The Sandy Springs Education Force (SSEF) held its annual appreciation breakfast for its supporters and volunteers.
Lynette Elliot, a North Springs High School teacher who heads the Aspire After-School Program for the Sandy Springs Education Force, was named the School Program Champion of the Year. The program offers academic support for one hour followed by enrichment activities, field trips, exposure to college and vocational schools, and career opportunities.
SSEF was approached in 2016 by the assistant principal at North Springs who said the school needed a good after-school program to help students with tutoring, according to Executive Director Irene Schweiger.
She said Elliott’s passion for student success, her enthusiasm, and expertise made the program successful.
Elliott introduced one of the students, Tai Luckett, who embodies the success of the Aspire program. Now a senior at North Springs High, Elliott met Luckett when he was a sophomore in her English class, where she recognized his academic capability and intelligence.
“There was some disconnect in his grades and his performance. So with a little persuasion with pizza on Thursdays and from his mom, we were able to convince him to join the Aspire program,” Elliott said.
COVID changed Luckett’s work habits for the worse, he said. He started to put everything off, and the missing work affected his grade point average. He started to improve his school work and in junior year his grades improved. This year as a senior, he’s gotten all As and Bs, and he’ll be graduating from North Springs High.
“Aspire has provided a lot of experiences for me as a student. There are multiple teachers that stay in the building to help students do any subject they need,” Luckett said.
He said the Skills USA field trip provided him with information about a lot of career choices. Because of that field trip, he plans to enter an HVAC program that will pay him to go to school as he trains, and give him a high-paying job as he works to reach his goal in becoming a business owner.
Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church was selected to receive the Carolyn Axt Volunteer of the Year Award. The church coordinates all the volunteers for SSEF’s Lightning Run, a 5K/10K race that serves as a fundraiser. It also provides space for SSEF to store the 14,000 books it distributes to students, and helps sort them.
The volunteers at the church stuff goodie bags for literacy programs and collect teacher supply closet donations. The Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church Foundation has provided multiple grants for a summer book club.
“As someone who is trying to listen out for the ways that God is moving in our lives and calling us to be connected to our community it was a perfect fit and it has become a wonderful landing space for not just the senior adult ministry, but also our youth and children as well as other volunteers who are a part of the education force on other campuses,” the Rev. Isaac Toney-Schmitt, associate pastor of Faith, said.
Dick Sorsenson received the Dr. Ava Wilensky Board Member of the Year Award from SSEF. He was a former board member, having served in 2012-2013. For 12 years, he provided the electrical setup for SSEF’s STEAM Showcase held at North Springs High. In the first year, there were 10 exhibits. But this school year had 37 exhibits at the top level of the gym, and 167 students on the gym floor who all needed power.
Schweiger said that SSEF wanted to thank Sorenson for those 12 years of support as he is now moving to Lake Oconee.
“To me, the real honor goes to the teachers and the students and supporting companies that enable this fine event and thank you to all of them,” Sorenson said.
Other students who participate in SSEF programs told the volunteers, board members, and staff from public schools in Sandy Springs how the program have affected their lives.
John Benitez, a senior at Riverwood High School, said he’s the oldest in his family and his mother needs him to help with his younger siblings. And he works 15 hours a week at a Chipotle restaurant. He wants to become an auto mechanic, but he can’t go away to a school campus for eight months to get that training.
But last fall his teacher told him about the SSEF Career Fair. He met Ken Cloud of KBC Transport Training, who told him about the training his company provides for people to get their driver’s license for the trucking industry. Cloud invited him to visit his training center, which is within walking distance of Benitez’s home, so he visited on the weekend and got to try out the driving simulator. He said he learned what it takes to become a driver and how training can be part-time or fulltime, either during the week or on the weekend.
“I can earn money while helping my mother and I can earn enough to go to mechanic school,” he said.
The flexible hours will enable him to still work and help at home, so now he said he has options he didn’t know he had.
