Jessica's Journey with AdvantageCLE
Meet Jessica Forte! Jessica came to us as a summer camp student at just 11 years old and has grown to be one the Assistant Camp Director for our organization during the summer. Jessica truly embodies the success we hope to see in all of our students. Please read below as she tells us how AdvantageCLE impacted her from a young age and into adult life.
Part One: Growing Up in Camp
1. When did you first get involved with AdvantageCLE? / What programs did you attend as a child?
I became involved with AdvantageCLE Tennis and Education when I was eleven. It was Summer 2012, and my grandmother came across a flier for a summer camp hosted at the Thurgood Marshall Recreation Center. She took me there to sign me up immediately. However, since I was incredibly timid at eleven, I was too shy to attend AdvantageCLE alone. That’s when my grandmother called my friend Kelli’s grandparents and told them about the summer camp at AdvantageCLE so she could attend it with me. We have been involved with AdvantageCLE since!
2. What are some of your favorite memories with AdvantageCLE and growing up in Camp?
AdvantageCLE has been an instrumental part of my summers since age 11, such that there are simply too many memories to share. However, a one of my favorites include:
2012: Ms. Rita in Literacy organized a fashion show and we had a chance to learn more about different countries. I loved learning about the various cultures and countries because it was a subject I did not learn in middle school. That very summer, Jesse in Wellness, organized a field trip where we visited a nursing home in the Hough area and spent time with the elderly. It was my first time “volunteering” somewhere and I was incredibly excited. This same summer, I made some of my closest friends–Teon, Rhamir, Kayla, Kelli, and I–became inseparable. Through AdvatangeCLE I made friends that I saw outside of the program.
3. Did attending camp expose you to different activities and opportunities?
Working at AdvantageCLE has prompted me to self-reflect on the importance of community and education in the lives of marginalized students across the Cleveland area. AdvantageCLE provides students with ample opportunities for personal growth and educational advancement. For example, AdvantageCLE was the first place where I was encouraged to participate in literary writing and express myself through poetry.
Equally, I love that AdvantageCLE pushes kids to practice reading and writing. I think I gained a particular appreciation for this–this past summer, because it was one of the first following my time at Saint Martin de Porres High School where I noticed the widening disparity of low-income students compared to their wealthier counterparts and their ability to read and articulate their thoughts on paper post-COVID. Though we encountered pushback from students on participating in STEM or appreciating the opportunity that our Literacy component offers, I am glad we continued to move forward and brainstorm strategies to engage students because it is a critical issue that I believe separates our kids from others in more affluent communities.
4. How do you think AdvantageCLE/camp influenced your interest in tennis and sports in general?
If I am honest, very little. Though AdvantageCLE does an excellent job at recruiting tennis coaches who are patient with our campers and are thorough in teaching techniques, I have two left feet. Therefore, I would not consider myself the best at tennis or any sport for that matter.
However, the Fitness component at AdvantageCLE was pivotal in weight loss as a child. When I first attended AdvantageCLE I was chubby and lacked confidence to participate in activities involving running. Mr. Charles and his sons’ workouts and daily encouragement changed how I perceived myself and my ability to exercise and participate in different games. I remember returning to school in my eighth-grade year, and everybody was surprised at my weight loss because I had actively participated in Fitness the previous summer. When camp ended, I kept in mind the lessons I learned in Wellness and workout routines from Fitness to maintain my weight loss and encourage my mom to cook healthier meals.
5. What life skills did you learn at AdvantageCLE that have been valuable in your life as you’ve grown?
I have learned an immense number of skills from working at AdvangatageCLE that have been valuable in my life as I have grown. For instance, since age 14, I have worked in AdvantageCle’s administrative office, where I have adopted different strategies and organizational skills to help our summer camp run smoothly. I have transferred such skills in various environments, such as at Saint Martin de Porres High School as a Student Success Coach and now as a 1L at Boston College Law School.
6. How important was the community aspect of the camp in shaping your success?
AdvantageCLE, specifically Ms. Liz has had a strong impact in shaping my success. I will forever be grateful for Ms. Liz’s willingness to write me a glowing letter of recommendation for law school. Throughout the process, she was incredibly helpful and always interested in hearing about my progress, school decisions, and future aspirations.
7. How do you think your life would be different if you hadn’t attended AdvantageCLE summer camp?
If I had not attended AdvantageCLE summer camp, I am confident I would have not met such amazing friends and created great connections with individuals like Ms. Fiero, Ms. Liz, Ms. Rita, or Jenna. I have loved spending my years at AdvantageCLE because it has greatly shaped how I identify community and what I look for in one when preparing to navigate a new environment.
Part Two: Now and Into the Future
8. What is your favorite part about being a camp staff member now?
My favorite part about being a staff member now is interacting with parents and seeing our new and returning campers each year. Since I don’t work directly with our campers in each component, I enjoy getting to know them during breakfast, lunch, and dismissal. I consider when the kids learn my name and become excited to see me each day the best part of my summers at AdvantageCLE.
9. Please share some of your proudest accomplishments (can be from high school, college, current, etc.
A few of my proudest accomplishments are:
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Graduating from Georgetown University where I studied Sociology and double minored in Psychology and Women and Gender Studies.
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Working as a student success coach at my alma mater, Saint Martin de Porres High School, and seeing Saint Martin and AdvantageCLE work together to offer kids an opportunity to learn tennis and advance their education.
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Currently attending Boston College Law School as a 1L.
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Being a 1L Representative for First Generation Professionals
11. What are your future aspirations, both personally and professionally?
I hope to practice law in Boston, MA, or Chicago, IL once I grade from BC Law in a mid- to large-size firm and specialize in real estate law or mergers and acquisitions.
A huge thank you to Jessica for sharing her story with us! Interested in inspiring other students like Jessica? Donate to AdvantageCLE today!
AdvantageCLE Launches Middle School Club Team
Dear Friends,
The idea to create a Middle School Club Team was born last year when Advantage Cleveland Tennis and Education (AdvantageCLE) secured funding from USTA Midwest and USTA Foundation to ensure that our after-school students would have the ability to play on “real” courts this year after years of playing in their school gym on mini-nets.
Through a partnership with Cleveland State (CSU) Coach Brian Etzkin and his Division 1 Men's Team, our Cleveland Metropolitan School (CMSD) partner school Mary B. Martin Elementary, and the Say Yes to Education program, we were able to secure transportation and a one-hour per-week court time. We hired Coach Jeff Williams to teach our beginners, and recruited additional volunteers including board members and even special guest USTA Northeastern Ohio Executive Director Michael Kramer.
On day one, we started with only four of our middle school students. Coach Etzkin and six of his Division 1 Men’s Team players joined us to coach the students. At that moment, we knew that we had to spread the resources to reach more middle schoolers. We started to visit each of the Hough area schools, discussing the opportunities that tennis could provide students by the time they got to high school. Soon, we had more students trying the Monday clinics, and by the end of December, the CSU courts were full.
Coach Etzkin said, “Working with Advantage Cleveland and their middle school program has been a great way to give back to the community. I think there has been a lot of learning on both sides of the net. The middle schoolers are getting to learn a new skill on the Cleveland State University campus. The CSU Tennis student-athletes get to be role-models and teachers for kids who haven't had the opportunity to play tennis before. It's been a very rewarding experience for me and the team and we are just getting started!"
On April 17th, we plan to have our first Middle School Club Team Challenge. At this event, students will compete in a skills challenge for their school, and local high school coaches can visit to learn more about our pilot program and connect with students. More importantly, we hope to show administrators that we intend to grow this program to give more students the opportunity to learn the sport. These opportunities elevate a student’s options to play and compete at the high school level. Already, we know we have already doubled the number of students who were playing tennis in the Cleveland schools.
In the Cleveland Metropolitan District, which is comprised of approximately 35,000 students, there are fewer than 50 playing the sport of tennis at the high school level. We discovered that there are only five girls’ teams and six boys’ teams across the city. After interviewing the high school coaches, they told us that many of their players are only learning how to play when they get to high school, and coaches are recruiting students out of their classrooms to try the sport. Often, high school coaches are teaching new players, so the students rarely achieve high-performance levels of play. It is clear that the opportunities for scholarships or college level spots may not be available to these players, since a pathway to learn the sport with middle school teams does not readily exist.
But we can change that.
Not only are we seeing a difference in the few months that we have been working with the students, but now we can create a plan to grow this pilot program into an intramural sport across different neighborhoods. The problem is that there are just not enough indoor courts available.
So we need to dream big. We need to imagine a future where we have our own space and bring students to us. We need to think about a future in which players have more than one hour of coaching available to them, so that we can create a pathway to high-performance tennis in which colleges may look at players for scholarship opportunities. And we need to dream of a time when we might have the space to offer academic support in the after-school hours in addition to coaching them.
Other cities and organizations have been able to achieve this. Cleveland’s tennis community can come together and make this happen. We could be at the beginning of something great. We have already doubled the number of students playing tennis in the city schools in a few short months. What can we do in the next few years if we dream and then work together?
We look forward to what we can do with this program next year and in the years to come.
Thanks for being our partners in transforming the game in Cleveland.
Stay tuned for more!
All my best,
Liz
Liz Deegan
Executive Director
#MoreThanACamp
Check out these videos that were used to promote AdvantageCLE during last year's Tennis in the Land!
Video Credit to Josh Hsia
2022 Pro-Am Highlights
Video Credit to Josh Hsia
Check Out This WKYC Cleveland Feature About Our Summer Camp!
WKYC Cleveland featured Advantage CLE in the news!
We've been named NJTL of the YEAR by Racquet Sports Industry Magazine. What an honor! Check out our magazine feature here.
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We would like to thank US Bank and TCF bank for the generous donation from the Aces Challenge during the 2021 Cleveland Challenger. For every ace delivered by players throughout the week, AdvantageCLE received $10, and the banks generously rounded up to give us a total of $5,000 during this challenge! We were thrilled to once again be the beneficiaries of the Cleveland Open, hosted by Top Notch Management. It was an amazing event— a big thank you to the sponsors who ensure that AdvantageCLE kids benefit from this event each year! ❤️🎾
A big shoutout to Racquet Sports Industry Magazine for featuring us in their May 2021 edition! Click here to read the article.
