guidance Counselors have been included in the disposable portion of each districts budget and this creates a definitive level of concern.  Guidance counselors represent the final conduit for students who desire college and those who need help making the transition beyond high school.  A major reason why this statement is true:  no one else in the high schools are charged with helping the students complete applications, navigate scholarships / financial aid, or meet the deadlines for tests or applications.

The Michigan Department of Education cannot be the only organization responsible for fixing the educational system that has fallen in disarray.  The three largest counties for high school enrollment in Michigan ( Wayne, Oakland and Macomb) are not achieving as well as the residents of Michigan would hope; based on the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) assessment that is being used to measure the success of student education.

The fact that more than half of the high schools in 2007-08 of the greater Detroit area did not meet AYP leads to an understanding of why the majority of our students are not even meeting the benchmarks of the standardized test called the ACT.  To complicate matters we allow students to graduate with substandard grades or not completing the courses that will help them improve test scores or be better prepared to enter college.

Fortunately there are people and organizations that recognize the need or the opportunity that has been created by the fracture of our public education system.  What rises from the ashes of desperation is a movement of hope and desire to see that the innate concepts of the American dream are never lost.