Find A Tree Gives Purpose to Students’ Educationby Connecting Education to Their Dreams and Transforming Their Dreams into Action.

Find A Tree doesn’t hand students opportunities─it teaches them how to create opportunities. It doesn’t simply help students dream; it equips them with the mindset, confidence, and practical life skills to make those dreams a reality.

STUDENT SUCCESS STORY

Gaby Wilkerson

We Raised $40,000

The Buckley School | Sherman Oaks, California

Gaby Wilkerson Shares Her Story of How She Found Her Tree

James Apety

10-Year-Old Tech Entrepreneur
Finds His Tree

Association International School | Accra, Ghana

“Find A Tree is AMAZING!” ─James Apety

Before Find A Tree, it was easy for me to look at a challenge and focus on how far away I was from the solution. The programme helped me shift my focus from the size of the problem to the possibility of the first step.

─Ropafadzo Mapira
Fashion entrepreneur and founder of SOLEIL
Harare, Zimbabwe

READ ROPAFADZO’S FULL TESTIMONIAL

Find A Tree brought a new perspective on how to engage students in their educational endeavors and how those could be connected to their dreams and aspirations. For the first time in years, many students were able to make direct connections between the content they were learning in class and their post-secondary dreams and hopes.

─Dr. Yolanda Rangel
Assistant Principal
Los Angeles, California

My students have embraced this program and have literally transformed. Find A Tree is a structured method that supports students, linking education to their dreams. This program has a very grounding and motivating force to help students master their academic subjects.

─Wanda Szeremeta
Life Skills Teacher
Los Angeles, California

From the perspective of one who has taught in the Los Angeles Unified School District for more than 25 years, Find A Tree is the most effective day-to-day program I’ve seen in terms of encouraging students to develop meaningful goals and then relating the importance of education to the achievement of those goals.

─Randy Fong
History Teacher
Los Angeles, California

Find A Tree is a creative, innovative, and life-changing solution that motivates, engages, and empowers students to learn and achieve—driven by their own passion to pursue their dreams.

─Joseph Fulton
English Teacher
Los Angeles, California

The Find A Tree approach to education is the best at centering students and channeling their energies toward accomplishing their dreams. Mr. Daniel Armstrong taught me to value my students’ dreams, and it has completely changed how I interact with them. Only when we know where our students see themselves in the future can we truly begin to guide them.

─Jesus Soleto Martinez
English Teacher
Los Angeles, California

STUDENT SUCCESS STORY

Andrea Vaughn

$25 and A Dream of Going to Africa

Hamilton High School | Los Angeles, California

When Andrea Vaughn participated in the Find A Tree program, she discovered a dream that seemed impossible—traveling to Africa.

After hearing Daniel Armstrong speak about his experiences in Africa and about students from Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles who had traveled to Ghana through the Find A Tree program, Andrea decided she wanted to go too.

She went home and shared her dream with her mother. Her mother asked, "And how much money do you have?""Twenty-five dollars," Andrea replied.

As a single mother, Anita explained that she simply could not afford to pay for the trip. But Find A Tree is not a program that simply encourages students to dream—it teaches them how to make their dreams happen.

Using the Find A Tree Principle, "Start a Business," Andrea invested her $25 in baking cakes and cookies to sell. Through her own initiative, creativity, and determination, she earned enough money over the next year to pay for her trip to Ghana. Like the other Find A Tree student who traveled with her, Andrea raised the money herself.

Andrea's going to Africa changed her life completely. It was wonderful seeing Andrea before Find A Tree and seeing the Andrea who is in college now, focused on what she wants to become. The seeds started with Find A Tree.

─Anita White, Andrea's Mother‍

I am thrilled with the Find A Tree book. It is wonderful! And full of inspiration. This is stuff of changing lives!

─Jacqui Ahrends
Community Service Coordinator
St. Cyprian Girls’ School
Cape Town, South Africa

Attending the Find A Tree mentorship programme has impacted me positively. This training has enabled me to achieve my goals. By writing down my goals, I have been able to get what I want and also utilise my time in a productive manner. Through the Find A Tree program, I have been able to tap into talents that I didn't think I had. Find A Tree has truly made me desire to go extra mile in my career path.

─Chedwick Odhiambo Otieno
Kenya School of Law
Nairobi, Kenya

Life Skills Start Early

Queens International School | Accra, Ghana

Six-Year-Old Students Share What They Learned from Find A Tree

Daniel coaches from a point of strength. He believes that everyone has a strength, something they are good at and after finding that strength, he builds on it. His Find A Tree program is truly a step-by-step guide to recognizing a dream and making it a reality.

─Dr. Sharona Cohen
Psychologist
Beverly Hills, California

Everyone in education and those concerned about our youth should read Unlock Students’ Potential!

─Arlene Aginouye
Speech and Language Specialist
Los Angeles, California

The Find A Tree program has rekindled in my students the ability to once again dream and believe in themselves.

─Miriam Broadnex
Teacher
Los Angeles, California

Find A Tree is a step-by-step dream-building curriculum that gives its participants a concrete plan for living their dream.

─Walter Hull
Center Director
U.S. Dream Academy
Houston, Texas

STUDENT SUCCESS STORY

Otha Johnson

From Compton to Capitol Records

Compton High School | Compton, California

Otha realized his dream of working in the music business when he spent a summer working at Capitol Records in Hollywood.

Otha Recalls His Experience:

“The Find A Tree program gave me the insight needed to take action. At Compton High School we moved around a lot and never had a standard classroom, but we still had class. We were kicked out of the cafeteria and banned from the P.E. area until we found ourselves on the steps outside of the cafeteria. But we were still a class and made things happen for ourselves despite our obstacles. Some of Mr. Armstrong’s students were gang members and criminals, but the message was still the same: do not let your current obstacles or conditions stop you from pursuing your dream. Never give up. Follow your dreams. I am a living witness.”

Otha’s story is an example the transformational impact and the opportunities that can happen when students find their tree and get started.

OTHA’S JOURNEY BEGAN ON SIX STEPS AT COMPTON HIGH SCHOOL

THE ICONIC CAPITOL RECORDS BUILDING
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The Find A Tree concept is itself incredibly powerful. It is something that will forever be with our students.

─Amber Young Medina
Teacher
Compton, California

Find A Tree helps students find themselves, their dream, and connect with school. Find A Tree is the starting line to the greatest goal in life: the achievement of living your dream.

─Angel Jimenez
Student
Los Angeles, California

The Find A Tree program opens the doors to a whole new world that children can not only dream about, but make it a reality. This step-by-step approach gives every child the opportunity to succeed and follow their dream!

─Stella Contreras
Parent Facilitator – Los Angeles
Unified School District
Los Angeles, California

STUDENT SUCCESS STORY

Darwin Ramirez

From Lock-Up to Beverly Hills

Fred C. Nelles Youth Correctional Facility | Whittier, California

Darwin Ramirez (right) was incarcerated at age 16 for attempted murder. Due to continued gang activity, he spent a year in an isolation cell before enrolling in the Find A Tree program. Following his completion of the program and his release from prison, he went on to work at one of the world’s largest entertainment companies—BMG Entertainment in Beverly Hills, California.

My homeboys taught me how to be a gang member, but Find A Tree taught me how to be a man—a responsible man—and to go after the things that I want.

─Darwin Ramirez
Find A Tree Graduate

Darwin Ramirez always did his absolute best, nothing short of excellence was good enough for him and he was on time, focused and responsible well beyond his years. BMG Entertainment’s assessment of his work was much like mine…He was the best student they had ever had. I credit the Find A Tree program with the amazing accomplishments of the young men I met at the Fred C. Nelles Youth Correctional Facility.

─Jaleesa Hazzard
Former Executive Director
Y.E.S. to Jobs
Beverly Hills, California

STUDENT SUCCESS STORY

Cedric Joe

From Classroom Student to Hollywood Movie Star

KIPP Philosophers Academy | Los Angeles, California

Former Find A Tree student Cedric Joe achieved his dream when he co-starred with basketball star Lebron James as James’ son in the movie Space Jam: A New Legacy. He also starred as Emmett Till in the made for television movie Women of the Movement.