Our Sports & Adventure Program, one aspect of our multifaceted model that provides holistic, life-on-life mentoring for at-promise youth in urban Indianapolis, centers on intensive experiences impossible to provide in the classroom setting during the academic day and tailors opportunities to strengthen bonds between students and teacher-mentors, the anchor of all our work. 

Within this relational context, sports and adventures experiences then build on students’ inherent assets and potential as well as growth achieved during the academic day. Students tackle many “firsts” as we infuse them with knowledge and skills critical to future success, teach them how to process failures and identify vital lessons learned, and reward hard work and celebrate fulfilled goals. Ultimately, we equip and challenge students to be change-makers in their neighborhoods across Indianapolis now and in the future.

Through our Sports & Adventure Program, students engage in activities alongside teacher-mentors that fulfill the following goals: 

– Enhance physical well-being and foster beneficial habits such as exercise

– Learn and integrate social-emotional skills into day-to-day life

– Utilize our in-school curriculum’s seven character qualities + six life skills

– Face unknowns, confront fears, and practice healthy risk-taking in safe environments

– Lean on others, both teacher-mentors and Elevate peers, for support

– Offer encouragement to others, especially Elevate peers

– Collaborate as a team to achieve shared goals

Geared to fulfill our desire for students to be seen, known, heard, and loved in the present and with their future achievement and success in the forefront, we expose students to new experiences and push them beyond their limits through play-based activities that revolve around sports and adventure. The benefits multiply when a trusted mentor walks them through these encounters and the chance that students move beyond possibilities and into real-life, active fulfillment of desires and goals on their chosen life path greatly increases – not only changing the trajectory of their future but also transforming their families, our communities, and our city.

If you or your company are looking for ways to come alongside our Sports & Adventure program expansion, please reach out to our Community Engagement Manager, Braylon Myers via email at braylon@elevateindy.org. We are looking for long-term partners that want to make a difference in the lives of urban youth through Sports & Adventure opportunities.