Eight students, each wearing a cape, ran from their seats onto a stage to present a community service project to judges and an audience while Batman theme music played.
They were Team Hometown Heroes and among four projects that were presented during the Ford Dream Builders Awards Night hosted by the Jim Burke Education on Thursday at the Career and Technical Education Center. Thirty-three high school leaders, each of them seniors, were celebrated, and each were awarded a $2,000 scholarship. For the second straight year, scholarships totaling $80,000 were given.
In honor of the Ford Dream Builder program’s 20th anniversary, this year’s teams drew inspiration from projects completed in previous years. Overall, there have been 80 community service projects completed from more than 640 students during the 20 years.
Team Hometown Heroes connected the Bakersfield Police Department with Highland Elementary students with three assemblies, among which included interaction with the BPD bomb squad. The eight high school student leaders — Kylee Tripp, Ivan Tran, Shivkiren Dhillon, Gabriella Camou, Ryan Jockers, Jayden Albiad, David Meshreky and Mukul Anand — left a legacy. Bakersfield City School District plans to implement assemblies featuring the BPD in more of its schools.
“I was excited (to attend Wednesday’s event) because these wonderful students put on a fabulous assembly for our kids,” Highland Elementary Principal Jennifer Stewart said. “I wanted to support them and to watch them present their efforts.”
The group’s project won the Community Legacy Award. Each team won an award and donated $250 to a local organization on behalf of the business that sponsored them.
Team Socks on Kern County Soles (S.O.K.C.S.), sponsored by Dignity Health Mercy and Memorial Hospitals, won two awards, Community Impact and Best In Class, to donate $500 to the Open Door Network.
“They’re the best of the best,” Chad Manning, a Bakersfield High and Ford Dimension alumnus who is the vice president of sales for Jim Burke Ford, said of the 33 high school leaders. “They put in a lot of work. They did this community service project and they did it on top of everything they’re doing. That’s what got them into the program. They’re leaders in their schools, members of clubs, sports teams, they take full academic loads. … They are the future leaders and we want to give them that skill set of how to give back to their community because they are the ones who are going to be sitting on community boards.”
In 1975, Jim Burke started the Ford Dimension program that evolved to become a 10-member board consisting of high school seniors. The group fosters business-youth communication, emphasizing career development, business ethics and service over self.
Twenty years ago, the Jim Burke Education Foundation directors created Dream Builders, an extension of Ford Dimension. It's a student leadership program that also promotes service over self through community service projects.
Manning and others involved with Wednesday night’s event did their best to be secretive about the awards of $2,000 scholarships to each of the 33 high school seniors. The majority of them were surprised to receive a scholarship.
“I couldn’t believe it,” said Jockers, a Liberty senior who plans to study sports business in college. “It’s just so amazing and now I have some help to get where I want to be. The Dream Builders supplied me with the opportunity and the way to get there.”
