About the Winner
One area of great need in America that simply can't get enough innovation these days is our educational system. That's why we're so thrilled to name Lee Lonzo and his Kick-off Program the most innovative (and important) business in the 2008 Home-Based 100.
Lonzo, a life-long educator, founded the company with a goal to help improve the transition and orientation process for incoming high school freshmen. The freshmen year of high school is thought to be the most pivotal year that a student faces during their entire academic career.
Because of this, he took a deeper look into the processes being used by schools in his area and around the country and noticed that they were still using the same methods from 30 years ago when he began his teaching career.
His breakthrough idea was to match upper-class students as mentors for every single incoming freshmen.
Lonzo started the Kick-Off Program at just one school in Indiana, and after six years of running the Kick-Off Program as a part time summer job, Lonzo retired from 33 years of being an educator to run the business full time from his home.
The KO Program has now been rolled out at over 225 high schools all over the United States and has helped over 100,000 incoming freshmen and parents make an easier transition from their middle school to high school. High need and great innovation.
Learn more in this winner's featured article
