40 years ago, Bob Kaitz met with the head of corporate philanthropy for West Publishing. They discussed the importance of career preparation and how the company could serve St. Paul public school students. Throughout our years of partnership, they have continually committed to BestPrep and its focus on career preparation and financial literacy.
The company helped BestPrep launch the Educational Forum’s Student Spotlight Competition in 2011; students throughout the state were asked to respond to a question prompt based on an issue facing society. Thomson Reuters has been the competition’s premier sponsor for this competition and their volunteers have worked directly with BestPrep staff by helping to develop the prompt, judge student entries, and present the top awards on stage at the Forum.
Betsy Lulfs has served on the BestPrep Board of Directors since 2019, providing invaluable leadership to the organization through serving on and chairing committees. She believes in reaching students where they are and inspiring them to be their best selves because BestPrep is all about the students. This concept was woven into expanding the essay submission for the Student Spotlight Competition when she suggested that responses include art, sculpture, video and poetry. She said there are various mediums to express feelings and offering these options to students may increase BestPrep’s reach to engaging with more students. According to Betsy, “BestPrep is a terrific partner as it allows our employees to directly engage by mentoring students in impactful ways. We love the way BestPrep mobilizes schools and teachers to deliver a well-organized experience. We are honored to be one of their business partners!”
[Jeannine Befidi (right), Thomson Reuters’ former Chief Communications Officer, presenting an award at BestPrep’s Educational Forum.]
[Charles Bradley (orange shirt) volunteering during in-class kick-off of Cloud Coach.]