One of the wonderful benefits of working at TREW Marketing is the opportunities we have to venture to new places and meet and collaborate with new organizations and people, from Texas’ nobel laureates to local entrepreneurs to our most promising young students through our work in education.
Last week, TREW co-founder Rebecca Geier had just this kind of opportunity when she attended an event at KIPP Austin Public Schools to hear from Washington Post education columnist and creator of Newsweek’s Best High Schools in America list, Jay Mathews, and KIPP co-founder Mike Steinberg. Both gentlemen spoke about and signed Mr. Mathews new book, Work Hard. Be Nice.: How Two Inspired Teachers Created the Most Promising Schools in America.
The most inspiring moment for Rebecca, as she shared on Twitter at the time it happenened, was when, at the beginning of Q&A, a KIPP mom stood up, began walking toward Mr. Steinberg and said, “Thank you for giving my son a future.” She then embraced Mr. Steinberg with all her heart as she explained the hardships of their low-income, minority family and their belief that her son attending KIPP has given him the future he might not have had. Her son now plans to go on to college, in line with a key requirement that all KIPPsters be accepted to college in order to graduate high school . Wow – what a moment!
Other highlights:
- Mr. Mathews described the four characteristics he believes makes schools successful: having 1. high expectations, 2. more time in the school day, 3. authentic assessments, and 4. team spirit
- Mr. Feinberg shared the four traits they look for in KIPP teachers: 1. smart and passionate in the topic they teach, 2. ability to connect with kids, 3. the heart to do whatever it takes, and 4. shared core beliefs and values
TREW Marketing is proud to call KIPP Austin our friends. We’re working on our client page where we can share more about the work we’ve done in education in this first year of business with clients such as KIPP. Until then, you can check out our PR work with KIPP on FOX News as well as on The Next Frontier math and science education report by The Academy of Medicine, Engineering, and Science of Texas.
In other education news, we are excited that Rebecca will be attending the E3 Alliance Leaders Summit for TREW later this month. One of the key elements of our approach at TREW is collaboration, and there is nearly no better example of collaboration than E3. You can check out more about their impact on Central Texas education at their website, and their unwavering and passionate leader, Susan Dawson, who has dedicated so much time and talent to improving the education of all students in Central Texas.
