When COVID-19 necessitated the quick closure of schools around the country and the pause of many youth sports’ and groups’ programs, the founders of Apex Leadership Co. wasted no time putting their heads together to develop a new way to continue their main mission — to build leaders and help schools and youth organizations raise much-needed funds in a hassle-free way. Apex Virtual was quickly born.
From the onset, Apex Virtual aimed to give school administrations and PTOs the ability to continue with their previously scheduled Apex programming — as well as choices when it comes to their character building and fundraising programs as many schools around the country would be returning in a variety of ways for the 2020-2021 school year. Apex Virtual serves as a highly flexible program that can be amended to meet every school’s individualized needs regardless of whether they are operating in person, online, or working with a hybrid format.
Ultimately, Apex Virtual offers principals, teachers, and parents the opportunity to determine which format works best for their school fundraiser, and most importantly creates the opportunity for fundraisers to continue in the age of COVID-19 — all with safety at the forefront. Apex Virtual also emphasizes social and emotional learning to help students (and adults) comprehend and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions — all lessons that are perhaps more important during these challenging times than ever before.
The program is dedicated to providing daily online leadership lessons, access codes to personal pledge pages for contactless fundraising, a powerful back-end site, Share Wizard, and more. Apex Virtual offers schools and groups the choice to have an Apex team on campus in the traditional format but practicing extra caution with enhanced safety procedures and social distancing, conduct the fitness finale event in-person while utilizing larger spaces and breaking up into smaller groups, or online via video streaming format with supplemental videos featuring the Apex Team. With a variety of options and the ability to customize their own approach to an Apex fundraiser, schools immediately began to benefit from the success of this new format.
Apex Virtual has been highly well-received, with schools around the country reporting that they’ve exceeded their fundraising goals, raised more than anticipated, and most importantly that the students have been very positively impacted by the virtual program’s leadership lessons. Others have touted the flexibility of Apex Virtual, which allows each school to customize its program with elements that are in-classroom, small-group social distanced, or totally online.
One of the most important elements of the feedback received, however, has been the student response. It comes as no surprise to educators, administration, and parents that this has been a very trying time for students as they have been isolated from friends and their usual activities. With the return of Apex, even in a virtual format, students have the opportunity to re-engage and reconnect with friends and other students with the support of the Apex team made of up energetic young people that tend to provide a contagious sense of excitement and positivity.
The impact that Apex Virtual has made in the lives of students since its onset is something that should not be underestimated. Apex Leadership Co. is proud to have positively impacted more than three million students over the years and helped raise $85 million net profit for more than 5,000 schools through a positive (and safe) format. The company aims to continue to engage with schools and other organizations during these times… and well into the future with programs that suit any need and situation. Visit www.apexleadershipco.com/apex-virtual to learn more.
