25 Years of Impact: How TGR Foundation helped me soar into an aviation career
Growing up I was always fascinated by how things worked. I was the kid that took apart the remote control and put it back together again. My parents knew early on that if my hands were busy, so was my mind. And they knew I came alive when I was working with my hands.
Sometimes, when my mom was off from work, she’d take me to a science store in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, across the river from our home in Philadelphia. I’d leave with some sort of D.I.Y. kit, like a baking soda volcano or a robot making set.
My dad was on the road a lot, working as a truck driver, but when he’d come round, we’d sit for hours and build RC model planes. And sometimes, if we finished early enough, we’d head over to the airport, park the car and sit for hours, watching the planes take off and land. It never got old.
Staring up into the sky, with my dad by my side and airplanes overhead, I knew, even as an eight-year-old kid from Philly, that I would be a pilot one day.
I’m 21-years-old now, and nearly one year into my eighteen-month program at flight mechanic school. I’m excited about what awaits me after I graduate, but the road to get where I am today was not always clear or easy.
25 Years of Impact: How TGR Foundation transforms classrooms worldwide through educator professional learning
As educators come through the TGR Learning Lab for the very first time, they often hear the excited chatter from students busy tinkering and creating. From the mechanical sounds of gears rotating within the 3D printers to EV3 robots zipping up and down the hallways, there is a palpable energy throughout the building.
These educators quickly catch onto the enthusiasm coming from the students who are given the unique opportunity to move beyond textbooks and truly take charge of their learning. Having worked with both students and educators, what I’ve come to recognize is that regardless of our age or life experiences, we all have a natural curiosity and a desire to be life-long learners. Teachers love to be just as engaged as their students. It reminds them firsthand of what their students will be challenged with when they learn new concepts.
TGR Foundation launches Pathways Forward initiative, celebrates 25 years
In 1996, when Tiger and his parents launched TGR Foundation, they set out to do something profoundly simple yet deeply impactful – give kids hope. As we enter into TGR Foundation’s 25th anniversary, at an unprecedented time when hardships feel insurmountable, the ability to give kids from our most vulnerable communities a sense of hope feels all the more urgent and critical.
With 2021 marking a milestone year for the foundation, we look to our founder to share his vision for our next chapter. Tiger’s goal for us, once again, is inherently simple yet visionary – to provide young people with a clear path to personal excellence and professional success. While this next chapter of the foundation’s journey is my first at the helm of the organization, the groundwork has been long established.