Dear Friends,
In August I began my tenure as President and CEO of Search Institute, and since that time I have learned a great deal about this extraordinary organization and about the important work we are doing on behalf of young people across the United States and around the world. I’d like to share a few of my observations about Search Institue with you, and also ask for your support as begin our work this new year.
Top Five Reasons I’m Thankful for Search Institute
1. We see kids as more than just test scores. As a former K-12 educator, I’ve spent countless hours in meetings where we talk about kids as merely gaps in test scores, but Search Institute helps us see them as emerging individuals with limitless potential.
2. We are addressing the toughest problems facing young people today, from working to turn around low-performing schools to studying and promoting positive youth development in some of the poorest nations in Africa.
3. Search Institute understands what kids need to succeed. Search Institute understands that kids today must master skills like reading, math, and science at higher levels than ever before. Yet success in the 21st century also requires mastery of “soft” skills such as motivation, collaboration, and self-regulation. Through research instruments and initiatives, Search works to make those “soft skills” hard.
4. We care about kids — anywhere and everywhere. Over the past decade, most of the national discussion about improving education has focused solely on schools. At Search Institute, we know that kids spend only 15% of their lives at school. So we study and work with families and communities to increase educational success.
5. Search Institute’s work is backed by good research. Search Institute conducts top-notch scholarly research, but we always seek to translate that research into tangible tools and strategies that people who work directly with kids can use to help them succeed.
In my short tenure at Search, I’ve seen that our organization makes these and other contributions to young people around the world with efficiency and an unrelenting commitment to results.
Each year-end, I get numerous letters asking me to contribute a financial donation, and I always wonder where I can direct my dollars with confidence that they will be used well to address the issues that I care about most. If the issues that you care about most involve young people, there are few organizations that do as much as Search Institute to prepare them for the world that they will be running before we (and they) know it.
I hope that you will consider an annual contribution of any amount to Search Institute to help us help our nation and our world understand and act upon the idea that, as my predecessor Dr. Peter Benson put it so well: all kids are our kids.
Thank you for considering this request and best wishes to you all.
Sincerely,
Kent Pekel, President and CEO
