Remarkable Richstone

Eric Eisner founded the Richstone Educational Enterprise Project (REEP) to support academically bright and driven students overcoming extraordinary challenges to stay in school.

Lennox Middle School, located in Southwest Los Angeles County, is in a densely populated area encompassing over 32,500 residents within 1.5 square miles. Ninety percent of the residents are Hispanic and 87.6% of the residents speak a first language other than English. According to a 1998 study at California State University Dominguez Hills, 65% of Lennox students drop out of high school - this percentage is three times more than the state average for Hispanic students.

This is the school where Eric decided to look for gifted youth. Twelve years ago, he launched his program with five middle school students. He met with them two or three times a week during the year to receive updates about their schooling, to challenge them, and to discover their academic interests. Toward the end of the first school year, he began to see the difficulties that came over the summer - that students would fail to retain material learned between the school years. To combat this, he enrolled the five students in summer school classes at one of Los Angeles' most prestigious K-12 preparatory schools, Brentwood School. This first group of students excelled in their summer studies. It was here that the program began to flourish - Brentwood admitted one student full-time and Eric began to find avenues to enroll the majority of REEP students in college preparatory schools. He also decided to push these students to plan their futures and think about college.

For the program to be successful, Eric also assisted students with extra steps along the way. He helped them navigate through college admissions and worked with the families to ensure supportive home environments. The program sponsored special extra-curricular activities and summer programs that peaked students' interest that they would not be able to afford. The program also provided transportation and special medical needs if deemed necessary to the students' academic success.

Since then, REEP has grown into an impressive program. Each year, REEP accepts 25 new students while mentoring and supporting those already enrolled. The program serves 170 students with a number that increases each year. These students are enrolled in Los Angeles' top private schools: Harvard Westlake, Brentwood, Crossroads, John Thomas Dye and Marymount, among others. The students, accepted on scholarships by the schools or through grants from the community, excel in their new environments. "We are seeing an incredibly high success rate and we are close to batting 1,000. Only five kids in the past 12 years did not go on to college," said Eric. And the colleges that the students attend are remarkable. The list includes Harvard, Yale, USC, Boston College, Wesleyan University, Berkley and many others.

"Every penny of the money donated through The Summa Children's Foundation goes to the most meaningful scholarships to get these children into school. The funds donated always directly impact on the students in our program," said Eric.