Donation enables AP Support Center at Hoffman Estates H.S.

Thanks to a local financial benefactor and a national agency aimed at upgrading educational spaces, Advanced Placement students at Hoffman Estates High School have started the school year with a new Support Center to assist their ambitious early pursuit of college credits.

A former computer lab was transformed into the vibrant, welcoming new space over the summer through a donation by EON Clinics in Hoffman Estates and the oversight of Maryland-based Heart of America.

Officials from these agencies joined representatives of Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 last week to dedicate the AP Support Center.

Among those who spoke was Hoffman Estates High School AP English teacher Ryan Brown, who said he recognized the benefit of it from both a student's and educator's perspectives.

Having once been the only student of color in some of his AP classes, Brown said he considered himself an AP trailblazer who would show no weakness in the high pressure environment. But the experience would later make him question whether he wanted to re-enter that atmosphere, even from the other side of the teacher's desk.

Brown praised the current generation of students as one for whom change and connectivity are part of its DNA. He sees the AP Support Center helping students on their journey.

"This is where they can come and take off the mask and the AP armor," Brown said. "That is when they will truly grow. And they'll know they never have to do it alone."

Dental surgeon Rajan Sharma, president of EON Clinics, said he was inspired to help by his daughter, a teacher. He was even happier with the decision after seeing the finished product and hearing Brown's assessment of its impact.

"It's really touching, and after the speech you gave, it really made me glad that I'm a part of that," Sharma said.

Though Heart of America did not provide any of the funding, its participation was enabled by the high percentage of students at Hoffman Estates High School eligible for the free and reduced lunch program.

Christine Lucas, senior regional director for the Midwest, spoke of the project's biggest reward being students' first impression when they arrived for the first day of school last year.

"I watched their eyes widen as they came into this and realized this was just for them," she said.