Starr Commonwealth Partners with Educated Stars of Tomorrow to Launch ExcelU
Educated Stars of Tomorrow, LLC (ESOT), founded by Willie Burton in 2011, has spent the past nine years developing ExcelU, a school- and community-based curriculum that unifies academic success and health-wellness for students. Using a multifaceted approach, this curriculum engages both students and student-athletes to equip them with the necessary tools to maneuver the complexities of student life leading into adulthood.
Leveraging their proven success in designing and implementing social-emotional and eLearning curriculum, ESOT has partnered with Starr Commonwealth to further enhance Excel U, as well as produce online learning platforms for schools and communities to extend its reach well beyond its current in-person capacity. Development of Starr-produced content will begin immediately.
“Since founding Educated Stars of Tomorrow in 2011, the heart and the drive of the organization has been our flagship ExcelU program for student-athletes, coaches, and mentors,” explained Burton. “My passion resides in reaching aspiring young athletes and walking alongside them as they develop and excel in their sport, in their academics, in their physical and behavioral health, and, ultimately, in their life. For the past year, my organization has found a strategic partner, Starr Commonwealth, whose mission and vision are resoundingly aligned with mine. To partner with an organization who has been helping some of our most vulnerable children flourish since 1913 is a tremendous honor. I’m telling everyone from my school partners in Detroit or Houston, to my college or NBA friends around the country, this program and this partnership with Starr will take ExcelU to the next level. I want every coach, mentor, and student athlete to experience what ExcelU has to offer. I can’t wait to get started!”
“I have cherished the opportunity to become more familiar with Willie and his passionate organization, reaching youth around the country through the importance of academics, athletics, and overall wellbeing,” says Starr President & CEO Elizabeth Carey. “Educated Stars of Tomorrow works to accomplish exactly what Starr strives for as well: creating positive experiences so all children and communities flourish. In that sense, this partnership is not a new relationship, but the coming together of once-unacquainted allies to stand side-by-side for the success for children. We are honored to be selected to help expand the impact of ExcelU. Having witnessed the enthusiasm with which Willie shares his program with friends and colleagues, as well as his caring message he shared with Starr Albion Prep’s basketball team, he is the perfect teammate for Starr to help improve the lives of all children.
[button text=”Learn more on the program page” link=”https://store.starr.org/excel-u/”]
About Educated Stars of Tomorrow
Educated Stars of Tomorrow was founded by Willie Burton, former NBA athlete and graduate of the University of Minnesota, where he played on the Golden Gophers 1989 Sweet Sixteen and 1990 Elite Eight championship Teams. These accomplishments followed his stand out career at St. Martin De Porres high school in Detroit Michigan. Mr. Burton founded Educated Stars of Tomorrow in 2011. Its focus is to support student athletes throughout the range of their athletic careers to achieve their true talents on and off the field.
