When Josh Freeman was still in grade school in the Kansas City area, he developed "The Plan" for himself. Freeman was a motivated student and athlete, and "The Plan" was a list of goals for the future that would help guide him to success on and off the football field.
Now Freeman wants to help students in the Bay area come up with "The Plan" for themselves.
Freeman, now the quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, continues to work toward new goals and objectives every day, of course. One of his latest objectives is to inspire local elementary school students to formulate their own designs to achieve success. To that end, Freeman has brought back "The Plan," and now it's an engaging video that challenges local students to create their own plans for future achievement.
Freeman's video was distributed in late September to over 20,000 students in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.
"Ever since I was younger, I knew what I wanted to do when I grew up," said Freeman. "I wrote down all of the steps that it would take to reach each goal on the way to becoming an NFL quarterback. I still have a lot of work to do every day, and I'm always setting new goals and making a plan to achieve them. Whether students want to be a firefighter, a teacher, a doctor or a quarterback, this will hopefully be a good step to help them achieve their goals, too."
This month, fourth grade students from 234 schools in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties have entered a contest based off of a two-page, FCAT 2.0-style (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test® 2.0) written essay designed by their teachers. The exercise prepares students for the FCAT 2.0-required essay with a focused objective: inspiring students to create goals for the future. The FCAT 2.0 measures student achievement of the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards and is part of Florida's overall plan to increase student achievement by implementing higher standards in schools.
Each of the more than 1,000 fourth-grade teachers in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties are submitting the best essay from their class to their assistant principal on October 19, and local county school district officials will then select the best submissions from each school. These submissions will be provided to the Buccaneers for review on November 2.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers officials, including Freeman, will select the 50 best student "Plans" from each county. Those chosen will then be invited to attend the Buccaneers' November 25 game against the Atlanta Falcons as Freeman's gameday guests. Participating schools will also be entered into a drawing to win a visit from Freeman at the end of the season to celebrate the school's efforts toward goal-oriented student achievement.
To learn more about how the Buccaneers give back to the community, click here.
