Excellence Through Effort Education Program
- The 5 E’s to Success Program: Foundational teaching by the Georgia Stars Baseball Academy on the importance of Education, Effort, Ethics, Empathy, and Excellence in all facets of life.
- Georgia Stars Get Ahead Program: Teacher-based educational assistance program. The program is a volunteer educational assistance program for players in the Georgia Stars Baseball Academy. The program is administered 5 days a week from August to May during the school year by existing school teachers at the Ga Stars Baseball Academy.
- Georgia Stars Team Mentoring Program: Kids tutoring kids in school subjects. This program runs from August to May of the school year. Georgia Stars Baseball Academy players mentor teammates from the 9 to 18 years of age on different subjects throughout the school year.
- Community Service Program: A requirement that all active members of the program participate in at least one community service project each year.
Since its inception in 2010, the Georgia Stars Baseball Academy has been directly responsible for over 950 young men participating in our program with a 99.7 % high school graduation rate. Over 125 young men have received baseball or academic scholarships to college in that timeframe. 95% of the 950 players in the program since 2010 have gone on to college. The program requires that each player maintains a 3.0 GPA during High School to be a member of the organization. It also requires that all members participate in one community service program each calendar year.
Our Roots in Education
Georgia Stars Baseball Academy, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization located in Norcross, GA, is an organization dedicated to the development of young men through the sport of baseball. The mission of our organization is for our players to attain an athletic or academic scholarship to play baseball in college. To accomplish this goal, we emphasize developing leadership, academics, citizenship, and sportsmanship skills through competition, training, community service, and education.
Our organization began at Duluth High School in 2010 and was rooted in education. This fact was not lost on the founders of the organization. The concept of using baseball to help young men graduate high school and go on to college is the foundation of the organization’s mission. In 2010 the organization introduced a requirement that all active members have a 3.0 GPA entering high school. This one requirement changed the scope of the Georgia Stars Baseball Academy in many ways. The organization’s slogan “Excellence Through Effort” was created around the foundational teachings of The 5 E’s to Success: Education, Effort, Ethics, Empathy, and Excellence which is the core teaching of all instructors in the program.
Expanding the Role of Education
As the Georgia Stars Baseball Academy grew, we noticed that since the program was successful for High School kids we should offer it to grade school children. The organization moved into a 9000 square foot facility and has 120 to 150 young men in the program. A classroom was incorporated into the facility to teach kids the educational components of baseball and to hold meetings for parents to learn about the college educational opportunities achievable through the program. We added more kids from ages 9 to 18 and noticed that a number of the kid’s parents were school teachers. After some impromptu discussions, several of the parents that were teachers were happy to volunteer their time before baseball practice to help kids that were struggling with different subjects. The organization dedicated an area of its facility and added computers with internet access which started The GA Stars Get Ahead Program providing students with help from volunteer teachers.
As a result of the 3.0 GPA requirement, we noticed that some of the brighter kids in the programs were having tremendous academic success. We encouraged these kids to help their teammates in subjects where they needed extra help. This was the genesis of The Georgia Stars Team Mentoring Program, where kids help each other achieve academic success. This program fosters close relationships between team members through mentorship. These 2 programs still exist today. One of our parents worked with a Non-profit education program that needed access to a facility during the summer to mentor kids who fell behind in school and who had learning disabilities. This created another opportunity where The Georgia Stars Baseball Academy used their facility as a meeting place for other Education based programs to help kids improve their opportunities in life through additional education opportunities.
Community Service
As the organization grew, several kids and parents approached the Georgia Stars about requirements they had in school programs to complete community service projects. The founders of the organization saw this as another opportunity to educate the kids about the importance of doing community service. So, in 2013, a requirement was added to the Charter of the program that all kids complete at least one community service project a year. The organization quickly partnered with local charities to feed the hungry, do roadside clean-up, collect food and toys during the holidays, collect school supplies and baseball equipment. This requirement is another part of the overall educational program to help young men understand how to serve their community.
