This Academy is Full Rising Stars

MORENO VALLEY >> Rising Stars Business Academy (RSBA) celebrated a fresh start with its re-launch luncheon, held May 3 at it's Moreno Valley location in Canyon Springs Plaza. The hour-and-a-half long event featured a tour throughout the school, a full-course meal, speakers and presentations, and a raffle that gave guests the opportunity to donate money to the school’s cause, which is giving students a second chance. Guests from around the Inland Empire came to celebrate the school’s big day, including representatives from businesses that sponsored the event like Wells Fargo, Paul Herrera Consulting and Moreno Valley Furniture, which donated an armchair as the prize for the raffle. City officials and long-time supporters of RSBA’s mission also attended the special event, including Mayor Pro Tem Jeffrey Giba, councilmembers Jesse Molina and LaDonna Jempson and Doug Shepherd, 2016 candidate for the 41st Congressional District. “Our students are going on to college, they’re going to the military, they’re going to vocational schools,” said Alicia Berridge, founder and executive director of RSBA. “I know we can support everywhere, but let’s also support right here in Moreno Valley, where you can stop by any time. You can see the students, you can see our stuff, you can see our teachers.” Berridge first began the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in 1999 in View Park, California, though it was then known as Rising Stars Academy and only offered etiquette classes to youth, ages 7 to 17. Berridge said she had always worked with youth, even as a police officer for eight years with the Los Angeles Police Department, but when she came east and settled in Moreno Valley, she realized there was a different type of need. “When I came here and found out there were a lot of students that needed our type of service, it was only obvious that I found my calling,” she said. “I needed to go and start working with the older youths.” In 2010, RSBA became affiliated with YouthBuild USA through YouthBuild Charter School of California, founded by Phil Matero. “He believed in me because when I first met him, he didn’t know me from Adam, but he believed in what I said I wanted to do,” Berridge said. Together, RSBA YouthBuild is helping credit-deficient students, ages 16 to 24, in its Moreno Valley and Desert Hot Springs locations. YouthBuild provides WASC accreditation to help the students get their high school diplomas, while RSBA partners with programs to educate students with vocational, technology, college preparation, construction, and science classes, to name a few. “What we really are looking for is to unleash the energy of youth to be leaders in their communities and take on social justice issues and make the community a better place to live and a better place for themselves,” Matero said. “In the process, what happens is the youth themselves are transformed.” In the past year, Berridge said the school tried a different method of teaching through an online program. They are returning to a more classroom, project-based system, however, this August with the start of the next school year, which is what the re-launch celebrated. “They really enjoy being here,” Berridge said. “Our students like to be here every day.” RSBA, which currently serves more than 140 students at its two different locations, partners with Ambassadors of Compassion, Inspire Charter Schools, and Wells Fargo, to name a few, but will be starting a few new partnerships in the fall to enrich students’ learning experiences. Through Peace in the Streets, media students will be able to start a radio broadcast class. “By the time they graduate, we’ll have some stuff for their actual resumes, depending on what they want to get into, whether it’s screenwriting or whatever,” said Marco Flores, media instructor. “We’re kind of trying to dispel the myth that you have to be a rapper or an actor to get paid in entertainment.” A new graphic design department, headed by Raul Sanchez, graphic design instructor and construction project manager, will help students make business cards, trophies and plaques. Berridge said they will try a pilot program through Moreno Valley College, where students will be able to take college classes and maybe even elective courses through RSBA to help fulfill diploma requirements. A real estate division will open with the help of Paco The Realtor, where students will learn investing and real estate. Berridge said the hope is that by the end of the trimester, students who take it seriously will be able to go for their real estate licenses. Vocational classes will be offered through a partnership with Glen Oaks College, which has been a partner with RSBA and has offered scholarships to students interested in going into the medical field. Through the help of Glen Oaks College founder Dr. Saied Jacob, an instructor will be offering a medical class at RSBA for students interested in becoming pharmacist technicians, medical assistants, certified nursing assistants, and nurse’s aides. A hip hop class will also be added to the class schedule in the fall. “We truly have the best interests of the young people that we serve,” Berridge said, acknowledging RSBA, YouthBuild and the sponsors present at the event. During the re-launch luncheon, RSBA received certificates of recognition for it's contribution to the youth in the community from the office's of County Board of Supervisor Marion Ashley and Councilmember Dr. Yxstian Gutierrez. “You make them so successful and to have this program means so much,” said Amber Smalley, board assistant, who helped Jaime Hurtado, chief of staff, present the county supervisor’s certificate. “You can tell that you guys are really and truly dedicated to improving them and their lives.” At the end of the day, student Krystal Ramirez summed up RSBA’s mission and the contribution to her and other students’ lives with three words. “It’s respect, integrity, and family.” To find out more about what RSBA does in the community, visit their website at www.rsbacademy.org. A full list of sponsors recognized at the event: •Wells Fargo •Pacific Western Bank •ARYA Technology •Riverside County District Attorney’s Office •Highland Fairview •YouthBuild USA/Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency •The Cupcake & Espresso Bar •Inland Valley Association of Realtors (IVAR) •Pro Image •Paul Herrera Consulting •Shepherd Realty Group •Paco The Realtor and RX Realty •Moreno Valley Furniture •Riverside Sheriffs’ Association