Joel Penton, Lifewise Academy

LifeWise Academy was founded in 2018 with a mission to reach public school students. The creation of LifeWise was inspired by a released time program in Van Wert, OH, which boasts a 95% participation rate among public elementary school students. Since its start in the fall of 2019. LifeWise Academy now serves more than five dozen school districts including some in STARLand. LifeWise is complementary to existing before- and after-school programs. The primary distinctive feature of LifeWise is that it operates during the school day, thereby engaging the students who are most unlikely to attend before- and after-school programs due to transportation, extracurricular and other issues.