Caesars Foundation Continues its Commitment to Education, Launches Career Exploration Class at Chaparral High School

LAS VEGAS, October 16, 2014 /3BL Media/ – Chaparral High School, a local high-needs school previously adopted by Caesars Foundation, will now offer a Career Exploration class through a collaborative partnership with the Foundation, Caesars Entertainment, Communities in Schools of Southern Nevada, Teach For America and Vegas PBS.

The Career Exploration course is offered weekly, educating senior-level students about a variety of popular career opportunities available in Las Vegas including hotel operations, catering and valet. Through a specially designed curriculum from Communities in Schools of Southern Nevada, Vegas PBS and Caesars Entertainment, one class each week will feature a Caesar Entertainment HERO employee volunteer discussing his or her career with students through a presentation or hands-on experience at the school. In addition, students will participate in the Vegas PBS Profiles Pathway™ Assessment to assist their exploration of career options available in the Las Vegas market.

“We are proud to offer our commitment to the students and families at Chaparral High School,” said Thom Reilly, executive director of Caesars Foundation. “We look forward to providing an incentive to graduate and possible post-graduation opportunities to those who participate in the Career Exploration course.”

Part of the Clark County School District, Chaparral is a public high school with an approximate enrollment of 2176 students. In 2011, Chaparral had the lowest graduation rate in Nevada at 34 percent, and the student population faced many challenges including a high student parent rate and homelessness. Under new leadership from a dedicated and innovative principal, this percentage has been climbing with the most recent rate slightly above 60 percent. 

“The experiences we’re going to be able to provide to our students through the partnership with these organizations is something we hope will impact them for the rest of their lives” said Lolo James, principal of Chaparral High School. “It is great to see these community organizations take an interest and extend a helping hand to our school.”

The career exploration classes will be proctored by Teach For America teachers currently teaching at Chaparral High School. Teach For America corps members develop a lifelong commitment to expanding educational opportunity. Nearly 300 Teach For America educators are teaching in schools throughout Clark County this school year, and some 200 local alumni, including 130 teachers, eight school or district administrators, and two members of the Nevada State Board of Education, are working across a range of fields to address the root causes of educational inequity.

“All children deserve an excellent education that will set them on a path to life success,” said Victor Wakefield, executive director of Teach For America−Las Vegas Valley. “It is imperative that local organizations partner to help make educational equity a reality in our state. Teach For America is excited to partner with Caesars Foundation, Caesars Entertainment, Communities in Schools Southern Nevada, and Vegas PBS to provide this career exploration course that will help students at Chaparral attain knowledge and experiences vital to their post-graduate career options.”

At the end of the school year, and to finalize the Career Exploration course, a job fair will be hosted at the school and students will have the opportunity to explore various facets of job searching and career preparation through programs offered by Caesars Entertainment, Vegas PBS and other local organizations.

“As a public service media organization, we are committed to educating and empowering individuals through television and other technologies,” said Vegas PBS General Manager Tom Axtell. “This unique public television – private business collaboration will use Vegas PBS’ online career education courses combined with personal testimonials from Caesars’ employees about what opportunities those careers offer high school graduates. Together we believe this high tech – high touch experience will provide enhanced incentives for graduation that will have a lasting impact on the students in this program.”

Chaparral is the third school adopted by the Caesars Foundation since 2012. The initiative began with the adoption of Walter V. Long Elementary School for the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years, and continued with the adoption of Jerome D. Mack Middle School for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 school years. Over the aforementioned timeframes parents of students at each school received access to the Caesars Back-to-Work program, facilitated in partnership with Vegas PBS. The program provides online education opportunities to parents, including ESL and GED courses.

Since 2002, the Caesars Foundation has given a combined total of $16 million to support organizations dedicated to educational innovations to help improve the quality of life in the communities where Caesars Entertainment operates.

ABOUT CAESARS FOUNDATION
The Caesars Foundation is a private foundation funded by a portion of operating income from resorts owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment. The Foundation is the entity through which Caesars Entertainment funds programs and projects of $10,000 or more, as well as not-for-profit giving requirements imposed by certain operating jurisdictions. The Foundation's objective is to strengthen organizations and programs in the communities where our employees and their families live and work. For more information, please visit caesarsfoundation.com, facebook.com/caesarsfoundation, or follow on Twitter @CaesarsFdn.

ABOUT CAESARS ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION
Caesars Entertainment Corporation is the world's most diversified casino-entertainment company. Since its beginning in Reno, Nevada, more than 75 years ago, Caesars has grown through development of new resorts, expansions and acquisitions and now operates casinos on four continents. The company's resorts operate primarily under the Caesars®, Harrah’s and Horseshoe® brand names. Caesars also owns the London Clubs International family of casinos. Caesars is focused on building loyalty and value with its guests through a unique combination of great service, excellent products, unsurpassed distribution, operational excellence and technology leadership. We are committed to environmental sustainability and energy conservation and recognize the importance of being a responsible steward of the environment.  For more information, please visit www.caesars.com.

ABOUT TEACH FOR AMERICA
Teach For America works in partnership with communities to expand educational opportunity for children facing the challenges of poverty. Founded in 1990, Teach For America recruits and develops a diverse corps of outstanding college graduates and professionals to make an initial two-year commitment to teach in high-need schools and become lifelong leaders in the movement to end educational inequity. Today, 10,600 corps members are teaching in 50 urban and rural regions across the country while more than 37,000 alumni work across sectors to ensure that all children have access to an excellent education. For more information, visit www.teachforamerica.org and follow us on Facebook and Twitter. 

ABOUT VEGAS PBS
Dedicated to enriching the lives of those who call Southern Nevada home, Vegas PBS Channel 10 is one of America’s most watched PBS stations on a per capita basis. Five additional channels are available over the air or on cable and satellite including Create, Vme, Worldview, Rewind and Jackpot! Vegas PBS expands its television broadcast impact through supplemental materials on Vegas PBS.org, PBSKids.org, PBSParents.org, PBSTeachers.org and NextAvenue.org. Vegas PBS also offers extensive online distance education for workforce training and economic development through Global Online Advanced Learning (GOAL).

Vegas PBS provides K-12 educational resources to teachers and students in public, private, charter and home schools including professional development courses; One Place, a curriculum-correlated online media service; the Described and Captioned Media Center (DCMC) containing materials for deaf, hard of hearing, blind and vision impaired individuals and those who assist them; and Ready To Learn literacy and health community workshops based on curriculum materials in daytime children’s programs. For more information on programming and services, please visit VegasPBS.org, like us on Facebook at Facebook.com/VegasPBS, or follow us on Twitter at Twitter.com/VegasPBS.

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