June’s Positively JAX winner has one goal: To teach students to know and embrace that they are Smart, Talented And Resilient -- or STARs. Betty Burney started the I’m A Star Foundation in 2010.
“I literally just had planned to do that as a one-parent workshop and maybe meet with kids for six weeks, but they never left,” Burney said.
Six weeks became 13 years and workshops multiplied into student-led service-learning projects, focusing on three core issues: childhood obesity, food deserts and student homelessness.
I’m A Star Foundation also provides support and resources for many existing community programs. This summer, it’s running a free summer camp for students in Northwest Jacksonville at the Teen Development Center. Burney and the staff teach students to dream big through positive affirmations like saying, “Take it to the turquoise.”
“The turquoise is the farthest thing that you see in the water. That’s where we want them to go -- as far as their eyes could see. So when we say ‘take it to the turquoise,’ they know it’s going to be excellent. They’re going to run faster, jump higher, do whatever it takes and then we tell them what a great job they did,” Burney said.
Burney is deeply connected to the students as a former Duval County School Board two-term president and two-term vice president. She’s a product of William M. Raines High School. Burney said her principal at the time was one of many people who set the stage for her success.
“Dr. Ezekiel Bryant, back in the early 70s, would get on the PA system and say, ‘Good morning. You are Ichabod, No. 1. Never accept being No. 2.’ So that’s one principle that guides me. I don’t know anything else but being No. 1 if I’m going to be involved in it,” Burney said.
I’m A Star Foundation has earned its place in the sky, shining a Positively JAX light in our city.