Forbes Features State Farm CEO Ed Rust

Highlight’s State Farm’s 26 Seconds campaign to keep kids in school

Washington, DC (April 13, 2011) —Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) member Ed Rust, chairman and CEO of State Farm, was interviewed and featured in Forbes regarding the 26 Seconds campaign launched by State Farm in partnership with America’s Promise to engage young people in helping raise awareness of the startling statistic that every 26 seconds, a young person drops out of school before graduation.  Click here to read the interview.

The campaign, launched March 21, uses interests, such as music, sports and video, to engage those who can most directly affect change – young people themselves. It provides an online venue for youth to express feelings on the issue and creatively share thoughts and talents—encouraging them and their peers to make graduation a priority so they become more than a statistic.  The program’s tagline, “BMOR,” underscores this call to action. The goal is to help increase the high school graduation rate to 90 percent by 2020.

“Kids most at risk of dropping out don’t have a lock on how important education is to their future. They don’t understand how a high school dropout is eight times more likely to be incarcerated than a high school grad, and three times more likely to be unemployed than a college grad,” said Rust. “But there’s a multitude of problems involving the economy and our overall society—kids with grown-up responsibilities, frequent moves, homelessness. Parents who don’t speak English have a hard time getting involved in their kids’ education. And, frankly, our society sends a lot of conflicting messages about values and the importance of schools.”

NBA player LeBron James, as well as Alma and Colin Powell with America’s Promise Alliance, are highly involved spokespeople for the campaign.

“We’re committed to helping implement newly reauthorized federal education legislation, to helping sustain the momentum behind the Common Core Standards effort to assure that every state holds students accountable for competitive standards of learning,” added Rust. “We have a strong focus on youth leadership. With efforts like the State Farm Youth Advisory Board, we bring young people into the national conversation about education reform.”

“BHEF congratulates Ed and State Farm for this much-needed campaign to keep kids in school. Programs such as this one go hand in hand with BHEF efforts to make sure that kids graduate high school and are college ready so that they are able to obtain a degree and enter the workforce prepared,” says BHEF Executive Director Brian K. Fitzgerald.