Choice Bus to Visit Dent Middle School
Sep 23, 2011
Choice Bus Encourages Dent Middle School Students to Stay in School
State Farm, Midlands Regional Education Center and Mattie Stewart Foundation Bring Mobile Experience to Students to Fight the Dropout Rate
Columbia, SC -- State Farm Insurance partnered with the Midlands Regional Education Center and The Mattie C. Stewart Foundation to bring The Choice Bus to 7th graders at Dent Middle School on Friday, September 23, 2011. The State Farm Insurance sponsorship also provided schools visited with the InsideOut Toolkit. Each Toolkit contains a Teacher’s Guide, The Mattie C. Stewart Foundation Pledge Card and InsideOut, a 26-minute DVD that contains both the English and Spanish versions of the documentary. InsideOut exposes the real story of the devastating and lasting effects of dropping out of school, told by those who live with the consequences every day: prison inmates. The documentary and companion Teacher’s Guide have been used in classrooms and community centers in 47 states and Canada.
About the Bus:
The front half of The Choice Bus is a customized learning environment with seats turned around facing a curtain with a large flat screen television. Students watch a short video presentation and then the curtain is pulled back to reveal a full scale replica of a prison cell. The prison cell represent the likely consequences that await most who drop out of school, but its primary purpose is to get the student’s attention for the powerful message that follows. A message that demonstrates the importance of having an education along with a reality check for what happens to most people who drop out of school.
“We know that 75% of people in state prisons are high school dropouts,” explains Phil Christian, Executive Director of The Mattie C. Stewart Foundation. “We use the prison cell to get their attention and demonstrate the likely consequence of dropping out of school, but the major focus on board The Choice Bus is showing young people what education can do for them and how it’s connected to career choices and lifetime earning potential."
Bruce White, State Farm representative, says, “We are extremely proud to sponsor The Choice Bus and provide this innovative tool to schools and communities throughout South Carolina. The Choice Bus is making a real difference in helping students realize the importance of completing their high school education; and we sincerely believe that there is no greater insurance for the prosperity of our communities than an educated and workforce ready population.”
“The number of students dropping out of school in South Carolina has decreased by 2000 over the past two years,” says Dr. Kaye Shaw, Coordinator of the Midlands Regional Education Center. “We attribute this success to many factors including drop out prevention programs and career development activities funded through the Education and Economic Development Act. These outreach programs are a catalyst for change in our state.”
To learn more about The Mattie C. Stewart Foundation and The Choice Bus visit www.mattiecstewart.org. To learn more about the Midlands Regional Education Center, with additional career and drop out prevention programs, visit www.scpathways.org.
About The Mattie C. Stewart Foundation
The Mattie C. Stewart Foundation is a national non-profit organization dedicated to reducing the dropout rate. The Foundation was established in honor of Dr. Shelley Stewart’s late mother, Mattie C. Stewart, in the summer of 2007 and is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. Its primary corporate partner is o2ideas, Inc., a corporate communications and brand relations firm also based in Birmingham. The mission of the Foundation is to create tools and resources to help educators, community leaders and parents effectively address the dropout rate and increase the graduation rate. The Foundation also partners with America’s Promise Alliance, the National Dropout Prevention Center and Communities In Schools. For more information, visit www.mattiecstewart.org.
About State Farm Insurance
State Farm insures more cars and homes than any other insurer in the U.S., is the leading insurer of watercraft and is also a leading insurer in Canada. Our 17,800 agents and more than 66,000 employees serve 81 million policies and accounts – more than 79 million auto, fire, life and health policies in the United States and Canada, and nearly 2 million bank accounts. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm family of companies. State Farm is ranked No. 34 on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies. For more information, please visit www.statefarm.com®.
About Midlands Regional Education Center
Midlands Regional Education Center (REC) is one of 12 Regional Education Centers (RECs) throughout South Carolina established as part of the Personal Pathways to Success initiative. The Midlands REC is a virtual resource to coordinate and facilitate the delivery of information, resources and services to students, adults, educators, employers and the community. These connections assist individuals in making important education, career and life decisions and resulting in the prepared workforce South Carolina needs to compete and excel in the global economy. For more information, please visit www.scpathways.org.
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