What could be better than receiving a prestigious award from the White House? How about receiving a prestigious award from the White House AND witnessing, first hand, the impact your organization has had on the people involved? Last week, Alec Lee, Aim High’s Executive Director, had just that kind of luck. Alec had the opportunity of visiting the White House to discuss summer learning with eight other individuals being honored as Champions of Change. His day at the White House began with an opening panel in which he and the other honorees discussed the need for summer learning and the importance in investing in summer learning. “Summer is an opportunity to be different. That doesn’t mean not rigorous, not challenging, or not linked to standards,” Alec said during the panel. “We make sure that kids, after three or four years of Aim High, have built a terrarium, have built a catapult, that they’ve done an oral history interview of people in their neighborhoods or their families. Those are really their Aim High exit tickets… To me, that’s what summer quality looks like.” Watch more of the panel discussion here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iu0qPmDyYU&t=23m30s Besides learning from and being inspired by each other, the Champions also listened to a number of other speakers, including Secretary of Education, John King Jr.; Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack; and Secretary of Labor, Thomas Perez. Aim High’s impact is far-reaching, and extends to the nation’s capital. In Washington, Alec saw several Aim High graduates and former Aim High teachers.

• Even before boarding his flight to DC, Alec ran into Aim High alum and former teacher Nate Dizon. Nate, along with his siblings, attended our Visitacion Valley campus and, in true Aim High fashion, returned after graduating to be a teacher. Now he is working as a Virgin America Guest Services Team Member at SFO. “Being new to Virgin America, I’ve heard many stories from my teammates about meeting various celebrities in and out of SFO. When I boarded Mr. Lee at the gate, I was excited to find he was flying to the nation’s capitol to meet President Obama,” Nate said. “I told him that Aim High has opened so many new and exciting opportunities to the community and to me. I hope Aim High expands to the rest of California and potentially to the rest of the nation!”

However, the Aim High magic was only just beginning. Shortly after arriving in DC, Alec had lunch with two Aim High All-Stars: Zoe Duskin and Zoë Williams.

• Duskin is a former teacher and former Site Director at our Lake Merritt campus in Oakland. She is a Stanford graduate and founded a public charter school in DC, The Inspired Teaching Demonstration School, that serves nearly 400 students ranging from three years old to eighth grade.
• Williams is a former teacher at our Urban School campus in San Francisco. She moved to DC to attend American University and is now working as a Communications Designer at the Embassy of Mexico Cultural Institute.

And last, but certainly not least, there was a former Aim High teacher in the audience at the Champions of Change panel discussion.

• Jennie Niles taught science at Aim High in the early years and credits Aim High for propelling her into a career in education. Niles founded and was Head of School at E. L. Haynes Public Charter School, also in DC. Now, she is the Washington DC Deputy Mayor for Education. “Aim High and its focus on summer enrichment is changing the game for so many young people,” said Niles. “Congratulations to Alec on being named a Champion of Change by the White House and the Aim High team for all of their success!”

For Alec, being honored as a Champion of Change was validating and gratifying. But more important to him was seeing how deep the Aim High Magic runs and how far it reaches: across generations and across the country.