The Pinnacle of Education

The Youth & Education Team at the Pro Football Hall of Fame creates and shares programs each year that "Celebrate Excellence Everywhere."

And in reflecting that core pillar of the Hall's Mission, the team has achieved its own level of excellence – receiving a CILC Pinnacle Award for the 11th time in 13 years.

The CILC Pinnacle Award is given to content providers for their “Programs of Distinction” and for ratings provided by educators/activity directors. The CILC's executive director, Glenn Morris, describes the Pinnacle Award as “representing a consistent recognition by the CILC community for engaging learners across the globe.”

“We are honored to receive this distinguished Pinnacle Award along with other amazing cultural institutions from across the globe,” said Jerry Csaki, the Hall’s Director of Youth & Education. “The CILC has been an amazing asset to 501(c)(3) organizations like the Hall of Fame and to teachers around the world.”

The Youth & Education Team strives to do just that by empowering youth around the world through programs that inspire and encourage them to live a "hall of fame life" on and off the field. Extreme Networks supports the Hall in fulfilling this goal.

“We value our partnership with Extreme Networks because we are like-minded organizations committed to education,” shared Nathan Martin, the Hall’s Youth & Education Coordinator. “Because of the generosity of Extreme Networks, we have expanded the reach and impact of our programming in tremendous ways, and we are able to offer all of our video conferencing and Heart of a Hall of Famer programs to students from across the country at no cost to the schools.”

Through video conferencing, the Hall connects with classrooms across the country to discuss with students such topics as Movement and Motion, Careers in the NFL and Women in Football, just to name a few.

The Heart of a Hall of Famer program powered by Extreme Networks provides students the opportunity to learn first-hand what it took beyond athletic ability for legendary Hall of Famers to achieve success on and off the football field.

“These programs give students the chance to see how much education is integrated with the game of football. Additionally, it’s a great honor to connect students with Hall of Famers such as Jim Brown, Emmitt Smith and Jerry Rice. Guys who were able to not only become great football players, but more importantly, were able to take those same lessons they learned in the game to become Hall of Famers off the field as well,” said Jake Ray, the Hall’s Youth & Education Manager.

The Youth & Education Team is always working to create new programs and reach more youth. Programming such as Before the Snap, which will allow students to connect into sports industry experts, and virtual scavenger hunts are two of a number of programs launching this fall.

Find out more about the Hall of Fame’s Youth & Education programs at www.profootballhof.com/connect/youth-education/