More Than 60,000 Students Tour "Choice Bus" Through $175,000 Partnership Between State Farm, MCSF
State Farm partners with The Mattie C. Stewart Foundation to inspire students to stay in school
BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Aug. 30, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Thousands of students across the South will climb aboard The Choice Bus to heed the call to stay in school and make good choices, thanks to a $175,000 contribution from State Farm Insurance to The Mattie C. Stewart Foundation (MCSF). State Farm representatives and the MCSF held a check presentation ceremony in Birmingham on August 29 to commemorate the landmark occasion.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110830/CL60229 )
State Farm has been an MCSF partner since 2010, supporting The Choice Bus as it travels throughout the company's Southern Zone — Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina. Since 2010, The Choice Bus has been experienced by more than 80,000 students in those four states.
The Choice Bus challenges students to think about the choices they make everyday while providing them with a hands-on experience of the importance of completing their high school education and the likely consequences of dropping out of school. The bus itself is a half-classroom, half-prison cell rolling exhibit. To date, The Choice Bus fleet has reached nearly one million students across the U.S. and is one of several tools used by the MCSF to spread the education message. Other tools include InsideOut, a documentary with accompanying curriculum seen now by more than five million children and adults. InsideOut takes a look at prison life with inmates telling their personal stories of regret for not pursuing an education and graduating from high school.
"State Farm proudly joins The Mattie C. Stewart Foundation to increase the graduation rate in our Southern Zone," said Emily Clark, State Farm Insurance Public Affairs Specialist. "We see the impact that The Choice Bus has on students, and we want to help further that message."
"We must encourage our students to pursue their education by making good choices, and those choices start by deciding to graduate from high school," said Dr. Shelley Stewart, Founder and President of The Mattie C. Stewart Foundation. "Thanks to the support of State Farm, we can continue to take The Choice Bus message to more students and make a positive impact on their choices and their future."
To learn more about MCSF and other dropout prevention tools, visit www.mattiecstewart.org.
SOURCE The Mattie C. Stewart Foundation
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