Forever LSU Campagin Receives BP America Grant forTwo New Baton Rouge High Schools |
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An innovative joint education project between the LSU College of Education and ADVANCE BATON ROUGE (ABR) will be the beneficiary of a $500,000 gift provided by BP America. The project will focus on the development and opening of two college preparatory – autonomous – high schools for public school students in the Greater Baton Rouge area. In addition, the LSU College of Education will receive support for cutting-edge research addressing the unique leadership needs of autonomous schools nationwide. “BP has demonstrated tremendous insight through this generous donation,” stated LSU College of Education Dean M. Jayne Fleener. “This funding will allow us to extend our engagement efforts beyond our existing partnerships with ABR and the public schools, and thus further our efforts to promote true educational innovation in Louisiana.” Currently celebrating its Centennial Year, the College of Education already oversees LSU’s highly ranked University Laboratory School, and has a long and distinguished history of involvement in community outreach and educational program development in Louisiana, as well as nationally significant research in many areas of education. This commitment by BP America, the company’s largest-ever cash donation to LSU, supports the development of two autonomous high schools that are intended to be small in size and feature a high degree of accountability. One school will focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, while the other will focus on digital arts and technology. |
“We believe our educational partnership with ADVANCE BATON ROUGE lays the foundation for creating an important science, technology, engineering, and math training ground for our industry and for others that are essential to the future prosperity of Louisiana and the Gulf Coast region,” said Bob Malone, chairman and president of BP America. “BP is proud to join LSU and the Baton Rouge area in providing educational opportunities that can positively impact so many young lives.” |
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ADVANCE BATON ROUGE will provide entrepreneurial leaders to transform the traditional high school setting into social enterprises that maximize student outcomes, share knowledge, and create social values. Students will be selected through an open admissions process from the Greater Baton Rouge community. A preliminary target date for both new schools to open has been set for the fall of 2009.
“This project will go a long way toward growing our relationship with the LSU College of Education,” said Kristy Hebert, executive director of ADVANCE BATON ROUGE. “The collaboration with BP America will allow us to communicate our mission and leverage additional support from private foundations, as well as other visionary corporate partners.”
In addition to the project’s innovative educational focus, the establishment of an autonomous high school dedicated to digital arts and media will also contribute to a major economic development initiative in Louisiana. “The new digital arts/media-focused school will help the city and state by creating a pipeline of highly skilled talent for high-tech ‘high-income’ jobs associated with the international motion picture and digital media industry,” said Jeff Hale, LSU assistant vice chancellor for Corporate, Foundation and Research Relations. “When you combine this new cutting-edge high school with similar efforts under way at LSU to hire distinguished faculty and establish courses in relevant areas of digital arts and media – particularly the new ‘Arts, Visualization, Advanced Technologies and Research’ (AVATAR) initiative – the very positive implications become apparent. The new school will therefore support and complement several existing efforts aimed at both creating ‘home grown talent’ for a multi-billion-dollar industry, and attracting new businesses to our state. Two obvious beneficiaries will be the very successful Red Stick International Animation Festival, which was an outgrowth of LSU’s Center for Computation and Technology initiative, and the Baton Rouge Area Digital Industries Consortium.”
Angela Broussard | College of Education
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