Centers of Excellence

Established in 1984 to identify and motivate underserved elementary and secondary students and ultimately increase the pool of these students prepared and qualified to enter college. Ten Centers throughout Florida have inducted more than 19,000 high achieving students into the National Achievers Society. More than 16,000 students have participated in the Annual Brain Bowl Scholarship Competitions.

The Centers of Excellence (COE's or Centers) are community-based initiatives whose mission is to identify and motivate underserved elementary and secondary students to pursue higher education. The Centers' mission includes: a) assuming a more proactive stance in the education of youth; b) employing the development of a group achievement model for underserved elementary and secondary students; and, c) increasing the pool of students who are prepared, motivated and qualified to enter higher education.

Ten Centers operate throughout the State of Florida, in Dade City, Ft. Lauderdale, Gainesville, Lake City, Miami, Orlando, Palm Beach, St. Petersburg, Tallahassee, and Tampa. Each offers programming and services to support individual and group motivation, academic skill development, cultural enrichment, career awareness and increased exposure to and preparation for higher education.

FEF has established the following four COE program requirements:

Academic Enrichment Centers

Programs operate in communities to supplement student educational experiences through tutoring and standardized test preparation.

National Achievers Society (NAS)

NAS identifies, acknowledges, and prepares high achieving underserved students for higher education.

Brain Bowl Academic Competitions

The Brain Bowl improves academic skills outside traditional classrooms through local and statewide scholarship competitions in history and culture, mathematics, and speechwriting/oration, as well as contests in coding, word definition, and writing.

African American Churches

Centers are encouraged to include the church as an integral and primary resource in a significant portion of their activities.

In addition, FEF has developed the following two initiatives to expand the positive programmatic impact of the COE's:

Believers Society

This subgroup of NAS recognizes "academic determination" among students who may not meet the requirements of NAS. By recognizing and nurturing this "academic determination," we believe Believers will become National Achievers.

Association of Achievers Parents

This group formally engages parents in support of COE activities.

COE Program Highlights:

• Approximately 3,500 students participate annually in the ten Centers.
• More than 19,000 students have been inducted into the National Achievers Society since 1986.
• More than 16,000 students have participated as team members in the Annual Brain Bowl Scholarship Competitions.
• More than 700 students have won Brain Bowl college scholarships since 1985.

COE Locations: