NBC concluded their travel around the country renovating America’s schools for their first season of the hit show School Pride at Hollenbeck Middle School in Los Angeles, California.

Comparable to previous episodes, Former Miss USA and Designer Susie Castillo, Comedian Kim Whitley, Political Journalist Jacob Soboroff and Team Leader and Voice Over Host Tom Stroup come together to spearhead the restoration project of the school.

Read the rest of this entry »

NBC continues to travel around the country renovating America’s schools on their hit show School Pride. This week, the team headed to a high school in California that was in need of a lot of restoration work.

Comparable to previous episodes, Former Miss USA and Designer Susie Castillo, Comedian Kim Whitley, Political Journalist Jacob Soboroff and Team Leader and Voice Over Host Tom Stroup come together to spearhead the restoration project of the school.

Built in 1903, Needles High School has been a generational school. Students told viewers that the school was the same high school their siblings, parents and grandparents all attended. Read the rest of this entry »

NBC continues to travel around the country renovating America’s schools on their hit show School Pride. This week, the team headed to a Detroit, Michigan high school that was in danger of being shut down by their school district.

Comparable to previous episodes, Former Miss USA and Designer Susie Castillo, Comedian Kim Whitley, Political Journalist Jacob Soboroff and Team Leader and Voice Over Host Tom Stroup, come together to spearhead the restoration project of the school.

Communications and Media Art High School (CMA) is one of the most academically successful schools in the state, yet the institution itself has been crumbling for years. It boasts a 97% attendance rate, proving that the students want to be in the building, it is just unfortunately unsafe, with no available funds to fix it. Read the rest of this entry »

NBC continues to travel around the country renovating America’s schools on their hit show School Pride. This week, the team headed to Tennessee to save Kingston Springs Elementary.

Comparable to previous episodes, Former Miss USA and Designer Susie Castillo, Comedian Kim Whitley, Political Journalist Jacob Soboroff and Team Leader and Voice Over Host Tom Stroup, come together to spearhead the restoration project of the school.

Renovated from July 22-July 28, 2010, the Kindergarten through 4th grade public elementary school closed in early May of this year due to flood water damage. The damage was that of a natural disaster, so the NBC team had to call in environmental specialists to clean up the property and school building first. Read the rest of this entry »

The second episode of the first season of NBC’s School Pride features Lanier Elementary in Louisiana, where viewers find out that 300 Lanier Elementary students only have one ball (that is actually partially deflated) to play with. Viewers also learn that School Pride isn’t Lanier’s first lifeline of hope. The school has a heavy presence of Teach 4 America teachers and although test scores are improving, the building itself is deteriorating- but the help won’t just stop there.

Just like the premiere episode, Former Miss USA and Designer Susie Castillo, Comedian Kim Whitley, Political Journalist Jacob Soboroff and Team Leader and Voice Over Host Tom Stroup, come together to spearhead the restoration project of the school. Read the rest of this entry »

Bryant Gumbel was born to Richard and Rhea Gumbel on September 29, 1948 in New Orleans. He graduated in 1970 from Bates College in Maine.

Gumbel began his television career in 1972 when he landed the sportscaster job on KNBC-TV of Los Angeles. From 1975 until 1982, Gumbel hosted numerous sporting events for NBC Sports and was a sought after sports anchor.

He landed the job he is most famous for while he filled in as a substitute for Jane Pauley on the Today Show. The producers offered him the job as co-anchor opposite Jane Pauley, a job which lasted from 1982 until 1997. When he left the Today show, he headed to CBS and hosted the Early Show where he stayed until 2002. Read the rest of this entry »

Conan O’Brien was born April 18, 1963 in Boston to Thomas and Ruth O’Brien, the third of six children. He is descended from Irish-Catholic, pre-Civil War immigrants. His high school years were spent at Brookline High School, where he excelled at academics, was editor of his school newspaper and graduated valedictorian.

Following graduation, he enrolled at Harvard University, where he majored in journalism. While at Harvard, he wrote for the illustrious Harvard Lampoon, and he graduated magna cum laude. While at Harvard, he met Jeff Zucker, who would later become his boss at NBC. Read the rest of this entry »

The premiere episode of School Pride features Enterprise Middle School in Compton, California, and in true NBC fashion, it begins similar to the NBC hit The Biggest Loser. With dramatic photos, voice overs, chilling scenes of failure, and an eventual comment about how America is undergoing an epidemic of inadequate educational institutions and programs, viewers needed to grab tissues from the opening scene.

It was heartbreaking to see children and teachers with so much passion for scholastic success, but no means to assist them in their endeavors.

For every episode, Former Miss USA and Designer Susie Castillo, Comedian Kim Whitley, Political Journalist Jacob Soboroff and Team Leader and Voice Over Host Tom Stroup, come together to spearhead the restoration projects. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo Credit: Lanier Elementary

Lanier Elementary in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to be featured on NBC’s School Pride.

Production and renovation for on NBC’s School Pride occurred from July 12 to 18, 2010.

Grades: PK-5th

School District: East Baton Rouge Parish School District

School Type: Public Elementary School

Mascot: Lions Read the rest of this entry »

Photo Credit: Jacob Soboroff

Kingston Springs Elementary in Kingston Springs, Tennessee featured on NBC’s School Pride.

Production and renovation for on NBC’s School Pride occurred from July 22 – July 28, 2010.

Grades: K-4th

School District: Cheatham County District School District

School Type: Public Elementary School

Mascot: Cardinals Read the rest of this entry »