A Story of Hope: Two Champions of Educational Excellence Unite to Promote Internet-Based Schooling for Teens ``On-The-Edge'' in Urban Areas.

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 18, 1999--

Virtual Internet High School Program Turns Below 1.0 Into 3.5

Grade Point Averages

Can our inner-city, at-risk of dropping out teens be rescued? "Yes," says Sabra R. Smith, M.A., founder of the Institute of Scholar Training and Academic Tutorial ("S.T.A.T."), a non-profit, education-based tutoring service in Los Angeles.

"The challenge is to remove at-risk youth from under-served urban schools and provide the educational tools to regain their hope, ambition and skills. My commitment to helping the youth in my community is working," notes Ms. Smith.

S.T.A.T. relies on intense individual instruction so students gain confidence in their abilities. This tutoring center, based in Inglewood, Calif., incorporates on-line virtual high schooling with one-to-one tutoring. It is an educational community where at-risk students have achieved remarkable results. The program illustrates how it enhances the lives and brings hope into an otherwise somber situation.

In an unusual alliance, Ms. Smith and Mitchell Goldstone, a well-known Orange County business owner, have united to raise attention for the program. Goldstone is actively promoting S.T.A.T. to his business contacts and is donating his services to help raise $200,000 for the annual program budget.

"This is a great story about how two people with divergent backgrounds got together because I was fatigued from reading about the results of society's breakdown in urban areas. So rather than sitting back within Irvine's refuge, I got involved," explains Goldstone, who is a member of Irvine Chamber of Commerce's board of directors and co-owner of 30 Minute Photos Etc., the well-known retail photo imaging center in Irvine.

"Ms. Smith has a proven track record with results that impress me. She has transformed and inspired children -- with everything against them -- into shining successes. By enabling inner-city youth to realize their potential, her program is making a difference and yielding an invaluable reward to society, race relations and our nation. Education is the tool to provide hope and skills that must be afforded to everyone," notes Goldstone.

As a well-known 1985 University of Southern California alumni, Goldstone is striving to give something back to the neighbors that surround USC and create a bright future. Goldstone comments that, "Today's Internet technologies boast an exciting opportunity to break down barriers and provide equal access to educational excellence. I'd much rather have our youth reading Maya Angelou than watching Jerry Springer. They need to link with positive role models and be challenged with educational excellence. Instead of parents proudly snapping pictures at children's graduations, many in these urban areas are more familiar with the sirens and late-night helicopter searches from above. Programs like S.T.A.T. are making a difference. The circles of despair, from poverty, gangs, drugs and crime can be eliminated through education. Because many kids don't graduate with proper skills from urban schools, they miss out on basic education."

Contact: Ms. Sabra R. Smith, M.A., Phone: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]; Mitchell Goldstone, President, 30 Minute Photos Etc., 92 Corporate Park Plaza, Irvine, CA 92606, Phone: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail].

Ed Note: Complete S.T.A.T. overview and related info available, Please e-mail request and include your fax number for fastest reply. Call: Mr. Goldstone at 949-474-7654, or e-mail: [e-mail].