He created Classroom Champions to match athletes with a classroom for an entire school year of scaled mentorship through video, live chats, online communities, and visits. The athletes help improve student connection and engagement in the classroom, decrease bullying, and boosting achievement. What I like about the program is that it’s not professional and celebrity athlete focused but the athletes are volunteer Olympians, Paralympions, and college athletes who are more accessible and relatable to the kids. Steve has grown this program to 125 mentor athletes reaching over a 1,000 classrooms in 32 states reaching more than 25,000 kids. Teachers who participate in the program are reporting a 63% reduction in bullying. 94% of teachers report an improvement in student grades, and 100% report that their classroom athlete-mentor helped their students increase their resilience in the face of obstacles.
