Fischler School Recognizes Miami HEAT Academy Students

Seventy students from three inner-city Miami-Dade County elementary schools recently experienced firsthand how good grades can pay off when Miami HEAT mascot Burnie visited with representatives from Fischler School of Education and Human Services of NSU to hand out HEAT tickets to honor roll students.

The tickets were handed out to recognize students who are excelling academically from Riverside Elementary (Little Havana), Little River Elementary (Little Haiti) and Paul Laurence Dunbar Elementary (Overtown) schools. The three schools will also register with Teacher Imaginarium, the Fischler School’s teacher store, to win a basket full of classroom supplies as the grand prize.

Each honor roll student was rewarded with three game tickets for the Saturday, Feb. 21, Miami HEAT game. The students, who are enrolled in the HEAT Academy, along with teachers and administrators from each school were also recognized at the game.

The HEAT Academy, an after-school initiative of Miami Heat basketball president Pat Riley, provides students at the three elementary schools with supplemental instruction by certified teachers through a curriculum designed to help students improve in reading and math and to increase the students’ potential for success on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) exam.

Through a collaborative partnership with Miami-Dade County Public Schools and the HEAT Group corporate partners, the HEAT Academy operates the majority of the school year-round and provides educational support to a total of 300 students across the three schools from the third to the fifth grade. Although the program is free for students enrolled, students are required to meet certain attendance goals and abide by a strict code of conduct to remain eligible.