Opry Mills Celebrated Ten Years of Graduations from the Simon Youth Foundation

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photo courtesy of Opry Mills

In celebration of the Simon Youth Foundation’s 25th anniversary and 10th year of hosting graduations at Opry Mills, 25 students once again turned their tassels during a ceremony on Wednesday, May 17. The ceremony celebrated the graduating classes from the Simon Youth Academy at Opry Mills, a national nonprofit that supports education through its network of academies and through scholarship programs.

By partnering with the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools and additional support from Simon, the Simon Youth Academy at Opry Mills offers hard-working students a second chance at education success and with aims of higher education.

“At Simon, we pride ourselves on being more than a company for people to shop, dine and play,” said Andrea Neely, President of the Simon Youth Foundation. “We are always looking for ways to give back to the community that aids our success every year, and couldn’t be more honored to help individuals achieve academic milestones over the last 25 years.”

Opry Mills is proud to celebrate its 10th anniversary partnership with the Simon Youth Foundation and be part of its 44 non-traditional high schools called Simon Youth Academies, which give students on the verge of dropping out of high school the personalized support they need to graduate.

“The Academy at Opry Mills has changed over 800 student’s lives over the past ten years, by giving each student another option in how they earn their high school diploma,” said Dr. Carmon Brown, Principal of The Academy at Opry Mills. “As the principal of this wonderful school, I cannot express enough how this experience and the role Opry Mills plays in it has changed my life and the lives of our students both personally and professionally.”