Ludacris, Common, Big Boi, Pharrell Williams, Jay Sean, Keri Hilson, Ciara, Sway Calloway, SuChin Pak, Dorrough, DJ Diamond Kuts, Joakim Noah, Marshall Faulk, Tom Papa, and More to Headline The Get Schooled National Challenge and Tour

NEW YORK, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- The Get Schooled Foundation today announced the launch of the Get Schooled National Challenge and Tour aimed at engaging students and their families to help improve high school graduation rates, college readiness, and ultimately raise college completion rates.

According to a recent report by the College Board, in a generation America has moved from first to twelfth place in the proportion of adults ages 25 to 34 with postsecondary credentials.  While there are inspiring education reform movements underway in almost every community in America, too often young people and their families are not part of the conversation.  Recognizing that more Americans need to become part of the drive back to first place, the Get Schooled National Challenge and Tour will energize, inspire, and engage Americans to step up to the challenge by learning how to take action, identifying personal educational goals, and committing to achieving them.  

The multi-city Get Schooled National Challenge and Tour will host Youth Summits and Get Schooled Bus events in cities across the US: New York, Philadelphia, Memphis, Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Denver.  The Youth Summits will engage young people in a conversation about how they view education, lay out the educational challenges that faces our communities, and ask them to step up to the challenge.  In each city, the Youth Summits will be followed by two days of Get Schooled Bus events hosted by local celebrity education ambassadors and will include a variety of activities to engage people in the Get Schooled Challenge.  

Some of the country's top entertainers, athletes, and personalities with a commitment to education are participating in the Get Schooled National Challenge and Tour including Ludacris, Common, Big Boi, Pharrell, Jay Sean, Keri Hilson, Ciara, Dorrough, DJ Diamond Kuts, Joakim Noah, Marshall Faulk, Tom Papa, MTV News Correspondents Sway Calloway and SuChin Pak, and more.

Ludacris said, "Education is the ultimate challenge.  I know from experience that sometimes it is tough to get inspired, to take control, and to have the discipline to see your education through.  I'm excited to join other artists and the Get Schooled Foundation to help capture the attention of students and reinforce the vital message that education is important and a necessary tool for life."

The Get Schooled National Challenge and Tour, sponsored by Viacom (parent company of BET Networks, MTV Networks, and Paramount Pictures), and AT&T, along with Univision Communications, Inc., will tap into the creative talent, digital and media assets, and resources of the country's top media and consumer brands to reach young Americans, their families, and teachers.   Get Schooled has also formed partnerships with school districts and non-profits, like the United Way, that are eager to engage America in the effort to turn the tide and significantly increase education levels.  AT&T's U-Verse, Time Warner Cable, and Comcast are the local media partners, donating air time in the Get Schooled tour cities to run public service announcements that promote the Get Schooled Challenge.

Charlene Lake, Senior Vice President for Public Affairs and Chief Sustainability Officer for AT&T said, "These events will bring needed stay-in-school and post-secondary education resources to students, parents, educators, and community members.  In addition, Get Schooled will challenge students to be accountable for their own success by setting and accomplishing a school-related goal such as improving their grades in algebra or making the honor roll."

Kevin Liles, Senior Advisor to the Get Schooled Foundation, Partner at NextGen Edu and former president of Def Jam, "Education is the foundation for success no matter what you aspire to be.  We have a responsibility to our culture and our student population, who are faced with so many distractions, to get them focused on the value of a degree. The Get Schooled initiative in association with our many partners hopes to inspire students to stick with it no matter what challenges they are faced with. It's up to us to make a difference and we need to empower our students to make it happen. We have an incredible roster of artists committed to helping spread the critical message that nothing is more important than the value of a degree."

Carl Folta, Executive Vice President of Viacom Inc., said, "There are inspiring education reform movements underway in almost every community in America, but too often young people and their families are not part of the conversation.  More Americans need to become part of this movement, Get Schooled, through a variety of programs, is seeking to energize, inspire, and engage communities and teach them how to take action."

Marie Groark, Executive Director of the Get Schooled Foundation, said, "Too often our education crisis seems like a mammoth problem that we cannot overcome.  The Get Schooled National Challenge and Tour reminds us that by making a commitment to do better in school, be a more involved parent, or even volunteer a few hours a month at a school, that we all can be a part of the solution."

Anyone (students, parents, teachers) who commits to "stepping up" to the Get Schooled Challenge online during the week that Get Schooled visits their city, will be eligible to win a free laptop. Participants can enter to win by visiting the Get Schooled website for each city i.e. www.getschooled.com/NewYork.

Get Schooled National Challenge and Tour Details and Schedule

Each Get Schooled National Challenge and Tour city will have a customized website (i.e. www.getschooled.com/newyork) where people can sign up for the Challenge, find out about Get Schooled activities taking place in their community, learn about the issues facing their school system, and access an array of resources to guide students through the process of getting into college.  Get Schooled.com will include an online "challenge counter" to record how many Americans have stepped up to the challenge and committed to achieving their personal educational goal.   

About Get Schooled 

Get Schooled engages and empowers Americans to help improve high school graduation rates, improve college readiness and raise college completion rates.  It is the only consumer-facing education initiative that aims to complement and support the work of the broader education reform community by leveraging the creative talent, digital and media assets and resources of the country's top media and consumer brands to truly connect with Americans.  An independent non-profit organization, the Get Schooled Foundation's founders include Viacom and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with significant support from AT&T.

Get Schooled launched in 2009 and has partnered on several high profile national initiatives aimed at elevating awareness about our nation's education crisis and engaging and empowering all Americans to get involved.  In addition to the National Challenge and Tour, its initiatives include:  Get Schooled: You Have the Right Roadblock (Fall 2009), President Obama's Race To The Top Commencement Challenge (Spring 2010), New York Stock Exchange's Ring the Bell Contest (Spring 2010), Paramount Pictures' Waiting for "Superman" (Fall 2010), and MTV's Get Schooled College Affordability Challenge (Fall 2010).  Get Schooled will continue to identify and sponsor likeminded initiatives that leverage consumer oriented media and brands to ensure more Americans are part of the nation's education solutions. 

To find out more about Get Schooled or to become a partner, visit www.getschooled.com.

About Es El Momento

Es El Momento is a comprehensive, multi-platform, three-year national education initiative aimed at improving academic achievement among K-12 Hispanic students. This effort has a specific focus on increasing rates of high school graduation, college readiness, college completion and engaging Hispanic parents and the broader community in these efforts. The Spanish-language campaign will be conducted in collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, community, education and civil rights groups from around the country.  

SOURCE The Get Schooled Foundation