The Extra Yard, May 2024

PRIMED FOR THE PEACH STATE

The Georgia Teachers Initiative Will Celebrate and Support Teachers Through a Newly Developed Statewide Platform and Teacher Community

The College Football Playoff (CFP) National Championship is coming back to Atlanta this January. Having hosted a classic title bout between Alabama and Georgia in 2018, Atlanta will be the first city to host the national championship game for a second time.

The CFP Foundation has been supporting and celebrating teachers for over a decade. Each year, the organization develops a comprehensive strategy to positively impact PK-12 teachers within the local community set to host the CFP National Championship. The CFP Foundation and its Extra Yard for Teachers (EYFT) platform works in partnership with local institutions of higher education, sports organizations, corporations, and nonprofits to elevate the teaching

profession, recognize educators, and help improve student outcomes.

When the national championship game was held in Atlanta in 2018, the CFP Foundation’s work centered around literacy and made a significant impact on improving local students’ level of reading. As the CFP prepares for its return for the 2025 national championship game, the CFP Foundation is once again hard at work making a positive difference in classrooms across the entire state of Georgia.

Together, the CFP Foundation and Atlanta Football Host Committee (AFHC) have launched the Georgia Teachers Initiative (GTI), a newly developed statewide platform and community to celebrate, support, engage, connect and provide

MOTIVATION FOR INNOVATION: Select Georgia teachers were awarded innovation grants for their dedication to teaching and making an impact in the classroom.

resources to PK-12 teachers. Together with GTI, the city of Atlanta and the CFP Foundation look to build on their collective $4 million investment from the 2018 national championship game, all while expanding the legacy impact to teachers across the state of Georgia. The goal is to reach one-third of the more than 100,000 educators statewide by kickoff of the 2025 national championship game on Monday, January 20, 2025.

The GTI will support Georgia educators through a multi-million-dollar financial investment in education in the form of resources, grants, and recognition activities, including these recently announced grants:

+ $100,000 in DonorsChoose resources that funded classroom projects in over 550 schools in nearly 90 counties across Georgia.

+ “Innovation Grants,” which will be awarded multiple times throughout the year.

+ A $100,000 commitment to support the continuation of Atlanta Mayor Dickens’ “ATL YEAR OF THE YOUTH” initiative, which is aimed

at providing safe spaces, as well as investments in early childhood education and workforce development programs.

+ The launch of a weekly “teacher spotlight” that will include a $1,000 DonorsChoose gift card that those recognized teachers can use for classroom resources.

Additionally, the newly-launched GeorgiaTeachersInitiative.org serves as a hub for Georgia’s PK-12 educators, who can sign up now to join the online community in order to stay up-to-date on the latest resources, events, giveaways, upcoming events and more.

“The work we do in schools and supporting educators across the host region are the legacy of these championships in the local community,” said CFP Executive Director Britton Banowsky. “The CFP Foundation works closely with the organizing committee and educators to design a meaningful impact strategy that maximizes the opportunities and meets the highest needs of the community.”

The CFP Foundation will also put Georgia teachers in the spotlight throughout national championship

REWARDING INSPIRATION: The CFP Foundation will award $1,000 in classroom resources each week until the 2025 CFP National Championship to a Georgia teacher who is making a lasting impact on the next generation.

weekend with a series of events and activities aimed at honoring and empowering educators. The Extra Yard for Teachers Summit, slated for Saturday, January 18, is a gathering of teachers from across the state who come together for high energy and relevant professional development and to hear inspiring speakers who recognize the hard work of those on the front lines of educating students. Past speakers and presenters have included Miguel Cardona, U.S. Secretary of Education; Condoleezza Rice, former U.S. Secretary of State; Charles Best, founder of DonorsChoose. org; Desmond Howard, ESPN college football analyst; Holly Rowe, ESPN college football sideline reporter;

The CFP Foundation works closely with the organizing committee and educators to design a meaningful impact strategy that maximizes the opportunities and meets the highest needs of the community.

Carl Lewis, nine-time Olympic gold medalist, and many more. The 2025 event will offer in-person (for local educators) and virtual live and on-demand options for teachers across the country to attend the event at no cost. Registration for both the in-person event and online options will open in the coming months at CFP-Foundation.org

BRITTON BANOWSKY CFP EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

The 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship will take place on Monday, January 20 at 7:30 p.m. ET. The game will air live on ESPN. For more information on the College Football Playoff and the 2025 CFP National Championship, visit CollegeFootballPlayoff. com. To learn more about supporting local efforts and the Atlanta Sports Council/Atlanta Football Host Committee, visit ATLCFP2025.com.

ATLANTA APPRECIATION

Honoring Atlanta Educators was a Primary Focus during Teacher Appreciation Week

During Teacher Appreciation Week in early May, the CFP Foundation visited four different schools in Atlanta and Decatur, Georgia, delivering DonorsChoose gift cards to go towards classroom resources. Educators received $1,000 in DonorsChoose funds, while the principal at each of the four schools was awarded an additional $5,000 to invest into the school’s learning facilities. Thank you for all you do, teachers!

DonorsChoose gift card surprises are always worth celebrating!

Surprise Highlight: We met and surprised some outstanding teachers at schools in Atlanta during #TeacherAppreciationWeek.

TEAMING UP WITH THE NFL FOR EDUCATION

Detroit Classroom is the Beneficiary of a New Inspirit Innovative Learning Hub

The CFP Foundation joined forces with the NFL Foundation during the 2024 NFL Draft to make a surprise donation of a new Inspirit virtual reality lab to the Bates Academy in greater Detroit, which hosted the draft festivities in April. The package included two years of access to Inspirit’s platform and content library (which includes science, math and career discovery virtual reality content) and 20 virtual reality devices.

Inspirit, a provider of virtual and augmented reality platforms for K-12 education, remains at the forefront of educational innovation by conducting ongoing research with distinguished academics from Stanford University. Inspirit’s Innovative Learning Hub gives students the ability to explore complex concepts through immersive, interactive, 3D experiences for both STEM and CTE education.

It is always great to team up with the NFL Foundation!

CELEBRATING TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK

The CFP Foundation Distributed Thousands of Dollars In Resources and Hosted a Myriad of Teacher Appreciation Events to Recognized and Celebrate Hundreds of Educators

CONGRATS!

As part of its grant partnership with the CFP Foundation, The American Athletic Conference made a donation to Dallas’ Thomas C Marsh Preparatory Academy in Dallas. The Marsh Community Center was outfitted with a new refrigerator, a commercial Keurig, and a commercial ice machine, and the cabinets were fully stocked with essentials. Additionally, School Specialty donated additional storage and organizational materials to help make the space more of a collaborative area for staff, parents, partners and community. Teachers and staff were also treated to breakfast from Chick-fil-A.

The community of Houston, which hosted the 2024 national championship game, continues to show its love for local teachers with its Houston Loves Teachers program. School Specialty teamed up with the Houston Host Committee and the CFP Foundation to reveal a state-of-the-art media center at Houston’s Alief Learning Center. The Houston Sports Authority also made surprise visits to Scroggins Elementary School and Carrillo Elementary School. The organization hosted a heartfelt thank you party for teachers who enjoyed prizes and complementary beverages.

The CFP staff visited Degolyer Elementary School in Dallas to surprise teacher Jenni Littlejohn with $1,000 in DonorsChoose funds toward classroom resources, while committing an additional $5,000 to the school. THANK YOU!

GO TEACH INITIATIVE CONTINUES TO GROW

To address the national challenge of attracting and retaining teachers, the CFP Foundation and Dr Pepper created the Go Teach initiative to support student-athletes seeking careers in education. Over its first three years, the initiative has awarded nearly $1 million in resources to studentathletes across each of the 10 FBS conferences, as well as the University of Notre Dame, and to historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

Go Teach will distribute $1.6M in tuition assistance to over 500 student-athletes by 2026.

Another 100+ student-athletes received tuition support for undergrad and graduate school to help them pursue their passion to become a teacher!

ECKRICH $1 MILLION THROW CHALLENGE IS BACK!

NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN!

Eckrich is giving back to support education with opportunities for teachers and their communities to win big this season! Our $1 Million Challenge for Teachers is back for the 2024-2025 college football season! In partnership with Extra Yard for Teachers and our valued retailers, Eckrich will invite a nominated teacher (and true hero) onto the field at some of this season’s biggest matchups. These lucky teachers, randomly selected from the entries, will throw a football for a chance to win up to $1 Million dollars in grants to fund local schools.

2024 GAME SCHEDULE

Sept. 14: University of Pittsburgh

Sept. 21: University of Cincinnati

Sept. 28: Michigan State

Oct. 12: University of Tennessee

Oct. 19: University of Maryland

Oct. 26: University of Kentucky

INVESTING IN OUR FUTURE:

Eckrich has supported teachers for more than six years, investing over $2.3 Million in education through Extra Yard for Teachers.

ECKRICH TEACHER OF THE YEAR NOMINATIONS ARE OPEN

Our Eckrich Teacher of the Year Contest is back for 2024-25. All season, you can nominate a teacher to experience the College Football Playoff National Championship. If they win they’ll also get $5K for their classroom! Nominate a teacher and give back to your hometown.

Join the CFP Foundation in celebrating teachers across the country! Your support allows us to bring the college sports community together in support of the PK-12 educators who help us get to where we are today!

We ask all of our partners to show support for teachers during this week, whether it be on social, at a home football game, or working with the CFP Foundation and your conference office to deliver resources to educators in your community. MARK YOUR

SEPTEMBER 14-21

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17