ZupaNova visits AMBITION just prior to the COVID-19 shutdown.

As we prepare to begin the 2020-2021 school year, we take a look back at 2019-2020 school year – no doubt, one for the history books. No proms. No graduation ceremonies. No senior carnivals,. No senior skip day. Instead of our last day in the classroom being in June, it was in March. We finished the academic year on Zoom, with teachers having to create a whole new way of teaching while students tuned in from their bedrooms or kitchen tables. Meanwhile, everyone was quarantined and wondering what the next day would bring.

Needless to say, this was not how we planned to celebrate AMBITION’s 10th anniversary in 2020.

Switching gears and learning how to forge ahead during a global pandemic was challenging, but as is often the case, it was also a learning experience and a growth opportunity. This was a new situation for everyone and we were all in it together.

We are proud of our AMBITION students, teachers and mentors. Everyone remained committed and engaged, working together to successfully complete the term.

Largely because of our generous donors, we were able to provide students with different educational opportunities and college scholarships to those who qualified. Many of our college- bound graduates will be the first in their families to get a higher education. Scholarships in hand, they are off to California State University-Sacramento, Mount Saint Mary's University, California State University-Dominguez Hills, El Camino College and Santa Monica College. AMBITION will continue to support and mentor our students, as needed, while they are in college and beyond.

Looking back at the 2019-2020 academic year it is clear that despite the unprecedented disruptions, the AMBITION students benefited from numerous educational experiences, including:

Working in teams with executives from Tesla to develop a new product concept that targeted different segments of Tesla's market, the students learned market research, strategic planning, how to fine tune a strategic message and the stages of new product development and implementation. AMBITION is proud to collaborate with partners Thoroughly Crafted Goods (TCG) and made in the USA, American luxury handbag brand, JAMAH.
Due to the quarantine, the students pivoted to working on marketing plans for The Ultimate Tease, the e-commerce component of AMBITION. The merchandise is designed to ignite meaningful conversation about real issues.
Celebrity visit: The students decided that they wanted actor David Henrie to come to class. They conducted research and created a video pitch to the star of one of their favorite shows, Wizards of Waverly Place. It worked! Read about his visit here.
Lou Williams, Point Guard and Shooting Guard for the Los Angeles Clippers, upon receiving a compelling student-produced invitation to come to class and learn more about AMBITION, invited everyone to a Clippers game with top-tier VIP treatment! Unfortunately, just two days before the game, Covid-19 disrupted the remainder of the NBA season. Still, the students learned again that important people and organizations supported them.
ZupaNova, a Los Angeles hip hop band known for their work with the Black Eyed Peas, Bell Biv DeVoe, Aaron Neville, Macy Gray and many others, in collaboration with the students, wrote and produced the AMBITION theme song six years ago. Every year they surprise the class when they show up, perform and answer questions about the music industry. Having access to top professionals in a variety of industries is part of AMBITION's value proposition.
Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld, author of “Above All Else: A World Champion Skydiver's Story of Survival and What It Taught Him About Fear, Adversity, and Success,” Zoomed into class to share his comeback story of faith, determination and resiliency with the AMBITION students and mentors. His powerful reminder that we must continue to dream, to remain hopeful, to set goals and to reach for the sky was particularly resonate as we sat at home, waiting this crisis out, worried about what our lives will be like once this pandemic is over. Dan’s death-defying story of survival and triumph, and all his life-lessons along the way, is perhaps even more captivating and empowering now than when it first came out.
Over the course of the year, other successful and qualified mentors taught sections of financial literacy, branding strategies, networking skills and how to formulate goals and remove any barriers that stand in the way of achieving them.

While we were concluding this past term, numerous tragic events and injustices rose to dominate the national conversation. Many people – some for the first time – began to embrace the opportunity to learn more and do more to create the changes we need to build a better future. The impact of systemic racism, a host of issues related to social justice and the demand for police reform, the right to peacefully protest and the cry that #BLACKLIVESMATTER brought to light the dire relevance of CELINE’S LADDER.

CELINE’S LADDER, a movement born from AMBITION, was developed in 2017 to ignite fair and insightful conversation about socially relevant topics. It’s real dialogue, for youth, by youth from ethnically, demographically and socio-economically diverse backgrounds. CELINE’S LADDER is about stripping away what we’ve been taught to think and feel in order to uncover our own feelings and our own truths. It’s about being proactive rather than reactive. It’s asking and listening to uncomfortable questions. It's a valuable lesson in understanding and self-discovery.

The main topic since 2017 has been White Privilege and Racism. What do those terms mean to you? What do these words bring up for you? What experiences have you had with these ideologies? How can we figure out strategies to tackle these institutions?

Where are we this September? Still at home, still on Zoom, and still with no clue as to what this new academic year will hold.

Interest and support for CELINE’S LADDER has been building and as we start the new school year, AMBITION will be working on how to continue to expand and evolve the program. Part of that will be working on a fundraising concert featuring ZupaNova and produced by Karim Meg Moutry of CASHOUT FILMS.

“YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT ME,” another movement born from AMBITION, will be front and center for the students and mentors this year. An uncensored call-to-action that uses a power-not-pity, unapologetic, solution-driven approach to give voice to our challenges, secrets and successes. “You don’t know about me, but…” is a reminder that what you see is NOT necessarily what you get. A modern day, Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover, this guaranteed conversation starter is also a slogan on The Ultimate Tease merchandise.

While much about the coming school year is unknown, we do know that for the eleventh year, AMBITION will be leading of class of eager students who, no matter the circumstances, are preparing for their future. Whether on Zoom, in the classroom or some sort of combination, together we will teach, learn, listen, mentor, engage and advance. There is nowhere to go but forward, and with AMBITION you can get to wherever it is you want to go.

Onward to the 2020-2021 school year!

LOOKING BACK AS WE MOVE AHEAD