FROM OUR ALUMNI
Alum Helps Youth Score Goals Beyond the Soccer Pitch Oliver Steinglass (’10) has found a way to combine his love for soccer and art while changing the lives of young people Oliver works for Design Football Club (Design FC), a non-profit that encourages elementary and middle school students in creative thinking, self-expression, and autobiographical storytelling through design. Led by Oliver and his friends Ayo George and Omri Gal (Omri is also the founder), the program allows students to design their own soccer jerseys. Design FC began in 2018 as a one-year after-school program in Chester, PA, just outside Philadelphia. Originally seeded by a $10,000 grant from Swarthmore University, Design FC’s popularity has allowed the program to blossom, even when COVID necessitated a pivot to virtual programming. In the four years since Oliver joined the organization, it has finalized its non-profit status and expanded its reach to other cities, with dreams of growing further. Oliver graduated from Swarthmore in 2020 with a degree in art and psychology and a desire to apply his studies in a fun way that gives back to the community. Getting involved in Design FC felt like the perfect fit, especially when he thinks back to his own elementary school days at Lowell, when he and his best friends, Aaron James (’10) and Drew Platt (’10), would design jerseys and make up teams after school. Now he is helping youth make their own ideas a reality.
After-School Program Design FC recently completed its fifth year offering a 22-week-long program at its founding site: Stetser Elementary School in Chester. Design FC arrived at the right time for Stetser; the school had not had an art teacher since 2014. In the program, which currently supports 20 participants at no cost to the student, 4th and 5th graders create individual
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THE LEAD FALL 2023
