Roosevelt High School and Mendez Learning Center joined other L.A. schools by launching a program to boost student performance and attendance this year.
Students Helping Our World (S.H.O.W.) is an incentive program that rewards students with celebrity appearances and concerts if they maintain good academics and attendance during the school year.
Late last month, comedian George Lopez and Los Angeles City Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa visited Roosevelt High School to officially announce the program. They spoke to students about the importance of education and encouraged them to meet the 96 percent attendance rate and no lower than a “C” on their report card during the entire school year required to earn the benefits.
Along with S.H.O.W., I Am the Future Coalition was introduced to Roosevelt’s student body as a club to raise awareness on education, raise student voice, and to unite the school as a whole according to Abigail Zabrana, former Roosevelt student body president and recent summer intern for PLAS.
“Sometimes all students need is an extra push. Maybe it’ll take the first year for student to really catch on,” said Zabrana “Let’s say 25 percent of students of RHS actually get to the goal ”¦ I know that once that 25 percent of students come back the next they will all be talking about the concert and how great it was and all the other students will hear about it and more will come to school, get better grades”
Guest speakers were invited to present S.H.O.W., including Chivas USA goalkeeper Dan Kennedy who passed out tickets to future team games. Other performers who have been involved in the past have been Kanye West, Common and Lupe Fiasco.
S.H.O.W. was started by high school students in Chicago and is now collaborating with Partnership Los Angeles, an effort by the city and the Los Angeles Unified School District to turnaround L.A.’s lowest performing schools. S.H.O.W. is also being launched at Santee Education Complex and Jordan High School.
