Igniting change through Green Apple Day of Service

Published on: 
April 11, 2013
Author: 
Patrick Lane

In 2012, Jason Gasperich of Connor Sports, a USGBC Member Company, received an email from the Green Apple team asking him to become involved with the Day of Service. Jason was one of the 1300 project captains across the globe who heeded that call and worked to make schools a better place for the generations of students to come.

Around the same time Mick Founts, Superintendent of the San Joaquin County Office of Education, was planning a better learning environment for the students at the Excel Academy Collegiate Sports Health Science Preparatory High. Excel is an innovative charter school that caters to students pursuing a career in sports and health science. It makes sense that the learning environment Mick and his team were planning for those students was a new gym!

New gyms need new floors, and Connor Sports used the Day of Service to fulfill that need. They worked with the school to set up a recycling program around campus, and waived the fee for installing two new floors in the gym. The plastic they collected was used as a component of the very same floor Connor Sports built for the NCAA Final Four this year, the same floor that two lucky Excel Academy students got to see last week when Connor Sports flew them out to watch the Final Four!

When I heard this story, I knew I had to be there for the ribbon cutting of the gym on April 2. The Center has made a habit of recognizing districts, schools and advocates that really know how to make a difference. This partnership between the district and Connor Sports is why we started the Day of Service; to provide people who care about their communities and schools to come together and ignite change.

We hope you’ll join us and add your spark to this year’s Day of Service on September 28.

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