CLEARWATER, FL– The Wachovia Foundation has donated $10,000 to Eckerd Youth Alternatives, Inc. (EYA), for a new learning management program that will offer youths in one of the company’s outdoor therapy programs a state-of-the-art individualized and comprehensive educational experience, said EYA President & CEO Karen V. Waddell.

“Most of the kids we work with come to us more than a year behind in schoolwork.  This program will help them catch up – and possibly even pass – their classmates when they return home,” Waddell said.  “We will use Wachovia’s generous gift to implement the program at Camp E-How-Kee, the first program started by our founders Jack and Ruth Eckerd,” Waddell said. E-How-Kee is located in Brooksville.

The Wachovia Foundation supports organizations that work to improve the economic base and the quality of life—especially for children, students and families—in the many different communities Wachovia operates.

“At Wachovia, supporting programs that focus on the education of young people is one of our top community priorities,” said Roy McCraw, Wachovia’s regional president for Greater Bay, which includes Clearwater .  “So we are especially proud to support Eckerd Youth Alternatives, Inc., and its mission to help young students succeed at school and in life with its innovative classroom initiative.”

The EYA Model Classroom Initiative includes Classworks, a comprehensive learning management system designed to align computer-aided instruction with individualized student needs in accordance with state-required curriculum standards and benchmarks.

Since the inception of EYA’s first outdoor therapeutic program in 1968, the EYA approach to curriculum has been unique – integrating aspects of group therapy and experiential learning through core program components that include activities such as tent construction, short- and long-term trips, and cooking. 

EYA was recently named the first provider of services for alternative education in the United States to receive District Accreditation status through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.