Empowering Youth Through Running: Samantha Choy & Students Run Philly Style

Sneaker Impact News interviews Samantha Choy, marketing and communications manager at Students Run Philly Style (SRPS), a Philadelphia youth mentorship nonprofit pairing grades 6–12 students with volunteer running mentors to train for major races like the Broad Street Run and Philadelphia Marathon Weekend. Choy describes her role managing social media, partnerships, and the Mentoring Milestones newsletter, plus promoting SRPS’s charity runner program, including new Berlin and Dublin Marathon bibs. SRPS, founded in 2004, serves over 1,500 students annually across nearly 60 teams with 400+ mentors and a nine-person staff, using running to build confidence, goal-setting, coping strategies, and active-lifestyle skills. The episode highlights SRPS’s Sneaker Impact partnership via Philadelphia Runner, which since May 2024 collected 442 boxes and recycled 11,247 pairs, diverting about 14,740 pounds and saving an estimated 113.63 tons of CO2. The script also features SRPS’s MUP diversion program with the District Attorney’s Office, where youth complete race milestones (5K, 10-mile qualifier, and a half marathon) to have fees paid, charges dropped, and records expunged, with reported ~95% completion and sustained success.

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Stay Connected/Learn More

https://studentsrunphilly.org

https://www.instagram.com/studentsrunphl

Support: https://studentsrunphilly.org/donate/

Run world major/international marathons with SRPS: https://studentsrunphilly.org/other-ways-to-help/

Transcript

Welcome and Guest Intro

Bryan Huberty 0:06

​Welcome back to Sneaker Impact News Today. My special guest is Samantha Choy. Samantha is the marketing and communications manager at Students Run Philly Style, a Philadelphia based youth mentorship non-profit that pairs middle and high school students with volunteer running mentors training for major races like the Broad Street Run in Philadelphia. Marathon Weekend. SRPS uses running as a tool to build confidence, community and long-term support systems for young people across the city. Samantha oversees storytelling partnerships and event communications, helping bring visibility to both the students and the broader running community that supports them. Samantha, welcome and thank you for joining us today. How are you?

Samantha Choy 0:47

I am great. Thank you so much. I'm happy to be here.

Bryan Huberty 0:50

Awesome. Where are you joining us from today?

Samantha Choy 0:53

Uh, I am in our headquarters, located in Philadelphia, um, in a closet right now. I'm got a busy office today, so had to

Bryan Huberty 1:05

Awesome. Well,

Samantha Choy 1:06

quiet spot.

What Is Students Run Philly

Bryan Huberty 1:08

we're grateful for your time and, uh, what you're up to. We had a call last month with the stakeholders of students run Philly, and it was really cool. So I wanted to have you on the podcast to go deeper. So, let's jump right into it. Can you tell us at a high level about students run Philly style?

Samantha Choy 1:26

Yeah, we're a nonprofit and our mission is to provide youth mentorship to young students in Philadelphia, anywhere from sixth to 12th grade. We do that through running we pair them up with volunteer run leaders and they train for long distance runs, like the Independence Blue Cross broad Street Run, that's a 10 miler and the Philadelphia Marathon. The goal of the program is to complete those long distance races, but what they receive from the program, like the community, the confidence and the resilience to achieve things they never thought that they could. That's the goal and the mission of our program.

Bryan Huberty 2:18

​Yeah, it's so much more than running, but running is what makes it all happen. It's like the glue that.

Samantha Choy 2:23

Yeah, exactly.

Samantha's Role and Outreach

Bryan Huberty 2:24

So, your role is the marketing and communications manager. Can you tell us what you do on a daily basis to help the program?

Samantha Choy 2:35

What do I do on a daily basis? Um, I usually start my day by like looking at what we have on our social media calendar, what we have like planned to post that day. Um, so social media, just like one aspect of my job and a lot of it is like emailing partnerships. Like how, how you and I have been, um, yeah.

Bryan Huberty 3:01

And then you're the communications manager. So are you doing outreach to also the whole Philadelphia community like news and media?

Samantha Choy 3:10

Yeah, we have a monthly newsletter called The Mentoring Milestones that I started putting together last year that kind of, um, gives our community a look. And so what we're doing as an organization outside of the races, some of the things that like our staff, um, participates in, um, like conferences, speaking, engagement events, um, maybe like, uh, grants or like awards that we've received as an organization. So that's one way that I reach out to the community. Um, and I, we've been, we've been doing a lot of outreach as well for. Our charity runner program because we just received, um, some bibs for the Berlin Marathon, Dublin. Um, and we really want to get that message out there and let people know that they could run a world major with students. Run.

Her Background and Path

Bryan Huberty 4:09

Wow. Very cool. Um, I know we're gonna jump into the numbers in a little bit, into how many students do you serve, how many mentors, the numbers are mind blowing, and then even later on we're gonna jump into the Sneaker Impact. Uh, recycling data that I just pulled today, and we were talking about it before the podcast, and, um, it's, it's tremendous. Uh, two years of tremendous, two and a half year or about two years. And, uh, so before we go into that story, that part of the story, um, I wanna ask you about your, uh, evolution and your youth. Where did you grow up and how did that impact your life today? And how did you get into sustainability?

Samantha Choy 4:48

Yeah, I grew up in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Um, and, you know, I went to a, I went to a high school. What about 300 kids per class? Um, I wasn't a very like social, social student. I was very shy. Um, did not enjoy gym class at all. And so, I don't know. I feel like I kind of grew up going through, you know, middle school and high school feeling like I had this chip on my shoulder. But then I went to Temple, um, university, which is in downtown North Philadelphia. Um, and I've kind of been in the city ever since I've was able to find a community there, um, build like long lasting friendships at Temple, and it's like that kind of brought me outta my shell a little bit. Um, and so I. You know, I've always like, wanted my work to contribute to something like better, um, contribute to making the world a better place. And, um,

Bryan Huberty 6:06

Did you go to college for marketing and communications?

Samantha Choy 6:10

I went to, I went to Temple for advertising. Um. So I really like, I, I wanted to go into go to art school, um, but I don't think that I quite had the, like, artistic skills to like actually go through art school. So I

Bryan Huberty 6:27

totally hear you. And you and I both are in the sustainability worlds and in the, uh, social good world,

Samantha Choy 6:33

Yeah. Well, when actually when I applied, um, to Temple, I like didn't know where to apply because like, I'm definitely not applying to Tyler School of Art. So I applied to their media school and I applied as a, a media arts major. I'm like, I don't know what that is, but it has media, it has arts. What I wanted to be was a graphic designer. Um. But, I went for advertising and I pursued their art direction track in advertising, which in my mind I feel like, kind of gave me some of the, the art classes that I might. I might take, like learning how to use Illustrator, Photoshop and all of that. Um, and so after college I held a few in-house marketing jobs as a graphic designer, um, very like corporate organizations. Um, and then it wasn't until I got laid off at this, um, architecture and engineering firm and. I was like, I don't, like I knew I wanted to do something different. I knew I wanted my work to like be impactful and at the time I was like getting into running. I was, um, doing a lot of photography. Um, I was volunteering with Girls on the Run, and so I was doing all of these things outside of work that I was very passionate about. And I was like, I would love for my next role to be that, but I had no idea. I had no idea like what could possibly like, combine all of these things into one. Um, and then, so I saw students run was hiring for an AmeriCorps vista for development and fundraising and I was like, I have never worked for a nonprofit. I have no idea what development and fundraising is, but I went for it anyway. Um.

Bryan Huberty 8:34

Wow.

Samantha Choy 8:35

I was like, this is just like a step in a direction. And so I took it and I feel like it was pretty serendipitous that they were hiring for a marketing manager role. And I ended up applying for it and here I am today. And it really is all of those things that I love in one, like the running, the, working with like.

Bryan Huberty 9:02

It's amazing.

Samantha Choy 9:02

Young kids.

Program History and Scale

Bryan Huberty 9:04

Yeah. It's a tremendous impact you guys are making. It's, we were talking about it, and we're gonna get into the, you know, the touch points, but like, it's, it's impossible to put, um, a number on or just value on the service that students run in Philly style is providing to the community of Philadelphia and to developing generations of people and kids that are learning these great skills through running and through this mentorship program. So let's jump into it. Um, can we talk about the history, achievements and growth? Um, when did students run Philly start, you know, how long has it been operating? How big of a team are you guys, the, the community you serve, you know, some of the numbers.

Samantha Choy 9:48

yeah. Students run Philly style started in 2004. Um, and I think we, we, we started off, um, based off of, um, our like sister organization in Los Angeles. Students run la Um, so yeah, we started here in 2000 and and four. Um, so I think we're just beginning our 22nd year, um, which is wild to think that we're already in 2026. But. Today where we stand is we serve over 1500 students a year. Um, we have over 400 volunteer running mentors, a lot who are teachers, um, which is incredible that they have their day job. And then they also are working on this, working our, um, program

Bryan Huberty 10:46

a cool, I didn't realize that, that there's a lot of teachers. Actually

Samantha Choy 10:50

Yeah. Yeah,

Bryan Huberty 10:51

over 400 running mentors on an annual basis.

Samantha Choy 10:55

yeah. it's, it's, it works. I think it's, it's, yeah, it's because, well, a lot of the running practices that the teams will have, ideally they want to meet at the school after school hours, and it is like difficult to, you know, find volunteers that can like. Make that time work.

Bryan Huberty 11:17

time. Yeah. So the proximity of the teachers is just a natural. Makes sense. I'm a high school running coach. I, I'm the cross country coach for middle and high school kids, so. That I go out there to do that. But if the teachers are there, they actually have a lot of teachers being, um, at, uh, the coaches too. Um, but that's so cool. Um, I had a question about, um, yeah, like how, how else do people get involved besides being a mentor?

Samantha Choy 11:44

Um, well, one way that I was mentioning earlier is through our Charity Runner program. Um. So we have like, uh, three major races throughout the year. We have the Independence Blue Cross, broad Street Run in May. Uh, the Philadelphia Distance run in September, which we're co-owners of, and then Philadelphia Marathon Weekend. Those are the like three main races and we have charity runner bibs available where people in the community supporters can choose to fundraise for our program, um, and then guarantee themselves a bib. And then that comes with, um, some perks as well. Um, like students run swag, um, easy packet pickup. They don't have to like, wait in these tremendously long lines for their packet. Um, and then, yeah, so that's, that's one way we really try to, with our charity runner program, like really foster the relationships that other people that are coming in, like we don't want them to just fundraise for us once and then go, we really wanna make sure that they're like feeling a part of this program. So that's one way. Yeah.

Bryan Huberty 13:02

Yeah. Those are big races, right? I've never done Broad Street, but I've heard of it. But beyond that, the Philadelphia Marathon is a premier event and that is in the spring, so it sounds like, and that's like a 20,000 person ra. These are like 10 to 20,000 person races. Right. That are big. The big premier events in, in Philadelphia. So,

Samantha Choy 13:20

I feel like Broad Street Run is, is seeing numbers like pre pandemic times. Um, so they're getting

Bryan Huberty 13:27

an even bigger one? What's that Distance? 30,000.

Samantha Choy 13:31

is 10 miles and I'm pretty sure there's like 30, 40,000

Bryan Huberty 13:34

Oh, okay. I didn't, I had no idea. I was guessing on Broads Street. I've heard of it.

Samantha Choy 13:38

yeah.

Bryan Huberty 13:39

hear about nationally, like Broad Street, so,

Samantha Choy 13:42

should definitely come to Philly for the Broad Street run. Yeah, it almost notoriously

Bryan Huberty 13:48

one, what time of

Samantha Choy 13:49

that's, that's always the first Sunday in May. It's almost like a thing where it rains every broad street, but like that's part of the experience.

Bryan Huberty 13:59

And when is the marathon Weekend again?

Samantha Choy 14:01

Marathon Weekend is usually around, um, November, like the third weekend in November. Um,

Bryan Huberty 14:10

November. And then the, the distance, the Philadelphia distance is, what was the third part of it? Philadelphia distance

Samantha Choy 14:16

The Philadelphia Distance Run. That's in September. Yeah. Yeah.

Bryan Huberty 14:19

first weekend of September. Like,

Samantha Choy 14:21

September. Actually, also very similarly, the, the, the third weekend in September

Bryan Huberty 14:26

And that's a half marathon, correct?

Samantha Choy 14:28

there's a 5K and a half marathon. Yeah.

Bryan Huberty 14:31

And then Broad Street is, is that 10 K,

Samantha Choy 14:33

Just a 10 mile,

Bryan Huberty 14:35

10 miler. Okay. Wow. So there's a little bit of something for everyone. So, and there are kids that are six to 12th grade that do the marathon,

Samantha Choy 14:43

Um, I

Bryan Huberty 14:44

or do they mainly stick to the half?

Samantha Choy 14:47

there's like an age cutoff. Certainly. I don't think like anyone under 13 can like run, um,

Bryan Huberty 14:54

Oh, that's generous though. Some cities, they say 18.'cause in Miami they used to allow younger kids and now it's like with the signature of a parent, maybe. I mean, that's a whole nother topic, but in general, are most of the kids choosing to do the half marathon or is there a distance that you find they like? Does it depend on the age? Like I know with 1500 kids annually doing this, you probably have kids doing everything, but there's definitely like a high percentage doing something. And I'm curious what you

Samantha Choy 15:24

I would say I would say because of age and um, our eight K is the eight K, so Marathon weekend is an eight k half marathon and a full, um, so our biggest

Bryan Huberty 15:38

is five miles. Yeah.

Samantha Choy 15:39

Yeah. Yeah. Our biggest race is the eight K. We had 745 runners this year.

Bryan Huberty 15:46

wow. Well that makes sense. Yeah.'cause like a middle schooler would see five miles as a great distance challenge.

Samantha Choy 15:51

Yeah. Yeah.

Bryan Huberty 15:53

intimidating, but then when they're in high school, 13 might be more exciting.

Samantha Choy 15:57

which is like in, which is incredible to think about.'cause I didn't, the longest I had ever ran up until 2019 was five miles. I didn't run five miles

Bryan Huberty 16:10

yeah.

Samantha Choy 16:12

like until six years ago. And they're doing it when they're like 13, like in middle school.

Bryan Huberty 16:17

them. It really probably brings out like, can you tell everyone, like. What you see in the kids in their development and even in the mentors. Like what are these characteristics of that you're noticing improving with this program?

Samantha Choy 16:33

Um, I mean,

Bryan Huberty 16:34

life and their, you know, their behavior, their, their attendance at school, their everything, probably their relationship with their families is improving all through physical fitness and mentoring, I mean. Right. And

Samantha Choy 16:47

yeah. Yeah. We, um.

Bryan Huberty 16:48

as a high school coach, I see that.

Samantha Choy 16:51

Right. We do, we have our students fill out like, uh, surveys at the beginning and end of every season to kind of help us measure some of the like social health and like goal setting, um, that our students gain over the course of a season. Um, and about 50% of the students. Say that they've like increased multiple coping strategies through our program. Um, almost 90% of the students say that they like, have the skills they need to lead an active lifestyle beyond our program. Um, it helps our students, um, set goals and maintain their goals. Um.

Bryan Huberty 17:38

Probably structure their time management. As a runner, you have to

Samantha Choy 17:42

Yeah, time management is huge

Bryan Huberty 17:45

management's huge because this is a, a pressure on their daily schedule, discipline, and focus.

Samantha Choy 17:52

and like and confidence as well, because

Bryan Huberty 17:54

Confidence. I was thinking confidence about a minute ago. You providing this structure, but this beautiful sport to them. But it's more than a sport. It's a lifestyle, it's a way of looking at the world. It's a mentality, you know? But anyone can join regardless of their background. Um, and then is there's no cost and you offer it to all the schools in Philadelphia, right. And then you get a wide range of kids from all over Philadelphia that would normally never hang out together, you said? Right. So I thought that was very powerful too. And they see each other. Yeah.

Teams Schools and Training

Samantha Choy 18:29

Um, oh, sure. Yeah, so we, so we're in about like just under like 60 different schools. Most of our teams are. Like school-based, like at schools. Um, but let, let's say like if you, if your high school does not have a team, you can be a part of a team that is like close to, maybe close to where you live or close to where you go to school. So you

Bryan Huberty 18:55

there are teams within students around Philly.

Samantha Choy 18:57

Yes, yes.

Bryan Huberty 18:59

And that's not done by schools. You join a team. Can you explain that?

Samantha Choy 19:03

Yeah. So I mean, there, it's the teams. Are like started by our volunteer mentors and because most of those volunteer mentors are teachers, it just, it happens that like a lot of our teams are at schools. Um, but it doesn't have

Bryan Huberty 19:21

an example of like a, a team that you know of?

Samantha Choy 19:25

Like we have the, the Northeast High School. Um. So that we call that team Northeast. Um, but we have another team called the Attic Youth Center, and that is not a school that is, um, that's a center for L-G-B-T-Q-I-A youth. And we have a running mentor there that works there. And so they created a team there. Um, so it doesn't have to be at a school, but most of them are.

Bryan Huberty 19:52

Organizations, schools, clubs,

Samantha Choy 19:55

Yeah. Yeah.

Bryan Huberty 19:56

but you can join any organization then, or do you have to, I mean, any group like, or you said it was mixing up on the start lines, but are you also mixing up in the journey there from different backgrounds in different neighborhoods, different schools? I found that story really compelling. How, you know,'cause there's different parts of Philadelphia that are like more, you know, that are lower income and higher income and they don't normally hang out.

Samantha Choy 20:20

right. I think most, yeah, I would say like on race day. On race day, especially marathon weekend, um, is where, is where all of these teams come together for the first time. Most of these teams are training in their own neighborhoods, um, with their teams, their mentors. But

Bryan Huberty 20:41

Uh, I see. So it's based on geographic region. So if you live in one part, that's your team and then you see everyone else on the race weekend. Okay.

Samantha Choy 20:49

yeah, yeah. But some teams, they, um. Like in Philadelphia, the Schull River Trail is a very popular, um, it's a very popular running route. So some teams will like, travel to, you know, run that, run that route. Especially on weekends. Especially on weekends.'cause they teams typically practice three times a week, twice during the weekday and once and their long run on the weekends. So on the weekends is where teams can kind of, um. Get out of their neighborhoods. But during the week after school, it just is like more convenient to typically meet.

Bryan Huberty 21:28

so three times a week. And then they train for how many weeks is the program?

Samantha Choy 21:33

Um, I think it's like 12 weeks. I might not

Bryan Huberty 21:37

of training plans are 16 to 20, so Makes sense

Samantha Choy 21:40

Yeah. I, could be I, I might be, I might be gonna, yeah. Well, let's see, for instance, um.

Bryan Huberty 21:46

There's a buildup. Three months is not bad for a five miler. You don't need six months for a five miler, you know?

Samantha Choy 21:52

Right. Well, like, well, we have two different models. We have our school year model, which starts, um, in September, and the school year model, their big race is the marathon. So their training from September to November.

Bryan Huberty 22:08

Okay. A year.

Samantha Choy 22:10

Yeah. Yeah. Well, actually, no, wait, wait. September to. To November. So, um, a few months there, but then there's, yeah, but then there's the marathon model and they train, they train for the marathon. I think I'm beginning this a little mixed up.

Bryan Huberty 22:31

That's okay. No, and the details aren't that important. I mean, actually I have some really, no, don't worry, Samantha. We'll, we'll look more and, and I, I'm just, it was just so powerful the, the meeting we had last month. We're gonna jump into those numbers in a minute, but I, what, you know. What type of achievements has the organization had and been recognized in the community? Um, that I, that was one of my questions. Do you have any achievements you wanna feature or just like milestones? Um, along the way also, how big is the organization in terms of, um, staff, um, and the roles, you know, you have, uh, the volunteers, but then you also have a staff that runs the organization. Can you tell us a little bit more about your team?

Staff Budget and Challenges

Samantha Choy 23:12

Yeah, our staff is about nine people, so it's a pretty small, a small team, and our job is to support all the running leaders, um, that are supporting our students. Um. And making the, like, behind the scenes, um, things happen, getting, getting students to, um, to and from the races and whatnot. Um,

Bryan Huberty 23:43

And you guys have a big operating budget. I remember too, and it's grown, I'm sure, over the years. I'm sure you guys started very modest and it's still modest compared to a lot of these giant nonprofits out there, but you guys are doing amazing work with 1500 kids. This is a multimillion dollar per year operating budget. I'm.

Samantha Choy 24:02

I think just, just above, um, a million,

Bryan Huberty 24:06

what I remember from the call. It was, it was, it was in the mil, I believe it was like 1.5 million. It doesn't really matter the number Exactly. It's always changing because that's how life is. Um, and that's when we get into the numbers, you're gonna see the growth. But, um, what type of specific challenges have you faced in your role there or has the organization faced? Are there any specific challenges? Is there any general challenges? In the model or in the engagement with the community, or has it been so well received that there's been really no challenges, just opportunities for growth.

Samantha Choy 24:38

Um,

Bryan Huberty 24:39

Like in terms of funding, I mean in terms of volunteers, you guys are doing really well it looks like. Has there been challenges or have you just, you know, seen it just take off?

Samantha Choy 24:49

it, well, one thing that, uh, we always say on our team, um, for our, our development team is that the program is a very easy one to sell. You know, we are getting kids into running, um, an active lifestyle. So, but that part, it's, it's not hard to like,

Bryan Huberty 25:08

basically also like, uh, care for them, right?

Samantha Choy 25:11

yeah. Yeah. Um, and, and, and completely free to the

Bryan Huberty 25:15

program, a free afterschool program.

Samantha Choy 25:17

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Bryan Huberty 25:18

that gets them moving.

Samantha Choy 25:21

Yeah. Um, but yeah, like we are growing a lot each year and so I think that there are a lot of like opportunities, um, for our program to adapt, to be able to like handle all of

Bryan Huberty 25:37

up, keep up with the growth that That's a

Samantha Choy 25:39

Yeah. Yeah, Seriously.

Bryan Huberty 25:41

And just managing 1500 kids is a challenge, but I'm sure you guys have. All the, you guys have I met? Um, uh, let's give a shout out to, um, I'm sorry, what's your colleague's name that was on the call that I've been, I'm drawing a blank right now. Danny. Um, yeah, Danny, shout out to Danny. He's Danny Burke, right?

Samantha Choy 26:00

Yes, Danny

Bryan Huberty 26:01

Danny Burke. Yeah. See, I've got that photograph. We've traded a lot of emails over the last two years and with Russ. And then I wanted to jump in. You know, Danny's been helping so much and so thank you Danny. Um, and Samantha, you and I have been corresponding for a couple months and. Um, love the work you're doing. Um, can we jump into the section about Philadelphia Runner? How did you guys get involved with them?

Philly Runner Partnership

Samantha Choy 26:25

Um. Well, Philadelphia Runner, I think like they opened their doors around the same time that students run Philly style started. So yeah,

Bryan Huberty 26:36

And they have five stores, I believe in Philadelphia. Five run specialty stores.

Samantha Choy 26:40

I believe either they're five or four. Yeah. Yeah.

Bryan Huberty 26:44

yeah, again, we have, but, uh, that's incredible. So it started about the same time, and Ross Martinson is the owner. I met him a couple years ago. He is an incredible guy. And he said from the very beginning of the partnership, Brian send all of the, um, uh, you know, the, the collection efforts. They raised funds through that, and all of the money goes to students run Philly From the very beginning, from day one,

Samantha Choy 27:07

yeah.

Bryan Huberty 27:08

I wanna restart my, yeah,

Samantha Choy 27:10

Ross is great. One of our, you know. Biggest supporters.

Bryan Huberty 27:14

Shout out to Ross and

Samantha Choy 27:15

liz Pagon,

Bryan Huberty 27:16

Liz. Pagon. Liz Pagon.

Samantha Choy 27:18

yeah.

Bryan Huberty 27:19

Liz and I, every single month she updates, they update their website every single month on their recycling numbers. On a monthly basis for two years. Every month they haven't missed a month. They ask, I give them the exact numbers. They're the, they're, I mean, it's incredible just how involved they are. That's what I found. We have a couple other organizations that involved on a monthly basis, but they have not missed a month. They update the, the website has a really nice page about the partnership and then talks about students run Philly style and that's where the main collection's happening, but it's also happening at the races. And then does it happen at the schools or at the meetups, or is it more just like, can you tell us a little bit about the Philadelphia Runner and Sneaker Impact before I jump into the data?

Samantha Choy 28:05

Yeah, well I'll say I didn't even quite realize just how many boxes Philadelphia Runner was like sending out monthly, and so that was really cool to see those stats. Um, Yeah. race expos are a very big one. Um, but Sneaker Impact has. You know, like allowed us to, um, you know, make partnerships with small businesses in Philly. And, um, and like corporate companies as well, like our, our corporate partners, we try to do some outreach. Um. We try to do some outreach to some of our partners, encourage them. It's like, Hey, here is a pretty easy lift for you. Um, we can give you boxes, we can give you marketing materials. And so we send that off to and partners, um, to host their own shoe, um, their shoe recycling drive in their own communities. Um, so

Bryan Huberty 29:12

Yeah. Sorry, I had to, uh,

Samantha Choy 29:13

no worries.

Bryan Huberty 29:14

in the background, so to shut a door,

Samantha Choy 29:16

Oh, no worries.

Sneaker Impact Recycling Stats

Bryan Huberty 29:17

that's so cool. So, Philadelphia Runner has been a huge supporter and do you wanna jump in that data or should we, um, talk about anything else first?

Samantha Choy 29:28

Uh, sure. Let's, we, we can jump in, jump into those numbers

Bryan Huberty 29:31

Yeah, from last month, but I updated'em just today. And, um, so the partnership began in May of 2024. Um, so not even two years yet, right? We're coming up on two years, but a little less than two years of total boxes received. Um, this is for all the efforts from the marathons to the, um, stores, um, 442 boxes.

Samantha Choy 29:55

Hmm.

Second Life Shoe Impact

Grinding Into New Products

Diversion Stats and Growth

Bryan Huberty 29:55

Um, the total number of shoes recycled 11,247. So over 11,000, uh, that is 71% good sneakers. So 8,000 of those total, 8,000 good sneakers that are running shoes that will get a second life in places like Haiti, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Guatemala, Chile, south Central America, mainly Espanola, but all over the world. We go to 20 plus countries. Those shoes will live a second life. They will also provide economic. Opportunities in developing communities for people to repair them, clean them and uh, resell them in overseas. So everything leaves the US and it goes to, um, small business partners in developing communities around the world. And these shoes, those 8,000 goods sneakers are ones that will 100% get a second life and maybe a third life. And a lot of'em don't even need repair or cleaning. Some are in great condition and some have a thousand miles on'em and still will live a second life. Because they're living a life in somewhere, you know, where it doesn't have to be for a runner in New York City or Philadelphia. Sorry. And, uh, you know, um, it, it's not for concrete. It could be for someone that's working on a farm. It could be for someone going to school. It could be for someone who needs it to walk to their job. It could be for someone that needs it for daily living to prevent a foot borne illness. And, um, so, you know, 25% of children in the world don't have proper footwear. Um, and 75% of the world depends on the secondhand market. Um, now out of those 11,247 sneakers recycled, um, 10% about, were casual mixed, so those would be non-running shoes that can live a second life, and that's about 1100 and then end of life. 2200, which makes up 19%. Little bit of a high range there, we usually see about 10%. But the total number reflects that you will have a higher number of end of life. The end of life goes into our grinding program to make sandals and yoga mats and flooring and surfaces for parks. And we're currently producing sandals, um, starting this year that we will get into the Philadelphia community. That are post-consumer recycled foam, as well as other building materials we're working on. We have yoga mats in the other room. These are bricks, but we're doing a lot of flooring, a lot of surfaces. Um, we don't really do it all the time, but what we we're gonna do is get into the, the footwear, the circularity of, of creating footwear from end of life footwear, um, yoga mats as well. But the bottom line is it's been a huge amount of recycling and the total. Pounds diverted from the landfill is 15,000, about 14,740. So all time you guys have diverted 15,000 pounds of footwear and you have prevented carbon emissions saved of 113,000 kilograms of CO2 emissions saved estimated, which is 113.63 tons of carbon emissions saved 113 tons. I mean, that's an astronomical number per shoe. It's about 14.5 kilograms for a total of 113,630 kilograms. Again, these are measuring it in tons. Now, um, average yield per box of 26 pairs of shoes, but you'll see 30 to 35 store by store totals, center cities dominating with 310 boxes all time. Center City, as we talked about, is the one in the downtown, right?

Samantha Choy 33:23

Mm-hmm. Yes.

Students Lead Recycling Drives

Bryan Huberty 33:25

they've sent us, um, you know, 310 boxes, which is 70% Main Street and uc, university City have sent us each, um, 75 boxes and 57 boxes respectively. Year summary in 2024, we received 144 total boxes in 20 25, 287. So that's a year over year growth of, um, a 100%. And the interesting, well, there was a little more time in 2025 too, but the, the growth was transparent. I saw it on my end that Philadelphia runner and students run Philly style is one of our top partners in the us. A top three to top three partner for sure in the running industry. Um, which says a lot.'cause we're also in mega spots like New York City, Chicago, and la. Um, but the 2026, we've received 10 boxes already, 230 pairs. 302 pounds through January 13th today. So it's been a tremendous program. Again, 442 boxes and each box is big. Each box will hold 35 pairs, and that's a total of, um, 11,000 plus pairs of shoes that are getting recycled. So that's just one part of the students run Philly. But how, how do you see that data and how do the kids see it? And do they really, are they really excited about recycling? And you know, do you tell them a little bit about the story?

Samantha Choy 34:47

We've actually had a couple of our seniors, um, senior students who are aware of our shoe recycling program and have like, done a, a shoe recycling, um, host their own shoe recycling drive as their senior project. Um, and so seeing these numbers and the growth that you've shown is telling like. Tells me that like the awareness is really getting out there.

Bryan Huberty 35:19

Do you see the boxes? Like at the race? I'm sure. And well, we'd love to get'em to any spot, any of the schools that want'em. We have a school program, so we can talk offline about that. If we wanna go even deeper in terms of like getting some of the schools and teams and some of the captains, we can get them some gear, some shirts. Um, you see we have a lot of these, um, Adidas shirts that we give out to runners at expos. And I've never been to an expo yet in Philly for Sneaker Impact, but we travel the US to help support races. So I'm definitely gonna come up and, and I'm so excited'cause I, I think Philadelphia is just one of those places that is so magical. You know, I live in Miami and I think it's magical here, but Philadelphia, I love the history, I love the vibe. Um, I've had some great experiences there and I'm excited to come back. So a couple of my friends are from there. Yeah.

Samantha Choy 36:05

A very vibrant running community.

Bryan Huberty 36:08

Yeah. Yeah, I have a friend from Philadelphia, one of my best friends moved here from there two or three years ago, and she knows about students around Philly and she said it's an incredible organization in the community that is so like inspirational, um, which is what today is all about, is sharing that story. So, um, I told her I'm interviewing you today and, and she's so excited to hear, hear this, you know, the story told and we're excited to share it. Um, yeah, no. I know. Last month you had, you do like a monthly call, uh, which is like the champions and greet. Is that every month that students run? Philly has a call.

Community Partners Shoutouts

Samantha Choy 36:41

So that was actually one of our corporate partners, Aberdeen. Um, so they

Bryan Huberty 36:48

Oh, you were the feature that month.

Samantha Choy 36:50

yes. Yeah, we both were. Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah, so, um, that is just like one example of how like Sneaker Impact has. like us to create touch points like with our local community and with these corporate partners and like fundraising development, like all this is about like relationship building and like Sneaker Impact, like you are allowing us to do that. So this was, um, a partner who, um, host their own shoe drives. Like we'll give them the Sneaker Impact, um, boxes. We'll give them marketing materials and they'll host their own shoe drive in their corporate office. And so.

Bryan Huberty 37:30

Oh wow.

Samantha Choy 37:31

Um, they wanted to use Sneaker Impact. Students run Philly style as part of their, um, monthly, uh,

Bryan Huberty 37:39

this is Aberdeen and

Samantha Choy 37:40

call.

Bryan Huberty 37:41

That's so cool that they got behind students. So they're one of your partners. And do you have some other, do you have any other partners you wanna give a shout out to?

Samantha Choy 37:48

Oh my gosh. Now every, everyone's blanking. Well, I will say, um, we have, um, F 45, that's a gym down

Bryan Huberty 37:57

Yep, I know. F45. Yep. We work with some F45 fives.

Samantha Choy 38:00

Yeah, yeah. Um, so I used to lead, um, November Project Philadelphia, which I don't

Bryan Huberty 38:07

Okay. Yeah, I've heard of November project. Yeah. Yep.

Samantha Choy 38:10

Yeah, I, I was, um, a co-leader there for two years and that's how I met, um, the current like manager at the F 45 in Center City. His name's Vinny. He is incredible. He's one of our great supporters. Um, so enthusiastic. Um, so I would, I do wanna give a shout to him because like that is a relationship that we've been able to build. They get so many shoes that come through.

Bryan Huberty 38:35

Mm.

Samantha Choy 38:37

and then

Bryan Huberty 38:37

So F 45, which, which one is that?'cause I want to keep an eye. I got my notebook here. I wanna send them a special package thanking

Samantha Choy 38:43

yeah. F 45 Center City.

Bryan Huberty 38:45

Center city. Okay. And it's Vinny

Samantha Choy 38:48

Yes, Vinny.

Bryan Huberty 38:50

Um, great. So any other partners that you wanna shout out? I know there must be a lot from the schools to the amazing mentors to your team. Um.

Samantha Choy 38:59

Yeah, I'll say the Philadelphia Gymnastics Center, they are located in, outside of the city, in the suburb, Conshohocken. Um, they usually host a shoe drive once or twice a year, and they started a week ago and they had like four full trash bags. And so they've, they've been doing a, a great job, so yeah. Yeah.

Races and Charity Bibs

Bryan Huberty 39:25

well we have a couple minutes left. I want to move through a couple quick, um, topics, um, upcoming events and calendar, like now that the new year has started, what's going on in the program and. Are there any needs to get more people involved? And that's the next section too, is how to get involved.

Samantha Choy 39:43

Yeah. Um, well, quarter one is pretty quiet, but we do, um. Towards like March and April, we're being the prep for the Broad Street Run, and that is in May. That is our first like, really big race of the year. So that's coming up. Um,

Bryan Huberty 40:00

Mm-hmm.

Samantha Choy 40:00

and like for, for me and, and my team, what, you know, um, focusing on bringing in charity runners is, um, gonna be a big focus for us, which was, without mentioning earlier, is one way people can really get involved and like, support our organization.

Bryan Huberty 40:19

how do runners get involved then through charity? Would they go on your website or Instagram, or how do you, what's the easy way to get involved?

Samantha Choy 40:27

Yeah. Um, our website, uh, there is a tab, there's like a support tab, and under there is our Charity Runner tab. And then you can see all the races that we have, charity runner bibs available for. Um, so we have, um. I mentioned earlier, we have Berlin, which is our first year, um, first time being, um, having charity bibs for Berlin and an international race for that

Bryan Huberty 40:54

a big deal. Yeah, I've done that one. That's a, I've gone there twice. I love it.

Samantha Choy 40:59

That's in, Yeah, That's incredible. Um, we have three bibs available.

Bryan Huberty 41:04

It's like the experience of a lifetime. You know, it's going to Europe and

Samantha Choy 41:07

Yeah. And, and to have someone, you know. Fundraising for students run and having, having that reach in in Berlin is really cool.

Bryan Huberty 41:16

Wow.

Samantha Choy 41:17

we have 10 bibs for the Dublin marathon. Um, New York Marathon, TBD, how many bibs we'll have. Um,

Bryan Huberty 41:26

well. If you need any help, they are partners with Sneaker Impact. Shout out to New New York Road Runners.

Samantha Choy 41:31

oh yeah.

Bryan Huberty 41:32

I would love to even be a bigger partner of Philadelphia,

Samantha Choy 41:35

yeah, it'd be really cool to like, ha have your team down here for the Philadelphia Marathon. Um, like we

Bryan Huberty 41:40

do it.

Samantha Choy 41:41

collection drives during the expo, and so we will have your boxes out there on the floor so people are, are seeing it.

Bryan Huberty 41:47

Awesome. So next November, I'll put it on the calendar. November. I've always.

Samantha Choy 41:51

that.

Bryan Huberty 41:52

Cool. Um, so people can get involved by going on your website and going to the support page,

Samantha Choy 41:58

Yes. Yes.

How to Follow and Support

Bryan Huberty 41:58

tab, and then can they send you a message on how else can they follow You guys, can you give out

Samantha Choy 42:03

Yeah, we're on Instagram as well. Uh, students run, PHL is our Instagram handle. Um, LinkedIn, Facebook. We have a TikTok. It's like still figuring out how to use TikTok, but we, we do have one.

Bryan Huberty 42:19

Cool. Yeah, I know how important all the media is. Like YouTube is, we're something we're new on. And Spotify now you'll be on Spotify too, you can say now.'cause this interview will be out there

Samantha Choy 42:28

Yeah.

Landfill Problem and Miami Invite

Bryan Huberty 42:29

Spotify. Um, that's incredible. Um, so we'll put all that in the description, but students run, PHL is your Instagram. Okay, awesome.'cause I want everyone to follow you and I've been following you guys. Um, so cool. The partnership, again, shout out to the whole team at Students Run Philly style and Philadelphia Runner because this is a big collaboration between the three of us, and I don't know if it's appropriate for me to say, but in less than two years, I believe it's raised over$20,000 in funds, but I don't have the exact number. But based on the amount of shoes collected, I have an idea. I think we talked about it last month. The number doesn't matter. Again, it's like identifying how many clouds are in the sky or birds in the, or fisher in the ocean. It's like, it's always growing because the program is growing and it's, it's delivering back value because these shoes are getting, creating economic value out of'em. They would normally go to the landfill, and that's another startling statistic is only 13% of shoes are recycled every year in the us. According to recent Google Statistics. So 87% of footwear in the US period goes in the landfill or, or, or ocean or bodies or in the places they shouldn't go. And, um, they need to get a second life, ideally. A lot of people don't get full. So it's a really valuable program. I mean, I'm saying that as like the chief educator for the company, of course, I think it's valuable and I've seen it change lives and, um, I know you have too with what your program is doing. So, um, I'm, and I just think that. People need to know too that, you know, there is a, a donation going to, um, that, that Ross and this, and the Philadelphia runner team said, we are giving this all to student. And I didn't know who you guys were when you said that. And then I looked you guys up and then I met a, a friend from Philadelphia, one of my best friends. And so I just kept hearing about you guys and then we finally got to know each other better in the last year. And now we're working closer than ever. So I'm really excited and we invite you to come down and see the facility in Miami. Um, we have a open door for our partners. Um, just let us know when you're in Miami and we'll take good care of you. Um,

Samantha Choy 44:31

might just have to come down there just for that. I don't live by myself in Florida very often, so.

Bryan Huberty 44:37

if you ever see down here, you seeing is believing and it's, a picture can only describe so much as when you see. The Haitian community we work with here that is helping to repair the shoes in-house from Little Haiti. And it's just incredible. The good that it's doing in the world, environmentally and socially is powerful you know, just like students run Philly, the growth has been tremendous for us in the last five years. Um, and people are really getting involved. So we're trying to change that number, but that's 13% versus 87. That's like you're go, our only competition is the landfill. That's what we, from day one have said. There's other organizations, many organizations doing amazing work similar to ours. Um, I have a quick section for you before we wrap up. What is your favorite running shoe and running route in Philadelphia?

Favorite Shoes Routes and Mindset

Samantha Choy 45:20

I would say my favorite running shoe would be the Brooks Glycerin. I remember. I ha I was like going through a long running rut, and then I got this pair of shoes and I tried it on and I was like, wow, like this feels really good. It kind of like made me fall back in love with running again. Just like the, the feeling of like being on my feet and moving. So,

Bryan Huberty 45:46

A lot of cushioning. I I know that's you. Yeah. They have a max one too, like. Brooks glycerin Max even. Yeah. That's an amazing shoe. I, I love

Samantha Choy 45:52

That will always hold a special place in my heart, like for that reason. Um, and favorite running route, I am like a very simple, like out and back kind of person. I live very close to the Delaware River Trail here in Philly. Um, like a, like

Bryan Huberty 46:10

Is that down, is that in the, the area where they have like a lot of the museums and the historic

Samantha Choy 46:14

no, that's actually more east of the city, like where the.

Bryan Huberty 46:19

You're

Samantha Choy 46:20

Franklin bridges. The

Bryan Huberty 46:21

so you're, you're east of the city.

Samantha Choy 46:23

yeah. Yeah. I'm east and very far south. Um,

Bryan Huberty 46:26

south. Okay. And you like that route over there by your home on the Delaware,

Samantha Choy 46:29

do like it. There are less trees like right across the city is the, is the, is the Chuco River Trail. It's a lot more trees there. A lot more beautiful, but so many more runners and bikers. So I, I like my, my side of the city.

Bryan Huberty 46:46

You like to run by yourself or do you like to run with

Samantha Choy 46:48

Oh yeah. I am a solo runner. Um, I'm also like a back of the pack runner, so I'm like, just like, let me, let me be back here. Let me be quiet. You know? I don't talk on my run, so

Bryan Huberty 47:01

It's, it's a meditative time for you and a time of for you. Yeah. You know?

Samantha Choy 47:05

yeah,

Bryan Huberty 47:05

Some people are social runners. I do a little bit of both. I mainly run by myself, but I also run with groups and friends once in a while. And there's a purpose for both. There's times I wanna just run by myself and just have that time. Um, how about, um, do you have a favorite, uh, quote or, um, book or speaker, like someone that's changed your life that you, or something on a regular basis that gives you that drive to keep doing what you're doing in the world? Amazing. Good.

Samantha Choy 47:33

I think one, I, it's, it's, very simple. I, I used to have this, I lost it, but it was this like little, like metal, like pin. I could stick to my, I could like. Clip to my watch and it, and it just says I get to do this. And that is just a, a nice, very simple reminder that it's like a privilege that I get to be able to run every day. Where I, where, where I get to run. Um, yeah, just like trying to like shift my mentality to running is like, oh, I gotta, I gotta get

Bryan Huberty 48:05

that is a very huge, um, thing to say, you know, to yourself, because I've heard it several times over the years, is like from powerful people that have changed my life is like, you don't have to do this. Oh, I have to go to work. You get to go to work, you get to run, you get to, um, do the things you do in, in the world. These are all opportunities that other people might not have or that, you know, life is short, you know, and life is precious. Don't look at it as, you know. Um, don't make, don't count the days. Make the days count.

Samantha Choy 48:35

I love that.

Bryan Huberty 48:36

that's Mohammed Ali. I see we have that quote downstairs. Um, so, but do you have a favorite Philadelphia hotspot?'cause I got a couple more favorites.

Samantha Choy 48:45

Oh my gosh. Philadelphia hotspot, like food, restaurants.

Bryan Huberty 48:50

yeah. Or a place that you go. Just what's one of your favorite things in Philadelphia?

Samantha Choy 48:55

Um, oh my gosh. Now I'm like, do I, do I ever get out of the city?

Bryan Huberty 49:01

Okay. Maybe it's your home. Are you, uh, are you a homebody cat?

Samantha Choy 49:04

definitely a homebody. I have a cat. His

Bryan Huberty 49:07

Oh, me too. Mozzarella. Amazing. Tell me about mozzarella.

Samantha Choy 49:12

Oh. He is the light of my life. He is, he is just like this adorable little menace. He's three years old and he is obsessed with me and it's, it's my favorite thing.

Bryan Huberty 49:20

Mozzarella. So we have to flash a photo of mozzarella up for everyone at

Samantha Choy 49:24

Oh. Say no more. Say no more.

Bryan Huberty 49:27

I

Samantha Choy 49:27

But I do love. Yeah.

Bryan Huberty 49:29

I have a black cat, a boy that's five. And then I have a torty that's a girl and she's six. I adopted'em both. Um, so

Samantha Choy 49:35

God, they sound

Bryan Huberty 49:35

they're my children. Yeah. But, um, so mozzarella must just be really great to hang around with and, after work, so,

Samantha Choy 49:43

oh, he's so fought.

Bryan Huberty 49:45

3-year-old,

Samantha Choy 49:46

my city. Yeah, I do love my city. I like, I have been on a big like walking streak, so I just, I love walking to work. I love walking wherever I need to go, so like the whole city is kind of my hot spot, I guess. I'm just walking everywhere.

Bryan Huberty 50:04

Okay. Favorite SRP memory.

Samantha Choy 50:08

Favorite SRPS memory. Oh my goodness. I think, like for me, I might have to say like we, we host an annual fundraiser every year, extra mile. And that's gotta be my favorite memory because it,'cause of how it like really brings together the entire community. Not just like our running leaders, but it brings our students in the room, it brings, um. It brings just like supporters of students run Philly style, um, in, in the room, the running community. And it's just like really nice to see it all in one place. And we usually have a student speaker and so it's, um, I love that people get to like, see kind of our program in action and hear it like directly from one of our students. Um, Yeah,

Bryan Huberty 51:08

so that's on an annual basis. You guys do that too?

Samantha Choy 51:11

Yeah. Yeah. Every September. The Friday before Philadelphia distance run, which you should also come down for that too.

Bryan Huberty 51:18

Okay. Yeah, no, I have, I've done it twice, but never with, I am actually gonna do a race in the future. I'm committing to doing a race for students run Philly and fundraising. So I've done about 51 marathons in my life, five won. And I, I'm doing Boston in a couple months, but, um, I, uh, you know, I used to do more, but, uh, I've had a foot injury, but I'm coming back. And, uh, I will run for students run Philly to raise awareness and raise, um, just help the cause and to just

Samantha Choy 51:43

would be incredible.

Bryan Huberty 51:44

of the team. Yeah. And I can choose a Philadelphia race maybe too,'cause I haven't been to Philadelphia, so maybe I could do that, but I, yeah. Uh, so we're running outta time. I think I said that a couple times. You have a three 15, um, appointment, but what, what does a closing thought, uh, Samantha, that you'd like to share with the Sneaker Impact community about yourself and students from Philly and just the conversation today to send us home.

Samantha Choy 52:05

Yeah, I mean, I would just say that, I mean, I, I, I would wanna give a shout out to our students and just how incredibly strong they are to be in middle school, high school, running races, like a 10 miler. Um. A half marathon, a full marathon, and then they like go back to school on Monday. Like nothing. Like they are the most like modest runners I've ever met. Um, and yeah, I

Bryan Huberty 52:37

those kids are, the kids are so inspirational. I bet. I see it as a high school coach too. Their development, their confidence and maturity that they gained through this program is tremendous. And the value it's delivering to the community and the amounts of lives that's changing in ways that we can't even measure. There's no way to measure it all. It's impossible. It's just beautiful and it's happening all the time, just like life. So kudos to you and your team. And the students run Philly style organization. Again, it's a nonprofit that everyone can support. Can you give us your website one more time before?

Samantha Choy 53:10

Our website is students run philly.org.

Bryan Huberty 53:13

Awesome. So we'll get that up there too. And it's just been incredible to have you on Sneaker Impact News, Samantha. So thank you for your time. Say hi to everyone there and uh, thanks again for joining us. Bye.

MUP Diversion Program Stories

SRPS 53:27

Everyone tries their best to fit in. For the longest time I was holding it against myself that I got arrested. I never wanted anything to be on my record, so it was like I, if I got a chance to make it right, I'm gonna do it.

Speaker 8 53:41

Good job. I'm gonna go into high, high knees for, uh, 10 seconds.

Speaker 7 53:45

We're doing three miles today, so we're gonna start here.

SRPS 53:49

We're gonna go to the right. If you have a lot of time on your hands and you don't have that proper guidance, you could be bound to make a mistake. And a lot of our students from the mup program have made mistakes. Students run. Philly Style is a free running program in which we service the youth in Philadelphia. The MUP program specifically, it's a diversion program. It's a partnership with the District Attorney's Office in which all of the students that get referred, instead of them going through the criminal system, they go through our running program. Our running program has certain milestones that students must meet. The first race is typically a 5K race. Once they complete that race, they will get their fees and restitutions paid. The second race is the 10 mile qualifier. They'll get their charges dropped, and then the third milestone. For this season, all of our students are gonna run the Philadelphia half marathon. After they complete that race, they're going to get their record expunged within six months after the program. This is my first race. I'm like excited and nervous at the same time, but I'm mostly excited my first time saying I like this, but I feel calm. I feel, I feel ready to reef. During the time when you run. It is like sometimes you just want to give up, you stop running for a second. One of my coaches, did they be right next to me. They'd be like. Come on. You got it. You got it. Just come on. We got a little bit left. They, they always cheer me on. Help me out. It's a lot of stuff I didn't know I could do. I ain't know I could finish 10 miles, 13 miles. Being around a team, that encourages you a lot.'cause I used to have social anxiety. But now I, I really don't. I learned from them, and so now I teach the ones in the program, like I make sure I do that.

Speaker 8 55:30

We're here to help them and show them that just because you've made one mistake that your life is not over. All we need for you to do is to come. Willing and ready to participate and you will be able to get through this journey.

SRPS 55:44

It was good. I'm feeling good. I, I'm actually pretty surprised when we took little walk breaks and working through it, but I feel good. I like it. Go. Are we, what do we do? Run. How do we do it? Billy style, A peer mentor is someone who went through the program and like had the opportunity to come back and work for the team. Just be there for the students, make sure they do what they gotta do. They kind of look up to me. It's my job to set a good example.

Speaker 8 56:15

If more young people are getting second chances their life, it's going to benefit our future By them coming back to become leaders, to provide insight onto their stories and to just becoming successful citizens in America.

Second Chances Closing

SRPS 56:30

We have a very high completion rate, closer to 95% of students completing the program, and once they complete the program, they stay out of the system. The youth getting a second chance is a beautiful thing, and I would love to see more diversion programs in the city of Philadelphia and throughout the United States. I feel like having charges on my record was my burden. It helped me gain teamwork. It helps with my motivation, my physical strength, if they gave me a job and once the whole thing was finished, I felt like all that was lifted. A lot of people may be lost, and this may be what they need to like find themselves a little more.