SHS Student Works to Level the Academic Playing Field

A visit to his brother’s college economics class last year got Jed Stone to thinking.

The class was discussing public policy, Stone recalls, and the disparity sometimes created in how education is funded.

“My brother and I started talking, and we decided that the solution wasn’t necessarily going to come through the government,” he said.

Instead, they decided it was possible “to get donations from businesses and give them to the schools on your own.”

With his brother Jordan’s encouragement, Stone ran with the idea. A year later, the junior and Buffalo Grove resident is the president of Edufund, a club and non-profit organization at school designed to help underfunded Chicago-area public schools.

“In its most basic form, Edufund is a non-profit organization completely run by students, and we are looking to pair businesses, big corporations as well as individuals with schools that are underfunded," Stone said.

Edufund is not your typical high school club. Although not yet officially sanctioned by school administrators, Edufund is an official 501(c)(3) non-profit entity.

Its membership numbers 55 to 60 students, said sponsor Darshan Jain, who teaches pre-calculus and honors geometry at the school, and features a businesslike leadership structure that includes a president (Stone), vice president and director of school relations (Mike Bruk), a director of business outreach (Steven Kislenko) and director of public relations (Demi Panagakis).

He said Edufund fills an important need in educating Stevenson students.

“It's absolutely vital (for students) to see beyond their circumstances,” Jain said. “Students need to think outside their immediate community see what is vital.”

Although Stone said the group is still in “start-up mode,” Edufund has already raised $1,400 and plans to hold a fundraising concert in May on Stevenson's football field.

Key to Edufund’s success is finding schools that are identified as underfunded and then finding local businesses willing to help.

Stone said the organization uses a website, www.waitingforsuperman.com, which provides statistics on how Illinois schools are funded.

The website is a spin-off of a documentary of the same name on the public education system by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Davis Guggenheim.

“What’s easy for us is that we don’t have to go very far to find [underfunded] schools,” Stone said. "Several in Waukegan are below the state average.”

“What is there, a 30-minute drive between the schools?” Stone said. “Yet there is a vast difference in funding. That’s what we are looking to curb.”

Working with businesses willing to contribute can be challenging, Jain said.

“Businesses often have the sources and money some schools lack,” he said. But knocking on the door and talking to executives can be intimidating, yet helpful, for a high school student.

“I can think of no better experience,” he said.

Stone said knocking on doors was “real hard” in the beginning because the group lacked credibility.

“The more we reach out to businesses, the more receptive they are to our cause,” he said.

Some business owners believe they are already doing their share by paying taxes.

“We say to them that there is still a huge disparity,” Stone said. "I think a lot of businesses latch on to that.”

Edufund is in the process of setting up a website. Still under construction, it's located at http://edufundhelps.org.