OUR FOUNDER
Jack Wells, former coach and teacher in Palm Beach County, Florida, is well-known and respected for his work within the community as well as former Regional Director of The Fellowship of Christian Athletes and a radio personality for Moody Broadcasting. In addition to partnering with faith-based organizations, Jack has dedicated much of the last 15 years to building multi-faith “encouragement groups” within the public schools.
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OUR PAST
SchooLife International began in 1992 when Jack Wells left his position as Regional Director of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
At age 62, Wells wasn’t ready to retire. He wanted to find a way to serve where his ability to organize and encourage could make a difference.
With a 26-year history as a teacher and coach in the public school system of Florida, Wells returned to his roots and began to listen. Much of what he heard was disheartening – teachers frustrated and suffering burnout due to the lack of a values-based support system around them.
That’s when Wells came up with the idea of forming “encouragement groups” within schools – a “safe place” in which teachers can share their struggles with others teachers and gain support, often through multi-faith prayer.
Soon Wells was sharing the concept throughout the sprawling school systems of Southeast Florida including those of Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Broward, Martin and Monroe counties. By 1997, more than 100 encouragement groups comprised of more than 2,200 teachers and administrators were flourishing.
“The key to it is not the program, but developing relationships,” says Wells. “It takes time. Anyone can do it anywhere. … I have no special ability, just availability.”
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OUR PRESENT
In 2006, Jack Wells retired as head of SchooLife International and passed the torch to Leo Abdella as President and Chairman of the Board.
Abdella is involved in a number of faith-based South Florida non-profits and serves as Outreach Director for Christ Fellowship church in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. However, Abdella maintains the strong, multi-faith vision of SchooLife – welcoming all who seek to live and share lives based on time-proven principles.
In seeking to add even more value to the concept of “encouragement groups,” Abdella has reached out to the Global Priority Project, which as developed a simple yet powerful curriculum for teaching values and principles. The Global method already is having a powerful impact on government institutions in Latin America and on businesses in the United States.
Global Priority has agreed to make those principles available to SchooLife International FREE of charge for use by encouragement groups as they see fit.
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OUR FUTURE
“Frustration, disillusionment and burnout remain a problem among teachers and administrators in the U.S. and many places around the world,” says Abdella. “SchooLife is supported by individuals and foundations who believe in the simple yet incredibly powerful dynamic the encouragement groups create.
“There’s nothing to buy, there’s only a concept of hope to buy into,” he continues. “If we’re going to change the future for the better, we’ve got to change the young people who are going to be shaping it.
“We believe the best, most effective way of doing that is to encourage, support and empower educators and administrators to share a values-driven philosophy with each other and, ultimately, their students.”
Please Contact SchooLife International more information about how to start an encouragement group in your school.
