Members of the Golden Flashes Football Team’s Leadership Council recently visited with students at the LeBron James Family Foundation’s I Promise School in Akron, Ohio, where they checked out the school’s facilities and spent time reading to youngsters.
The visit was part of an ongoing collaboration between Kent State and the foundation. Kent State aims to open the doors of opportunity for all and has a longstanding partnership with the LeBron James Family Foundation.
“Kent State continues to value our partnership with the LeBron James Family Foundation. This partnership extends well beyond our role as a postsecondary partner to include investing in the lives of I Promise students, as was recently done by our football team,” said Dana Lawless-Andric, Ph.D., Kent State’s senior associate vice president for University Outreach and Engagement.
“Our College of Education Health and Human Services will be leading a Family Feast with the foundation this month, and our Brain Health Research Institute hosted I Promise School fourth graders this past semester,” she said. “As a public university, we believe in the power of higher education to transform lives and communities and our work with the LeBron James Family Foundation is one great example of this commitment.”
Team members toured the school, had some fun at the news desk in the school’s Kaulig Media Lab and headed into the classroom where they met with students, answered their questions, signed some autographs, and spent time reading some of their favorite books with fourth graders.
The I Promise School is part of Akron Public Schools and is supported by the LeBron James Family Foundation, which is dedicated to students and families in need of additional support. The foundation provides all students and their families with resources to help them achieve their goals.
Kent State has an ongoing partnership with the LeBron James Family Foundation to support its I Promise scholars. In 2020, the university provided the opportunity for a college education to all eligible students from the I Promise Program by guaranteeing four years of tuition and one year of room and meal plan at Kent State through its I Promise Scholars program. The tuition opportunity was an extension of Kent State's collaboration with Kent State and the foundation, in which I Promise students attend summer enrichment college preparation programs at the university.
Photos courtesy of the LeBron James Family Foundation