WJCT Public Broadcasting Is Seeking Nominations for Education Champions for Its Third Annual American Graduate Stories of Champions 2016 Awards

Contact: Stan Cleiland, Vice President, Community Relations and Strategic Communications

(904) 358-6366 • scleiland@wjct.org

For Immediate Release

WJCT Public Broadcasting Is Seeking Nominations for Education Champions for Its Third Annual American Graduate Stories of Champions 2016 Awards

(Jacksonville, FL, June 27, 2016); WJCT Public Broadcasting is seeking five local champions of education to recognize for mentoring, encouraging and shaping students for success. The WJCT Champions should be role models in the community, whose stories have the potential to inspire others to take action.

Examples of possible WJCT Champions include:

  • An elected official who is actively involved in the creation of programs for Florida students
  • A philanthropist with a long-standing commitment to youth mentorship
  • A business owner who has created a mentoring program for local high school students
  • An educator who works with students both in and out of the classroom to achieve lasting results
  • An entrepreneur creating internship opportunities to help narrow the achievement gap
  • A parent who is leading a coalition of organizations to affect community-wide change

WJCT will select these education champions from community nominations, representing content strands: Career Readiness and College Completion, Dropout Prevention and Re-engagement, Early Education, More and Better Learning, Special Needs, and STEAM. To nominate a champion for this honor, visit wjct.org and click the banner on the homepage or visit www.wjct.org/americangraduate.

The public media initiative, American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen, is helping communities across America identify and implement solutions to address the high school dropout crisis. Made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the multi-year campaign is designed to raise awareness and dialogue through national and local multiplatform programming. Targeting communities with highest dropout rates, the initiative also increases local engagement and action through collaborations and partnerships, and increases student engagement through teacher professional development and classroom curricula.

WJCT is the community-supported public broadcasting station for the First Coast. WJCT is your community, your world. For more information on WJCT’s in-depth programming content, log on to WJCT Online at wjct.org. Like WJCT on Facebook (facebook.com/wjctjax) and follow WJCT on Twitter (@WJCTJax) and Instagram (@WJCTJax).

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