Greetings from Our CEO

Dear BUILD Friends and Family,

The past few months have been a wild ride - for both our country and for BUILD. While we have opened our Washington, DC site and strengthened our Bay Area programs, presidential politics are heating up. As candidates spar over economic stimulus packages and the best way to solve the problems in Iraq, education seems to have gotten lost in the political shuffle. In a recent Op-Ed for The New York Times, David Brooks called for candidates to refocus the debates on one of our country’s most pressing problems. He did not stress other problems in the economy or foreign policy.
Instead, Brooks challenged politicians to figure out what to do with a generation of high school students that is more academically unprepared and more emotionally disengaged than ever.

Although attempting to fix our educational system seems daunting, it provides us with tremendous pride and motivation to know that BUILD has developed successful strategies to address these problems. Research by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has recently shown that making education relevant to students’ lives is a cornerstone of any successful educational system. BUILD’s innovative program continues to focus on teaching skills that will be relevant to these students in high school, college and life. By integrating math and writing skills into business lessons that students care about, BUILD has helped hundreds of students excel in education and lead in their communities.

There is no better way to celebrate these students’ skills and enthusiasm than with our Annual Business Plan Competition. We are thrilled that Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley will host our 2nd Annual Competition for BUILD Oakland, and that Stanford Graduate School of Business will host our 9th Annual Peninsula Competition. Our DC site will carry on BUILD’s tradition of excellence by hosting its Inaugural Business Plan Competition next spring among the cherry blossoms in our nation’s capital.

Thank you for your continued support as BUILD’s students work to improve their future and the future of our country.

Warmest Regards,

Suzanne


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