Concerned about the dwindling resources available for public school teachers to provide their students with enriching experiences, two CMC alums founded a non-profit organization to help out. Stuart Felkner '10 and Antoine Grant '07 founded responsibly to connect teachers to their community, funding educational experiences that bring learning to life experiences like field trips, science experiments, the arts and technology in the classroom.
Felkner and Grant founded responsibly on September 5, 2011 after touring the country in a school bus on a 10,000 mile journey to learn about the challenges facing the nation's teachers and schools. Two other CMC alums are also involved in responsibly -- Mike West '10 and Hunter Jackson '10.
"Antoine and I were each fortunate enough to go through private school and were always perplexed with the difference between public and private school," said Felkner. "Following the 15 city tour through 120 degree heat (no air conditioning) and -5 degree cold (no heater), I realized that education is at the root of all problems within our nation - homelessness, crime, the economy, etc. With responsibly, we hope to breathe life into America's educational system by making learning fun and applicable."
At responsibly.com, teachers post experiences that they would like funded for their students and supporters can donate dollars to fund experiences. Teachers from Los Angeles and New Orleans have posted experiences for funding, and responsibly has raised more than $12,000 for those experiences. Responsibly has funded experiences such as a field trip to the Los Angeles Zoo for 68 first graders from East LA and a science experiment for 6th grade students in New Orleans that demonstrated how shifts in tectonic plates cause volcanic eruptions.
Felkner and Grant both played football at CMC and said their Stag experience prepared them well for starting up a new organization, citing the time management, hard work, teamwork and leadership required both for Stag football and business. They also said Professor Conger's entrepreneurial class prepared them well.
Prior to founding responsibly, Grant worked in strategy and management consulting at Bain and Company; Felkner worked on another start up, EntertainLA, with Yohei Nakajima 09 before joining forces with Grant to found responsibly. Both live in L.A.