It takes more than knowing how to tackle, block, run, pass and kick to build a successful high school football team. At its most basic, you need players. Eligible players.
Quality football coaches also will tell you they are in the business of building men as much as they are football teams. Getting kids to attend class, learn, graduate and go on to be successful in life are all part of the reasons officials at Brainerd High School felt they deserved one of six grants awarded by the recently formed Krystal Foundation.
Brainerd, along with five other elementary, middle and high schools throughout the part of the country where Krystal hamburgers are sold, learned this week that it would receive $2,500 and $3,500 (Krystal doesn't release the exact amount.)
These grants could be used for STEAM studies (science, technology, engineering, art, math), culinary training or sports and could be awarded to an entire school, a teacher or a school club.
Brainerd's proposal was for grant money to be used to help increase graduation rates among its football players. The other school to receive a grant in this area was Leroy Massey Elementary School in Summerville, Ga. Officials there plan to use the funds for new iPads and robotics to help teach students about coding software.
Krystal Co. chief marketing officer and foundation head Jason Abelkop says Krystal received 57 grant applications for an array of things. The other winning proposals were for money to start gardening, culinary and arts clubs, virtual reality kits, a rocketry club and a girls coding club.
"The criteria that we used was ... do they match up with our mission, which is to support STEAM education, the culinary arts and sports," Abelkop says. "Do they match with that mission to improve the communities that we do business in."
The six winners announced this year are the first of three sets to be given in the summer, fall and winter of each year.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.