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April 21, 2008
LSU E. J. Ourso College of Business Assistant Professor of Marketing Randy Raggio will be presented the President’s Volunteer Service Award tomorrow for his volunteer service with Desire Street Academy. President George W. Bush will personally honor Raggio with the award in the capital city.
“I thank President Bush for this recognition and for his continued commitment to volunteer service,” Raggio said in a statement. “But this award is not about me. In this area, where so many have given so much to help others, there is no way to single out an individual volunteer as the most deserving of recognition.”
A program of Desire Street Ministries, which provides an education for middle and high school African-American urban males, Desire Street Academy strives to empower the young men physically, academically, spiritually and socially and to equip them for success in life. Raggio is an academic tutor for remedial math and the ACT college entrance exam preparation. In addition, he helped prepare a marketing plan for Desire Street Academy and has worked with its advisory committee on publicity and fundraising as they work to establish a foundation in their new home in Baton Rouge.
Desire Street Academy was launched in New Orleans in 2002. When the facilities were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, the academy relocated temporarily to a boarding school camp in Niceville, Fla., before moving in 2007 to its current location in Baton Rouge. The program’s executive director, Danny Wuerffel, serves on the President’s Council of Service and Civic Participation and will accompany Raggio on Tuesday.
“For many, ‘ Desire Street’ evokes visions of the New Orleans neighborhood that was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina,” Raggio said. “But the need in Baton Rouge is in many ways just as great as it was in the original Desire neighborhood.”
According to Raggio, 95% of Desire Street Academy’s students qualify for free lunch (41% is the national average). Entering students typically read three to four levels below their grade, and 80% have either lost a family member to death through violence or know someone who has. Desire Street Academy is taking these children and producing leaders that are equipped to better their lives and those of their families and communities.
“The results are remarkable,” Raggio said. “ Desire Street Academy has an attendance rate of 97%, well above that for East Baton Rouge. The majority of students improve their reading by at least two grade levels after one year.”
Raggio hopes that others will find ways to partner with Desire Street Academy to help transform these young lives and the Baton Rouge community.
“People around here call Baton Rouge the next great American city,” Raggio said. “When that happens, people will look back and realize that it was projects like those at Desire Street Academy – radical projects that were pioneered in this city – that got us here.”
The President's Volunteer Service Award was created at the President’s direction by the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation. The award is available to youth ages 14 and under who have completed 50 or more hours of volunteer service, to individuals 15 and older who have completed 100 or more hours, and to families or groups who have completed 200 or more hours. For more information, visit www.presidentialserviceawards.gov .
More information about Desire Street Academy can be found at www.desirestreet.org/new/academy.php.
Raggio was born and raised in Mandeville, La. For more information about him, visit his LSU faculty Web page at http://www.bus.lsu.edu/marketing/facultywebpage.asp?autoid=630.
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