NSU’s Fischler School Helps 70 Inner-City Miami-Dade Elementary Students Get Fired Up With Miami HEAT Tickets

70 Riverside, Little River and Dunbar Elementary School Students will be recognized for their academic excellence on Feb. 4 & 5

FT. LAUDERDALE-DAVIE, Fla. – Seventy students from three inner-city Miami-Dade County elementary schools will experience first-hand how good grades can pay off when Miami HEAT mascot Burnie visits with representatives from Nova Southeastern University (NSU) to hand out HEAT tickets to honor roll students.

The Fischler School of Education and Human Services of NSU will hand out the tickets on Feb. 4 and 5 to recognize students who are excelling academically from Riverside Elementary (Little Havana), Little River Elementary (Little Haiti) and Paul Laurence Dunbar Elementary (Overtown) schools. The three schools will also register with Teacher Imaginarium, the Fischler School’s teacher store, to win a basket full of classroom supplies as the grand prize.

A formal presentation will be made at each of the schools, recognizing students for achieving honor roll status. The ticket presentation schedule will be:

• Feb. 4 at 3:30 p.m. – Riverside Elementary School, in the cafeteria
• Feb. 5 at 3:30 p.m. – Little River Elementary, in the cafeteria
• Feb. 5 at 4:30 p.m. – Dunbar Elementary School, in the media center

Each honor roll student will be rewarded with three game tickets for the Saturday, Feb. 21 Miami HEAT game at 3:30 p.m. The students, who are enrolled in the HEAT Academy, along with teachers and administrators from each school will also be recognized at the game.

“The Fischler School of Education and Human Services is a proud partner of the HEAT Academy and as such we are committed to rewarding students for their hard work in school,” said H. Wells Singleton, Ph.D., Education Provost and University Dean at NSU. “As an institution of higher education, we are committed to serving the academic needs of children, families, schools and communities through educational advancement and by fostering community partnerships with organizations committed to the same principles.”

The HEAT Academy, an after-school initiative of Miami Heat basketball president Pat Riley, provides students at the three elementary schools with supplemental instruction by certified teachers through a curriculum designed to help students improve in reading and math.
The HEAT Academy’s major goal is to provide economically disadvantaged students who are at risk of academic failure or juvenile delinquency with a free program of after-school tutoring and academic enrichment dedicated to increase the students’ potential for success on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) exam.

Through a collaborative partnership with Miami-Dade County Public Schools and the HEAT Group corporate partners, the HEAT Academy operates the majority of the school year-round and provides educational support to a total of 300 students across the three schools from the 3rd to the 5th Grade. Although the program is free for students enrolled, students are required to meet certain attendance goals and abide by a strict code of conduct to remain eligible.

Media Contact:
Andra Liwag, NSU Office of Public Affairs
Office: 954-262-5309, Cell: 954-873-8494, andrali@nova.edu