[March 03, 2011]

Learn360 Teams up with Major League Baseball Players and Volunteers of America to Offer Exclusive Service-Learning Curriculum

Learn360, an interactive media-on-demand service for K-12 education, announces its partnership with the Major League Baseball Players Trust and Volunteers of America to offer one-of-a-kind, service-learning content across core curriculum areas to strengthen and reinforce connections between service activity topics and core subjects. This partnership expands the Action Team program created by the Players Trust and Volunteers of America into an online environment to enable collaboration between Learn360 participants.

"Our first Action Team was formed with Volunteers of America over nine years ago and has grown to more than 150 schools nationwide," said Melissa Persaud, director of the Players Trust. "Through this exciting partnership with Learn360, we will have the opportunity to reach a significantly greater audience to communicate the benefits of volunteering."

Cold Spring Harbor (NY) High School will launch the first Action Team representing the joint efforts of the partnership. The Action Team will host a kick-off event March 4 at Cold Spring Harbor HS with a screening of award-winning, critically-acclaimed "The Fat Boy Chronicles," a film directed by Jason Winn and based on a book by Diane Lang and Michael Buchanan. The film focuses on bullying, sef esteem and health & wellness by conveying a realistic view of life told through the journal of a bullied teenager.

The partnership's goal is to create lifelong commitment to volunteerism through service-learning opportunities to high school students across North America. These combined efforts will allow youth to learn about the value of volunteering through engaging materials, as well as participate in activities that build a mindset around giving back.

"The importance of volunteering is immeasurable, especially for youth," said Chris Capuano, starting pitcher of the New York Mets and a Major League Baseball Players Trust committee member. "Giving back teaches lifelong skills and builds strong character from the beginning. The Action Team provides kids with another great opportunity to grow and learn that they don't have to be celebrities to make a difference in their communities."

The Learn360 Action Team curriculum provides teachers and students with videos and resources to help service-learning become part of their educational process. "We're aiming to take Learn360 and this partnership to the next level through collaboration capabilities and the enhancement of student learning," said Chris Sanborn, president and COO at Learn360. "Adding online content to the Action Team initiative better meets the needs of today's 21^st century students."

In addition to service-learning opportunities, Action Team schools have access to leadership training with industry experts and MLB (News - Alert) players; scholarship opportunities; turn-key volunteer support materials; reduced-rate subscriptions to The Wall Street Journal Classroom Edition; and monthly conference calls with Action Teams and MLB players.

For more information, visit http://www.learn360.com/actiongroupprelogin.aspx.

To learn more about the partnership, visit www.learn360.com, www.mlbplayers.com or www.VolunteersofAmerica.org.

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