“I wanted to give them tools and skills that I didn’t necessarily have when I was growing up to help with not only preparing for college but also for life.”
Allen created the Will Allen Foundation while playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and developed “Quest for Real Life Success,” after moving to Pittsburgh to play for the Steelers. The program kicked off two years ago in Wayne High School and North Hills High School in Pittsburgh. The objectives of the year round program are to prepare students academically for college but also for job and career opportunities and to help them develop character and integrity.
“I really wanted to teach kids how to be proactive and think outside of the box,” Allen said. “To set priorities in life once they turned 18 because I really felt there weren’t enough people in the community trying to help kids and there wasn’t a real comprehensive program to train them in real life situations once they were done with high school.”
Allen began the program by sending out application forms to the middle school and inviting eighth graders to apply for their freshman year.
“We went to the middle school counselors and asked them to choose about 50 kids from all different backgrounds,” Allen said. “Everyone had the same opportunity to write a letter and apply but we ended up choosing 10 for the program.”
Those 10 students will remain in the Quest program for all four years of high school. This year, those students are entering their junior year at Wayne and will meet once a week after school beginning mid-September.
“The program will include guest speakers that will help the kids with everything from how to handle college admissions to bullying,” Allen said. “We also have a lot of community service throughout the year.”
And though Allen will be in Dallas for much of the season, he is very hands on with the program in both of the schools and plans to be present as much as possible.
According to head football coach and Athletic Director Jay Minton, who coached Allen at Wayne and has worked with him on the Quest for the past two years, the program impacts the lives of students in a powerful way.
“What’s really neat about this is seeing someone like Will, who has left and gone on to be so successful, but is so generous and is giving back to his home town,” Minton said. “He knows the challenges that are out there and he really is present in the program. He Skypes with the kids if he can’t be there in person because this isn’t just a program he throws his name on and leaves. He really cares about the entire Miami Valley area.”
Allen’s vision is to eventually expand the program to other schools, both in the Dayton area and in Columbus.
“Once this group of kids graduates we can assess the impact of the program and see where we need to go,” Allen said. “I want to build a legacy with this and really help our youth because I think that’s one of the most important things adults can do – give back to young people.”
For more information, go to www.willallenfoundation.com.
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