Communities In Schools of Nevada and Walker Furniture Present 3rd Annual Elevate Your GPA Competition
Communities In Schools of Nevada (CIS of Nevada), the fifth largest state office of the nation’s leading dropout prevention organization, along with partner Walker Furniture, is once again shining a spotlight on high school juniors and seniors for the students’ impressive success in increasing their overall GPA during the 2019 fall semester through the 3rd annual Elevate Your GPA scholastic competition.
The winning student, Fredrick Bailey of Western High School, raised his GPA by 0.66. As a reward, Treasha Parker, CIS Academy Program Director, and Brandon Carmon, CIS of Nevada Site Coordinator, personally delivered a Visa gift card to Bailey’s home earlier this month. Through the CIS Academy Program, CIS of Nevada assists high school juniors and seniors get back on track with their credits so they may graduate and be prepared for the next step in life after high school.
“I am so proud of Fredrick’s perseverance and commitment to improve his GPA last semester,” said Brandon Carmon, CIS of Nevada site coordinator for Western High School. “I see firsthand the various obstacles my case managed students endure on a regular basis. The Walker Furniture sponsored program is an excellent way to celebrate our students’ progress towards their goals because it continues to challenge our students across different backgrounds to push themselves academically and stay focused during the last two years of high school.”
The winning class, Western High School’s Junior CIS Academy Class, will receive a room remodel for their hard work in collectively raising the class’ overall GPA over the course of the 2019 fall semester. Of the 194 students who make up CIS’ Academy Classes across Clark County, 172 of them, or 89 percent, increased their GPA by more than two percent, thanks partly to this scholastic competition.
“There’s no greater feeling than being able to recognize these hard-working students for remaining focused in their studies and raising their GPA through the Elevate Your GPA initiative,” said Linda Alterwitz-Mizrahi, co-owner, Walker Furniture. “This is our third year sponsoring this wonderful program and given the unprecedented obstacles we’ve all endured over the last few months, it gives us more reason to commemorate these students’ achievements. We congratulate Fredrick Bailey and hope the future classroom transformation will serve as a wonderful reminder to the students of their hard work in the competition and inspire other students to succeed.”
While Western High School’s Junior Academy Class accomplished the greatest GPA increase last semester, all 12 CIS Academy Classes throughout the eight different high schools within the Clark County School District that CIS serves saw an increase in their GPA.
“Our students’ success has always been our organization’s most meaningful gift, and we couldn’t provide the necessary tools needed to help them succeed if it wasn’t for the overwhelming generosity of Walker Furniture and our network of community partners,” said Cheri Ward, executive director, CIS of Southern Nevada. “As we continue to navigate the uncharted waters of COVID-19 and our CIS site coordinators continue to bring community resources to our students, we are even more grateful for the continued collaborations with partners like the Walker Furniture team, that continuously does whatever it takes for our underserved children and teenagers.”
Walker Furniture is also a proud partner of CIS of Nevada’s annual Fill the Bus School Supply Drive intended to collect donations of school supplies through drop-off bins located at Walker Furniture store locations. Fill the Bus takes place during the summer months, in advance of the upcoming school year. Visit CISNevada.org for updates and more information.
Earlier this year, Walker Furniture, in partnership with Vegas Golden Knights Foundation, donated 15 new beds to selected kids including four CIS students through their annual initiative, Beds for Kids. The selected kids and their families also received the exclusive invitation to skate at City National Arena with Vegas Golden Knights personnel.
Nevada ranks 47th in the nation for education, a statistic that should alarm all Nevadans. Students who are hungry, sick, anxious, bullied or troubled may be too overwhelmed to learn, leading to failure in the classroom and eventually dropping out. Using an evidence-based, success-proven methodology and employing a network of more than 100 community agencies and nonprofits, CIS of Nevada literally brings the community into the school to provide students with the services and resources they need to alleviate outside pressures that prevent them from learning, ultimately encouraging them to stay in school.
About Communities In Schools of Nevada
Communities In Schools of Nevada is the fifth-largest state office of the nation’s leading dropout prevention organization that believes every child has potential but may lack the opportunity to succeed. Communities In Schools places caring, well-trained, full-time employees in high poverty schools to build trusting relationships with students, assess their needs and remove the barriers they face to learn and graduate.
Communities In Schools of Nevada taps into a network of more than 100 nonprofit agencies and nonprofits to meet student needs – literally bringing the community into the schools it serves. Communities In Schools of Nevada operates in nearly 70 rural and urban schools throughout four school districts statewide. In total, Communities In Schools of Nevada serves more than 70,000 students, including eight schools in Western Nevada; nine schools in Northern Nevada and 53 schools in Southern Nevada. Nationally, Communities In Schools provides services in more than 2,300 schools in 26 states and the District of Columbia, serving 1.56 million young people and their families every year.
For more information, please see our website http://www.cisnevada.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.