West Side Education News & Notes

LeBron James’ game shoes available through fundraiser

WEST AKRON — The LeBron James Family Foundation and sports memorabilia company Upper Deck are hosting a fundraiser for I PROMISE School and I PROMISE Village initiatives that offers area residents the opportunity to purchases Los Angeles Lakers basketball star LeBron James’ game shoes.
For this fundraiser, area residents can purchase of one of James’ size 15 game-worn pairs of shoes, which come with a Certificate of Authenticity and a special I PROMISE School donor appreciation card. The matching shoe, along with a personalized donor plaque, will become part of the iconic Wall of Shoes that graces the lobby of the school, according to foundation officials.
More details about the shoe collection, which includes James’ game stats, date worn, opposing team played and more, can be found at upperdeckstore.com/lebron-james-family-foundation-shoes?limit=allon.
Officials stated that all funds raised from the sale of the game-worn shoes will go directly to I PROMISE initiatives, which include year-round access to the school’s family resource center, a community food pantry, unemployment services, legal aid, medical and mental health support and a GED program for parents, as well as the I PROMISE Village, which provides transitional housing for students and families currently struggling with homelessness.
Officials added the I PROMISE School incorporates trauma-informed practices in education and focuses on social emotional learning for its students, and proceeds from the shoe sale will fund additional needed resources for students and their families, such as the most recently added laundry facility and English-as-a-second-language classes.
“We’re seeing families struggling every day with very real and often unexpected issues that turn their worlds upside down,” said Michele Campbell, executive director of the foundation. “It’s our mission to listen and learn about those needs and respond with real, meaningful resources that set their entire families up for success. This work is a commitment for a lifetime, and we know we can’t do it alone.”

 

University of Akron to host virtual Business Analytics Innovation Summit

GREATER AKRON — The University of Akron’s (UA) Center for Information Technologies and eBusiness (CITe) will virtually host its third annual Business Analytics Innovation Summit Sept. 17-18 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.
According to UA officials, this year’s summit will focus on the theme “Data to Decisions” and include presentations by: Joe Butkovic, supervisor, Artificial Intelligence Services, Equity Trust; Katherine Lowry, co-chairperson, Emerging Tech Practice Team and director of Practice Services and IncuBaker, BakerHostetler; Adam Duale, senior manager, Tax Digital Consulting (TDC), Grant Thornton; Chris Reiner, manager, data science, The J.M. Smucker Company; Tim Cambier, business development senior director, and Jason Slater, technology architect, both from Purell SMARTLINK, GOJO Industries.
For each session, the speaker will give a presentation and then participate in a live moderated question and answer session.
“A typical decision-making process starts off with a definition of a right problem to be solved, or a decision to be made and ends with a solution to the problem — the decision,” said Bindiganavale Vijayaraman, Ph.D., director of CITe and professor of management and information systems. “For a data driven decision-making, which is a requirement for any business analytics project, there are three other activities that come in the middle — data, analysis and results. So, it is important to have the proper data, perform the precise analysis and interpret the results correctly to solve the problem.”
Registration for the virtual summit is free and available, along with a full schedule, at uakron.edu/cba/bais/2020. Participants will be sent specific login instructions, including what platform to use to attend the summit, via email in advance of the event.
This year’s summit is sponsored by Blue Chip. Sponsorship opportunities are still available and all net proceeds will support student scholarships.

 

Maria Lindsay contributed to these reports.