Awards and Recognition LiFE Sports was one of three proud recipients of the Excellence in Summer Learning Award

of 2012. The award is given out annually by the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA) to three deserving programs that have firmly established summer programs that are geared towards maintaining and improving academic motivation and accomplishment for youths from low-income families. Each program is assessed by the NSLA in their ability to support and collaborate with schools, their staff and any programs that they might be partnered with. Competitors are also assessed in the strength of their program and how beneficial it is found to be to the youth it supports. It is a very competitive award, with nearly 50 applicants this year. It has been found that students academic skills tend to diminish while they are not inschool during the summer. The NSLA is worried that this will be a major setback for youth in the upcoming future, especially those who come from low-income families. Many of these families do not have the resources to maintain their childs learning during the summer, and research has shown that these children may have a higher rate of loss of academic skills during the summer than those who come from higher-income families. The goal of the NSLA is to find and recognize programs that support these children and cultivate a fun, healthy learning environment that will prevent them from academic set-backs during their long summer breaks. The application process for the Excellence in Summer Learning award includes reviews of the programs mission, goals, operations, management, staff development, partnerships, results, and sustainability, which are then measured using the Comprehensive Assessment of Summer Programs. Finalists are then further reviewed during site visits and chosen based on their qualifications in the above subject areas. LiFE Sports is made possible through the collaboration of the Ohio State University Department of Athletics and the College of Social work. Participation in camps in Columbus has reached nearly 600 participants between the ages of 9 and 15 each summer. The goal of the program is to reach out to children through sports and provide a healthy learning environment where they build skills such as teamwork and self-motivation. The youth are put into teams and work together to build and promote their team for the annual Olympics put on by LiFE Sports at the end of the four week program. In 2011, when asked whether they were interested in going to college after participating in the program, nearly 74% of the kids said that yes, they had been motivated by their experiences at LiFE Sports camps to attend a post secondary program out of high school. LiFE Sports was chosen out of the pool of more than 50 applicants to receive this esteemed award. They have been highly recognized for their work with underprivileged children in the Columbus area through camps and clinics that cultivate teamwork and learning. Their ultimate goal is to make LiFE Sports a university-wide program after severe cuts in funding were made in 2006. LiFE Sports education coordinator believes that receiving NSLAs esteemed award indicates that LiFE Sports is on its way to being a national model for University and community outreach. They are highly honored to receive the Excellence in Summer Learning Award for the year of 2012.