The cost of this proposal is $2105, including shipping and <a target="new" href="http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm" onclick="g_openWindow('http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm', 300, 800, 'fulfillwindow');return false;">fulfillment</a>.
$2,105 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
As coach of the Girls and Boys Varsity Basketball teams and the Boys J.V. Basketball teams, I am striving to provide an exciting and caring environment for the students to participate in extra-curricular activities. Due to the lack of funding over the years, many of the programs and students for that matter, have been shortchanged. They haven't been given enough, or sometimes any, opportunities to succeed. Moreover, they often feel as though they are not cared for if they do not have the equipment and supplies that can help them in being successful and in improving their self-image.
For the past few years, the boys basketball teams have been using various arrangements of old uniforms that range from 5 years old or more. The girls clubs have been using guys old practice uniforms that are even older. Many students have complained about the state of the uniforms, as well as, their displeasure concerning wearing "dingy hand me downs."
Aside from coaching, I'll be teaching 10th grade Mathematics to a set of students that will be taking the state exam this fall. The school is in a building with 4 other new small schools. Prospect Heights is currently in its final stages of phasing out and being closed.
I am requesting uniforms and basketballs for the girls and boys basketball team to compete and practice with to improve the basketball progam on a whole, and to provide more opportunities for students to feel confident and worthy.
See attachment...
PROSPECT HEIGHTS KEEPS EMERGING
By DAN MARTIN
It was only when Phyllip Jones asked about the basketball coaching job at the high school that had just hired him that he found out he would have a hard time getting it.
"They told me there was no team," Jones said. "I couldn't understand it. How could there be no team?"
He grew up just blocks from Prospect Heights and although he attended the academically superior A.P. Randolph in Manhattan, Jones knew about the tradition of the once-strong program where he has worked for nearly two years.
But Jones, now 26, didn't know that the team had been disbanded after forfeiting nearly all of its games three years ago because of a lack of interest and failing grades. The program was completely dormant the year after that.
So the former player, who walked on at Florida A&M but didn't get in any games, decided to bring the team back.
"It seemed like nobody seemed to care that we didn't have a team," said Jones, who brought it back to life a year ago. "But it's different now."
That difference will be seen Thursday, when the 14-5 Cardinals visit Environmental Studies in a second-round playoff game in the PSAL B division. After spending last year in the netherworld of the Developmental League, where there are no playoffs, Prospect Heights moved up this year and could advance to the A division next season.
"That's what we want," said junior Tyree Francis, who averages 34 points per game. "Last year was hard because we knew we had nothing to play for."
Still, it was better than the year before that, when only the junior varsity team existed.
"If they hadn't gotten the team back, I probably would have transferred," Francis said. "Basketball is what I do."
He has the chance to play largely because of Jones, who got his MBA from Florida A&M. Jones also coaches the JV team, the boys volleyball team in the spring and is starting up a girls basketball team for next year.
"There are a lot of obstacles here," Jones said, referring to the fact that Prospect Heights is one of many schools in the city that is being phased out and replaced with several smaller schools within the same building. Right now, there are about 1,100 students among the five schools. "But our goal is still to bring this school back to the prominence it once had."
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