ABOUT SCHOLARS LABORATORY

We are a human development organization that specializes in enriching the lives of the youth.

SL (Scholars Laboratory) is a residential home that helps academically capable, motivated but underserved youth to reach their full potential in two ways.

By offering tutoring, mentoring, enrichment and scholarships to youth in K5-12th grade, trade school and two and four year college degree programs. It also provides these same services to non-residential scholars and its mantra is “Educate: 24/7/365”.

By placing the student in the Driver’s Seat of Learning by teaching the power of relentless curiosity, exploration, discovery, investigation and having fun through the use of maker-spaces, intergenerational dialogue with community leaders, gateway and in depth STEM activities, community service and field trips.

Core Values

LOVE

SL is committed to the most fundamental of all values: “LOVE” that actively promotes equity and social justice. The tenants of that love include sacrifice, perseverance, character, hope in our daily hard work on behalf of “self and others”. 

MUTUALITY: COLLECTIVE IMPACT

We co-create systems and infrastructure for greater collective impact on large scale societal problems and model shared responsibility for our mutual success. We seek perfection of character with integrity and sincerity. We nurture creativity and innovation through ongoing learning and respect for different life narratives and experiences.

EDUCATE: 24/7/365

We promote education through experience and exposure in life, work and play 24/7/365. The tenants of that education include: Reading, Writing, STEM, Respect, and Responsibility and a Moral Compass. We embrace diversity of learning styles and guide our public squares with respect to diverse life experiences.

HUMAN DIGNITY

We respect the absolute value and worth of each person and take responsibility for ourselves and share responsibility for the well-being of others.

SOCIAL JUSTICE

We pursue inclusive, collaborative co-creation of social systems and infrastructure to promote:

•   Strength and asset based narratives for underserved (Black, Latino, Women, Native American, Poor) populations.

•   Fair and equitable distribution of power and resources

•   Transparent decision making processes

•   Meaningful opportunities for people to participate in the decisions that affect their lives

•   Fair balance of the protection of rights for individuals with the rights of groups.

•   Deepening cultural competence and the capacity to understand diverse people and groups

•   Empowering marginalized groups and communities to speak and act on their own behalf

ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP

•   We demonstrate respect for all living things and act as stewards of the resources to which we have access and over which we have influence

•   We practice mindful consumption, using the fewest resources possible to accomplish our work

•   We protect, conserve, reuse, and recycle resources

•   We consider the long, as well as short-term implications of their actions for our shared natural environment

•   We create, preserve and enhance outdoor space.

OBJECTIVES

  • Teach and empower youth with the social, emotional, academic, ethical, and economic skills to build quality lives for themselves and their communities.
  • Guide Vision and Strategy; Support Aligned Activity; Establish Shared Measurement Practices; Build Public Will; Advance Policy; Mobilize Funding
  • Be the backbone of the collective impact group that will serve as a pipeline that nurtures human potential/well-being, increases people’s choices to lead a long, healthy lives, decreases their vulnerability and increases resilience.
  • Educate national, regional, and local agencies about the assets of our collective infrastructure.
  • Mobilize Funding
  • Promote human development from the cradle to occupation

HISTORY

  • In January 2017, the board of Boys Hope Girls Hope of Baton Rouge (BHGH-BR) voted to emancipate itself as an affiliate of the parent group called Boys Hope Girls Hope International. The board concluded this emancipation was essential to address the unique holistic educational and workforce development needs of youth in Louisiana and the southeast. Consequently, the new “bookend organization” called South States Scholars and Scholars Laboratory (S3SL) was born.

  • SL’s start dates back to 1996 when it opened its doors as Boys Hope Girls Hope of Baton Rouge as an affiliate of Boys Hope Girls Hope International.  At that time, BHGH-BR had a capacity for servicing eight (8) youth in a residential program. Under the “transformative leadership” of John G. Daniel, between 2013-16, BHGH-BR expanded its service to 29 students: 5 boys (2 freshmen, one sophomore, 1 junior and 1 senior) in residence, four college students (1 senior, 1 junior, 1 sophomore and 1 freshmen) and 20 non-residential scholars in an innovative Road To Excellence (R2E) community-based initiative, which was piloted successfully during the 2014-15 school year.

  • The non-residential R2E program was designed to reach greater numbers of youth in-need. This innovative “new business model” quadrupled our outreach, cut expenses in half, and enhanced program quality. In addition to tutoring for specific academic courses and challenges, each R2E and residential student were able to take advantage of mentoring, community involvement and soft skills training. Each student received counseling to prepare him/her for the next academic step, such as moving from middle school to high school.  In addition, high school students obtained assistance in choosing a college, mastered a college prep curriculum, completed standardized tests such as the ACT, and applied for financial aid and scholarships. BHGH-BR, now SL, conducted short-term and long-term performance reviews with each student, recording progress and providing individual improvement plans to address any difficulties.


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