Assistant Professor Randy Raggio receiving award for his work with Desire Street Academy
April 22, 2008
Media Contact: Kristine Calongne
Senior Public Affairs Officer | Lousiana State University
(225) 578-5985 |
BATON ROUGE – President George W. Bush will present the President’s Volunteer Service Award to LSU faculty member Randy Raggio tomorrow, April 22, at approximately 3:10 p.m. at the Baton Rouge airport.
Raggio, LSU E. J. Ourso College of Business assistant professor of marketing and an alumni of Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management class 1997, will receive the award for his volunteer service with Desire Street Academy.
The event is open to the media, but not the public. Media should have received instructions from the White House on how to obtain credentials for the event.
“I thank President Bush for this recognition and for his continued commitment to volunteer service,” Raggio said in a statement. “But this award is not about me. In this area, where so many have given so much to help others, there is no way to single out an individual volunteer as the most deserving of recognition.”
A program of Desire Street Ministries, which provides an education for middle and high school African-American urban males, Desire Street Academy strives to empower the young men physically, academically, spiritually and socially and to equip them for success in life. Raggio is an academic tutor for remedial math and the ACT college entrance exam preparation. In addition, he helped prepare a marketing plan for Desire Street Academy and has worked with its advisory committee on publicity and fundraising as the organization works to establish a foundation in its new home in Baton Rouge.
Desire Street Academy was launched in New Orleans in 2002. When the facilities were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, the academy relocated temporarily to a boarding school camp in Niceville, Fla., before moving in 2007 to its current location in Baton Rouge. The program’s executive director, Danny Wuerffel, serves on the President’s Council of Service and Civic Participation and will accompany Raggio to meet Bush on Tuesday.
“For many, ‘Desire Street’ evokes visions of the New Orleans neighborhood that was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina,” Raggio said. “But the need in Baton Rouge is in many ways just as great as it was in the original Desire neighborhood.”
According to Raggio, 95 percent of Desire Street Academy’s students qualify for free lunch; 41 percent is the national average. Entering students typically read three to four levels below their grade, and 80 percent have either lost a family member to death through violence or know someone who has. Desire Street Academy is taking these children and producing leaders that are equipped to better their lives and those of their families and communities.
“The results are remarkable,” Raggio said. “Desire Street Academy has an attendance rate of 97 percent, well above that for East Baton Rouge. The majority of students improve their reading by at least two grade levels after one year.”
Raggio hopes that others will find ways to partner with Desire Street Academy to help transform these young lives and the Baton Rouge community.
“People around here call Baton Rouge the next great American city,” Raggio said. “When that happens, people will look back and realize that it was projects like those at Desire Street Academy – radical projects that were pioneered in this city – that got us here.”
The President’s Volunteer Service Award was created at the President’s direction by the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation. The award is available to youth ages 14 and under who have completed 50 or more hours of volunteer service, to individuals 15 and older who have completed 100 or more hours, and to families or groups who have completed 200 or more hours. For more information, visit www.presidentialserviceawards.gov.
More information about Desire Street Academy can be found at www.desirestreet.org/new/academy.php.
Raggio was born and raised in Mandeville, La. For more information about him, visit his LSU faculty Web page.
Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management is ranked as a top institution by BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, Financial Times and Forbes. For more information about Owen, visit www.owen.vanderbilt.edu
