The Optimist Club of St. Paul helped organize a celebration of high school students and college scholarships at Rice Park in downtown St. Paul. The Optimists Club, St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce Career Investment, Beat the Odds, the Page Foundation and the Wallin Partners Scholarship Program together award about $500,000 in scholarships to area graduates and the HSRA Jazz Band, HSRA Gospel Choir and Spoken Word Artist, Tottiana Adams contributed to the festivities! Way to go!! See the article here.

HSRA Students made a tremendous showing at the first annual EdVisions Project Fair held at Hamline University this spring. Featured in the photos below are The Fo-Show Math, Positive Hip Hop (A Youth Venture Project), and 4D (The Fourth Dimension). Also presenting at the Fair were the Urban Music Project (Introspection) and Teen Pregnancy - A Statistical Overview. Congratulations to the students and staff who represented HSRA so well at this special event.

Lube-Tech, in conjunction with Social Venture Partners, awarded a generous grant of $25,000 to High School for Recording Arts. With this funding, HSRA is in the process of implementing a new program in design called Sweat Equity Enterprises. SEE is a non-profit organization founded by fashion designer Mark Ecko in order to teach design to high-school students through actual projects for real-world clients. Winning designs are manufactured and sold nationwide, and winning designers receive scholarships.

Lube-Tech is a family-owned, Minnesota-based company that provides lubrication technology for companies like ExxonMobil and Motorcraft, and will provide grants for two more years if the new design program proves successful. Lube-Tech and its employees are also donating time, expertise and resources to help the young people of HSRA. HSRA students who have become involved in the SEE program will do some design work for the Lube-Tech.

Lube-Tech owners Chris and Marna Bame came to HSRA on Wednesday, April 23rd to present HSRA with the check. Also present were Tonny Heideman, who originally contacted HSRA about this opportunity, Rich Greig, and Eric Jackson of Lube Tech and Social Venture Partners.

HSRA is extremely moved by this community support and we look forward to developing our partnership with Lube-Tech!