Competition Honors New York City Youth Who "Dare to Dream"

March 17, 2006

Contact:
Ellen Lubell (o) 212-949-4938, (c) 917-854-6864
Emily Crossan (o) 917-286-1548, (c) 201-344-5742

BrainstormUSA to Present Awards at Ceremony for Children’s Aid Society Winners

When:
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
4:30 – 5:00 p.m.

Where:
The Children’s Aid Society’s East Harlem Center
130 East 101st Street, between Park and Lexington Avenues

NEW YORK – Lygeria Bernard, Julissa Guevara and Katherine de la Cruz, students at the Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics, a Children’s Aid Society community high school, have each won a $5,000 college scholarship from BrainstormUSA, an Atlanta-based marketer of educational software, videos and computers. The awards are presented as part of the company’s third and fourth quarter 2005 “Dare to Dream…Expect to Succeed” scholarship program.

To win, students are asked to describe a personal goal and how he or she hopes to achieve it. Any medium may be used – such as prose, poetry, photography, collage or drawing – depending on the child’s interests. In addition, parents are asked to describe how they will support their child’s efforts to realize his or her dreams. The competition is open to students across the nation, from kindergarten to high school. Lygeria, a 12th grader, wrote a script for a play showcasing her dream of becoming a music producer or playwright; Julissa, an 11th grader, created a diorama to demonstrate her desire to become an environmentalist; and Katherine, also an 11th grader, wrote an essay detailing her future plans to become a psychologist.

Six other students from Children’s Aid Society locations across the city have each won a personal computer with educational software in the “Dare to Dream” competition. Another six CAS students won bundles of educational software.

C. Warren Moses, CEO of The Children’s Aid Society, says, “We are very proud that youth in Children’s Aid’s programs have done so well in the ‘Dare to Dream’ competition and are grateful to BrainstormUSA for giving them this wonderful opportunity to obtain scholarships, computers and software.”

“We are especially pleased there are so many winners associated with The Children’s Aid Society, an organization that provides so many worthwhile services to deserving children in New York City,” says Joe Galluccio, President and CEO of BrainstormUSA. Since its inception in 1999, the “Dare to Dream…Expect to Succeed” program has awarded over $2 million in scholarships, computers and educational software to students, teachers and schools. For more information on BrainstormUSA and entry into the “Dare to Dream” competition, visit the company’s website at www.brainstormusa.com.

The Children’s Aid Society was founded in 1853. It is one of the nation’s largest and most innovative non-sectarian agencies, serving more than 150,000 of New York’s neediest children and their families with a network of services that includes community schools, neighborhood centers, camps, adoption and foster care services, teen pregnancy prevention, education, health and recreation. For additional information, visit www.childrensaidsociety.org.