LeBron James: The Legacy / I Promise
LeBron James: The Legacy
When people bring up the name LeBron James and his legacy, many different conversations begin to ensue. For instance:
Is he the G.O.A.T (Greatest Of All Time)?
There may never be a definite answer for many of those questions, especially not until his career is all said and done, but there’s one thing that we can say about the self-proclaimed “Chosen One/King,” he’s definitely building his case on and off the court. Out of his many different accolades, his greatest one to date may have come off the court, which was his involvement in creating the “I Promise” school.
The I Promise School is a collaboration between Akron Public Schools and LeBrons' LeBron James Family Foundation. It will be the new home for 240 at-risk children (third and fourth grade) from the Akron area. With over 25% of the population (Akron) in poverty and an academically challenged school district, this school is sure to bring hope and initiate change.
Here's an interview with the Principal of the school, Brandi Davis and Rachel Martin of Morning Edition down below:
The school is built around the trauma-informed approach. This approach ensures that these children/students are taken care of in the best way possible. A trauma-informed approach (school) is a five-step crisis response strategy designed to reduce students’ or adults' initial distress and help them return to school, stay in school, and resume their teaching and learning.
The school also offers some unique amenities as well. For example:
Free tuition
Free uniforms
Free bicycle and helmet
Free transportation within 2 miles
Free breakfast, lunch, and snacks
Food pantry for families
GEDs and job placement services for parents
Guaranteed tuition to the University of Akron; for every student that graduates.
On top of that, the curriculum will be STEM-based (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), focusing on having a hands-on approach. An example of this would be the new high-tech media center/lab. It was created to mirror that of an actual television studio with the capability to broadcast live. The lab itself was made possible/sponsored by Kaulig Companies Limited.
Wondering how to enroll? The school itself doesn’t accept applications, but they identified these students through research and studies done with data accumulated from the student body (120 third graders and 120 fourth graders). In doing this, they found more students than they could take on that needed help, so the school plans to grow every year. By 2022, the plan is to host elementary through middle school (first through eighth grade).
All of this is part of James' ongoing commitment to his foundation to give back to his community. LeBron has partnered with many organizations in the Akron/Cleveland area, for example, The Boys & Girls Club Organization. Not only does he have one named after him, but he's renovated 23 different locations around the country. If there's anything that you can critique LeBron about, it's not his off-the-court charitable work.