Eve Samples: Tiger Woods proves true to his word with Martin County learning center - Jupiter Courier
"Kids are so much more fun to talk to than anybody else. They always have been, they always will be."
That was Tiger Woods last October, at the opening of his namesake learning center at a charter school in Washington, D.C.
At the time, he was less than a year into in a public sex scandal that cost him lucrative sponsorships, made him a target of tabloids and led to his divorce.
It's easy to see why he would enjoy an audience of smiling children.
Woods talked about his legacy at the feel-good event about how he wanted it to be about more than hitting a golf ball. He told students and reporters he wanted to replicate the Tiger Woods Learning Center in other cities and, perhaps, other countries, The Associated Press reported.
It must have been tempting to dismiss his pledge as lip service from a beleaguered celebrity athlete seeking to boost his public image.
Yet Woods proved true to his word recently, when his foundation unveiled plans to create a Tiger Woods Learning Center in Martin County, where he recently finished building a $50 million home on Jupiter Island.
"We felt it was important to bring our programs to the areas where we operate. With Tiger being based in the region, we were lucky to find a great partner with Murray Middle School," foundation President and CEO Greg McLaughlin told me.
The Tiger Woods Foundation has been working with the Martin County School District since last fall to develop an after-school education program at Murray. McLaughlin said the school south of Stuart was a good choice because of its diverse student population.
Eventually, all of the 750 to 800 students there will be offered the chance to participate at the learning center, McLaughlin said.
The foundation plans to invest $150,000 to get the local Tiger Woods Learning Center up and running, and the investment is likely to expand from there, McLaughlin said. The school district will not be responsible for any of the costs.
The Irvine-Calif.-based Tiger Woods Foundation initially focused on youth golf after it was founded in 1996. Woods changed its direction after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"I was driving by myself, and I just felt that if I was the one in one of those buildings or on one of the planes, what would be left behind?" he said at last year's opening of the Washington, D.C. learning center. "And I basically thought I hadn't done anything. Yeah, I can hit a golf ball wherever it may be, but that's entertainment. I hadn't done anything impacting."
The learning centers were his answer to that. The flagship Tiger Woods Learning Center is a 35,000-square-foot facility in Anaheim, Calif., that has served more than 20,000 students. It emphasizes hands-on instruction that helps students plot their path to college and specific careers.
"It's a very transformative age, when you want to try to teach kids about opportunities beyond high school," McLaughlin said.
The foundation intends to train teachers and buy computers for the Murray Middle School project, which initially will focus on forensic science. One of the first lessons will focus on fingerprinting. The foundation will expand to oceanography, alternative energy and other realms of science in the next two to three years, according to draft plans for the center.
A similar Tiger Woods Learning Center is scheduled to open in Philadelphia this fall.
Woods has hardly escaped the shadow of his career-changing scandal but with every learning center his foundation opens, there's reason for a headline that has nothing to do with that part of his past.
Golf enthusiasts might argue that nothing can save Tiger's image except the recovery of his golf game.
I think investing in education can rebuild a reputation, too.
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