👑 Greatness throughout our State

👑 Greatness throughout our State

Travel about an hour from the I PROMISE footprint and you'll find yourself in Orville, Ohio home to the headquarters of one of our amazing partners, the J.M. Smucker Company. Last week, on a day off from school, a group of our I PROMISE Network high school students had another chance to opt into a career experience provided through the I PROMISE Institute. Following a tour of the beautiful campus of the J.M. Smucker Co., our students were part of a career exploration experience than spanned across a multitude of areas including marketing, human resources, research & development, culinary/catering, and even the company's pet department. Not only that but our students experienced areas not generally visible and open to the public, and they were part of taste-testing and sampling... and there was no shortage of Twinkies enjoyed! 

Our students had the opportunity to connect with professionals across these different business lines, walking away from the experience with information about internships and the many job opportunities available within the company. The J.M. Smucker Co. team curated an impactful experience for our students who were engaged with questions as they explored career paths of interest, and we loved watching our students light up in their areas of interest during the experience. We can't help but wonder who from this class of students might just end up the next creator of a product that comes out of Orville, Ohio! 

While we're in the season of being thankful for our partners, another one deserves a big shout-out and they are the Force for Good team at JPMorgan Chase. Last week, Chase held their Force for Good Showcase event that brought together all of their tech analysts who are working on projects through the company's Tech for Social Good Program. This is the Foundation's tenth year being in the Force for Good (FFG) portion of their Tech for Social Good Program and we have been given more technology solutions than we can count from our brilliant Chase FFG team. Our FFG team showcased the projects, and solutions they've been working on for the Foundation, to the hundreds of Chase employees who call the Columbus, Ohio office home. Even members of our local Chase team here in Akron joined for the event. As we're finishing up a project cycle, the FFG team has already signed us on for yet another iteration to continue ramping up our use of technology as we serve families within the I PROMISE program.

We don't know where the fall season went, but we're already entering into the winter sports season at the I PROMISE School. As we celebrated our Soccer & eSports teams last week during the End of Season Banquet for our fall sports, we also welcomed in the winter sports teams of Basketball, Cheer & Step who will be representing the school across the city of Akron. During the banquet, House Three Thirty hosted all teams and their families for a night of celebration, and a few special guests encouraged and motivated our teams on the importance of fitness and nutrition. In addition to presentations from their coaches, the student-athletes heard from Chef Aaron Blank, Executive Chef at House Three Thirty, and Josh Dickey, Exercise Scientist and Strength & Conditioning Coach. Chef Aaron shared about the passion of the House Three Thirty Culinary Team in creating balanced menus for the teams' pre-game meals as well as pre- and post-game snacks for our IPS student-athletes and the importance of the proper nutrients that athletes need before and after each game. If you saw the meals our student-athletes enjoyed this season, you would wish you were a middle school student-athlete at IPS! Our student-athletes will not only be fueled up for the season, but they understand what taking care of themselves looks like so they can perform better on the field and in the classroom. Josh is helping our athletes focus on hydration, nutrition, recovery and rest to stay safe and strong as young athletes who have big dreams. Even more important than that, he echoed what their coaches teach them all season long about being a good teammate.

Our student-athletes focus on the importance of training, practicing and competing with a positive mindset for not just themselves but for their teammates and opponents as well as respect towards other players, coaches, referees, parents and others involved in the competition. Our winter sports teams left feeling inspired from the momentum that our fall sports teams closed out the season with, and they can't wait for the fuel they know is coming their way. Stay tuned as House Three Thirty unrolls pre-game meal offering packages that will be available to sports teams across the area. Greatness awaits!!