Softball Gorloks Give Lift to Lift For Life

ST. LOUIS - The Webster University women's softball team will work again with the Lift For Life Academy in 2011-12. The softball team recently donated items to Lift For Life, an independent charter middle and high school, located on St. Louis' near south side.

The Gorloks donated softball equipment including: bats, balls, helmets, catching gear, pants, shorts, uniform tops, and a Jugs pitching machine. These items will help continue the building of the Red Hawks softball program.

In 2010, the Lift For Life softball team was invited to Blackburn Park to a softball clinic held by Webster coaches and players. The Red Hawk players worked one on one with their Gorlok counterparts at their respective positions. Webster will again host a similar clinic this year for the Red Hawks.

Lift For Life Academy opened in 2000 as an independent charter middle school, for 6-8th grades. The Academy served as "a school of last resort for students who had 'fallen through the cracks' in public schools." In the beginning, many of the Academy's students had low reading levels and others "didn't see the point of going to school."

Stressing a curriculum of language arts, math, and science, and motivating students to believe in themselves, test scores have risen dramatically. Attendance is also stressed, and Academy students average over 95% in class each day. The school started adding high school grades and this fall saw its first 12th grade class.

Courtesy Webster University sports information