Author: BTSPhilly

Beat the Streets Philadelphia Seniors
Beat the Streets Philadelphia (BTSP) takes great pride in the students that participate in our programs as a result of their successes on the mat, in classroom, and in life. Many of our participants are willing to put in extra time in all that they do so that they can achieve their goals. Although there are many points during their time with BTSP that can be celebrated, there are few that are as important and exciting as their graduation from high school and their transition to the next stages in life. BTSP staff, coaches, and mentors consistently promote the importance of education and provide direct support in the form of tutoring and mentoring to ensure the resources to promote success in that part of their lives are available. The results of this combined effort between the students and BTSP are extremely encouraging, with 98% of seniors during the 2014-2015 school year graduating on time from high school and 78% of those students will be attending some form of post-secondary education. These numbers are even more impressive when compared to the overall student population of Philadelphia where just over 65% of students graduate on time and 44% attend post-secondary education.
BTSP participants will be attending the following school next fall:
 
Clarion University
Community College of Philadelphia
Culinary Institute of America
Delaware State University
Drexel University
East Stroudsburg University
Edinboro University
Harrisburg University
LaSalle University
Manor University
Penn State- Altoona
Penn State- State College
Saint Josephs University
Temple University
Thaddeus Stevens
University of Iowa
University of Pennsylvania
Widener University
Many of these students will come back to serve as mentors and role models for future participants and the culture of success will continue to build within their communities.  BTSP was founded with the idea that coupling mentoring and wrestling would have the potential to alter the life trajectory of our participants.  These graduates are prime examples that the progress that our students, coaches, staff, and organization have made together has had the desired impact.

Ricardo is a current coach with Beat the Streets Philadelphia who was a former participant with our program at Edison High School. He has devoted countless hours to helping support young student-athletes across the city so that they would have similar opportunities as he did and in hopes that they might develop the same passion to succeed that he has adopted.
From the very start it was clear that Ricardo has the talent to be successful in the classroom and on the mat. His coaches worked with him regularly to help him realize his potential on both fronts, but early on he was not responding with the necessary work ethic. Slowly, but surely he started to buy into the message that coaches and other mentors within Beat the Streets Philadelphia were promoting involving hard work having a direct impact on success in all areas of one’s life. He played a key role on the mat in helping Edison with the first ever Philadelphia Public League Championship and more importantly he developed a mentality that would allow him to succeed in whatever environment he was placed.
Upon graduating from high school Ricardo became directly involved as a coach with Beat the Streets Philadelphia. Through this involvement he has developed a passion for physical fitness and youth development. He is now attending Eastern University where he has applied the work ethic he developed on the mat and currently holds a 3.2 GPA while he works towards a degree in Physical Training.
In Ricardo’s words “before getting into wrestling I never really had a passion for anything in particular. I played other sports, but never had the desire to continue because I did not feel challenged. Now I wake up and think of ways that I can support others through wrestling. I am an avid fan that watches as many matches as possible so that I can develop a stronger understand to help younger wrestlers. If it were not for Beat the Streets I would not have had the opportunity to experience this level of passion. They allow me to travel to new places and have allowed me to build great relationships with great people. Beat the Streets has done countless things for me and I will always be involved with this organization. I plan to earn my degree and find ways to give back which will only be a small percentage of what they have done for me.”
The passion that Ricardo developed will ultimately lead him down a path of success and has translated directly into motivation to take advantage of opportunities in his life. Beat the Streets Philadelphia played a role in stoking that passion and we are fortunate to have him involved giving back to other participants.

Lender is a true testament of grit and determination being key factors to success. He was a member of the Edison High School wrestling program during the first year we established partnerships with high schools within Philadelphia. It was clear from the start that Lender was willing to put in whatever time was required to achieve his goals. Only 47% of students that attend Edison graduate on-time and less than 10% go on to post-secondary education. The neighborhood where he lived was riddled with poverty and crime. That environment had no impact on Lender’s goals of becoming the first person in his family to attend college and the first person from his school to wrestle in college.
While at Edison Lender became a leader within the school and as part of the wrestling program. He helped lead the team to the first ever Philadelphia Public League Championship and he qualified for the regional tournament. He also graduated on time and enrolled in Gloucester Community College the following fall. The transition from a school like Edison was challenging and Lender ultimately transitioned out of school and began working and coaching. At no point did he lose connection with Beat the Streets Philadelphia and he continued to find ways to make his goals around obtaining a college degree a reality. As he went through this transition, he became dedicated to supporting other youth as a coach. He made himself available for any opportunity to give back to his community in this manner and has become a key presence in the lives of hundreds of kids throughout our programs.
Along the way, Lender restarted his effort to earn his degree through the Community College of Philadelphia and was recently admitted to East Stroudsburg University. He has set his sights on a degree in Education so that he can ultimately come back to give back to the community as a teacher and coach in hopes of affording similar opportunities as those that he had through Beat the Streets Philadelphia.
Lender sums up his experience with wrestling in the following manner. “Wrestling was an escape from my living situation. My father did not allow me to be outside after 6:00 p.m. which limited my ability to make friends. I had to make friends in sports. I developed a large network of friends through wrestling and the wrestling community became my second family. Beat the Streets was an eye opener for me and it helped me understand that there is a better life than what I was used to. This involved considering colleges and what steps needed to be taken to get myself in a better situation in life.”
Lender will be successful as he moves forward into this next step in his life because he has developed grit and determination to work through an indirect path to a degree. There will certainly be challenges along the way, but the in no way will deter him from his ultimate goal of becoming the first college graduate from his family.

Beat the Streets Philadelphia(BTSP) takes pride in our efforts to alter the life trajectory for the student-athletes who participate in our programs. This impact occurs in a variety of ways and to varying degrees, both directly and indirectly. For many participants it occurs through the sport of wrestling itself and results in increased confidence, overall health, and a variety of positive attributes that one develops while striving to achieve their goals on the mat.   For those who earn the right to participate in the mentoring program, a more direct approach is taken to ensure that those positive characteristics transcend from the wrestling room into success in their academic careers and beyond.
Perhaps the most impactful aspect of the mentoring program comes from our efforts to support our participants through the high school application process, which can be overwhelming and complicated for most families in Philadelphia. Upon completion of 8^th grade, students have a variety of options to consider outside of their neighborhood school. In fact, in many cases their neighborhood school ends up being the least preferable option, as many are riddled with violence, misbehavior and other factors that make it very difficult to graduate, let alone graduate with the knowledge and skills to be successful in college. In Philadelphia, students can apply to a variety of schools that include public schools, special admit public schools, charter schools, catholic schools, and private schools. Most of what decides whether or not any particular student will be accepted by a selective high school is governed by their performance during their 7^th grade year. For public schools this comes down to a student’s grades, attendance, and performance on the Pennsylvania standardized test known as the PSSA. While all of this is also relevant to be accepted by catholic and private schools, additional and specific standardized testing is required to apply to each of them as well (i.e. SSAT, ISEE, and some others).
Making matters even more difficult for the average student is the city-wide shortage of guidance counselors to help navigate this process. That is where BTSP’s Mentoring Center plays a vital role. For students in middle school, we engage parents/guardians to discuss the high school landscape so that students and their families can be informed as to their options and they can set goals accordingly. Students are engaged with a mentor to prepare for the appropriate exams, written essays, and undergo mock interviews while BTSP cultivates relationships with the schools to advocate for the student-athlete that is applying. We work collaboratively to ensure that each student-athlete reaches the best school for which they are qualified and to put them in the best position possible to complete high school with the skills and traits necessary to be successful in post-secondary education.
This year we had a relatively large class of 8^th graders going through the high school application process, and each of was accepted to either their first or second choice school; all of which were special admit and include both public and private. BTSP student athletes were accepted by private schools such as The Hill School, William Penn Charter School, The Phelps School, Father Judge, Roman Catholic and Germantown Academy. Many of our students also gained admittance to some of the premier special admission public schools such as Central, Academy at Palumbo and Parkway Center City.
We are confident that each student will be entering into an environment that will help them realize their full potential. This will of course take additional support as they transition to a more rigorous academic work load and BTSP will be prepared to continue to provide tools throughout that process. All of that support is made possible through the generosity of our donors that have made our mentoring center possible and who should take great pride in knowing that they have truly played a role in altering the life trajectory of these students.