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What

Beginning May 10, for eight hours a day over a 10-12 day period, Joel Kirsch, president of the Bay Area-based, nonprofit American Sports Institute, will do a pilgrimage that will begin the morning of Day 1 at Marin County’s northern border with Sonoma and end on the final day at Marin’s southern border with San Francisco on the Golden Gate Bridge. Joel will travel the entire distance in the following manner: 1) stand straight; 2) without moving the feet, crouch down and extend the body fully in a push-up position; 3) do a push-up; 4) bring the feet forward one at a time to where the hands are; 5) stand straight once again; and 6) repeat the entire process continuously.

Along the 30+ mile route, for various amounts of time, individuals and groups will join Joel in the Pilgrimage activity, including:

• Bay Area citizens, including kids, parents, moms and dads with their babies, donors, those who are handicapped, those afflicted with chronic diseases (diabetes, heart disease, cancer, dementia, etc.) or know someone who was/is afflicted with these diseases
• Representatives of sponsoring agencies
• Dignitaries and officials, including those from city councils and county government offices, the County Board of Supervisors, and California legislative representatives
• Celebrities from sports and the media

Purposes

1) To raise awareness about the problems that the vast majority of students in today’s public schools are experiencing, both academically and physically, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds; and 2) to raise funds for the creation of The Arete School of Sport Culture and Wellness in Marin that will serve as a model for solving these problems. In addition, The Arete School will become a training center for educators throughout America and around the world.

The Pilgrimage will be an annual event in Marin. In the future, those in communities around the country and internationally will be authorized to do their own type of pilgrimage in support of The Arete School.

Funding

The Pilgrimage will be supported by donations from individuals, organizations, and foundations.  Individuals and representatives of organizations making donations will be invited to participate in the Pilgrimage activity with Joel along the route.

Why

America’s public schools are in trouble. National studies show that the high school dropout rate is 30%; for Latinos and African Americans it’s 45%-50%. In America’s 50 largest cities, the dropout rate is 48%. The United States is the only industrialized country in the world in which today’s young people are less likely than their parents to have completed high school. In addition, the vast majority of high school students, high achievers and underperformers alike, are bored and disengaged in their academic classes.

Compounding these problems, the incidence of childhood overweight and obesity is at crisis levels, predisposing millions of schoolchildren to diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and other chronic diseases. In essence, America’s public schools are failing to meet the essential needs of its students.

Given these sobering facts, it could be said that, figuratively and literally, America’s schoolchildren are dying to learn.

With emerging research from major institutions showing that levels of education and levels of health mutually influence one another in significant ways, The Arete School is being created to demonstrate that the principles and practices of sport and wellness can generate high academic, high health and fitness, and high motivation scores for all students, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

A pilot version of this model has been created by the American Sports Institute through another one of its educational-change programs. This program has been hailed as “a model for total school reform” by researchers at a division of the U.S. Department of Education. In addition, this model has been applied to the entire curriculum at a small, K-8 public school in California. The result: the school’s state test scores rose 200 points in six years and the school has become a California Distinguished School.

Publicity

Given that education and health continue to be very big issues in America, and with the American Sports Institute’s other educational-change programs having generated a great deal of publicity, including stories for ABC’s World News Tonight, National Public Radio, CBS Radio’s The Osgood File, and ESPN, in addition to over 50 other radio, television, and newspaper stories, The Arete School Pilgrimage will also generate a great deal of publicity.

• Articles will run in newspapers, including the San Francisco Chronicle and Marin Independent Journal. Because the Pilgrimage involves physical activity, it will be perfect for television news stories and will generate interviews for radio. In addition, news releases will be sent to over 300 newspaper, radio, television, and cable media outlets nationwide, and networking websites including Facebook and YouTube will be accessed.
  
• Because the American Sports Institute has established working relationships with educators and researchers at major universities and institutions around the country, including Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, Claremont Graduate University, the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, the University of Illinois, Northern Illinois University, and Columbia, representatives from these universities and institutions will be made available for interviews related to the Pilgrimage and purposes of The Arete School.
  
• All sponsoring and supporting individuals and organizations will be recognized on the American Sports Institute/Arete School website for demonstrating their concern for children, education, health, and sport.

In addition, based on their funding level, major sponsors and supporters will be recognized further in all news releases, in press kits requested by Bay Area and national media outlets, with a link to their website on the American Sports Institute website, and in a documentary film about the Pilgrimage that will air on Bay Area public-access television stations and YouTube, and be submitted to film festivals. The documentary will also be made available for viewing on the American Sports Institute website.

How You Can Participate

You’re invited to join Joel Kirsch in the Pilgrimage activity for as much time as you wish.  You can also participate as a group (family, friends, neighbors, classmates, business, civic or religious group, etc.).  For information on how to do this, call the American Sports Institute at 415-383-5750, or email us.

While it is not required, each person who joins Joel in the Pilgrimage is encouraged to make a donation to support the development of The Arete School.  Checks should be made out to:  The Arete School. 

While all donation amounts are welcome, donation recommendations are: