For 17 years teacher Matt Hamilton has been operating a leadership club out of East Jordan (Mich.) Middle/High School. The Shoe Club is open to any seventh or eighth grader who commits to reading the book Value Up, writes an essay about what they learned and sets 10 goals they want to pursue.
Hamilton says when he started the club he didn't want there to be any GPA requirements. Students simply needed to commit to bettering themselves. To this end, shoes are a useful metaphor. What does the path to achieving your goals look like? What can you learn by considering what it means to walk in someone else’s shoes? Hamilton's Shoe Club wants kids to value themselves, reach their goals and help others in the process.
Over the years, the club has grown with donations that have produced a robust shoe museum. It contains footwear from role models like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, anthropologist Jane Goodall and Oprah Winfrey. All the shoes are autographed, and each one serves as a reminder about that person’s unique journey.
Also in the museum: Shoes from Amon-Ra St. Brown.
The wide receiver runs the St. Brown Foundation with his brothers. It aims to empower every kid to reach their full potential, with a specific focus on improving the literacy rates in Michigan, where 60% of third graders don’t pass state reading tests.
This year, more than 1,000 NFL players will take the field during Weeks 12 and 13 for the My Cause My Cleats games. The initiative asks athletes to represent an organization that is important to them with a cleat design to showcase their cause.
St. Brown saw the game as an opportunity to work with a club whose values aligned with his foundation, and whose members had a very special connection to shoes. He invited the Shoe Club kids to the Lions’ practice facility in late September to help with the cleat design. In a video invitation to the club, he told the kids, “Bring your creativity, bring your energy and let’s make something unforgettable.”
After nearly four hours on a bus to Detroit, 31 kids arrived and broke into groups. St. Brown told them he wanted his cleats to have color, to represent his cause and contain something meaningful to him personally. The winning design had all three. He chose a shoe that had both the Shoe Club and St. Brown Foundation logos, bold and bright Lions colors, and the phrase, “All Grit”—a personal motto of St. Brown’s.
“I feel like all the kids did a great job, but this cleat in particular had all the colors I liked and embodied everything I and this foundation stand for,” St. Brown said of the shoe he chose to be made. “It caught my eye right away.”
The kids with the winning design were given tickets to the My Cause My Cleats game on Nov. 23. Afterward, the footwear—along with all the shoes showcased during the My Cause My Cleats games—will be auctioned off to raise money for the organizations represented.
To bid on shoes, search for causes and learn more about participating players, visit: www.mycausemycleats.org.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Amon-Ra St. Brown Asked Local Kids to Design His Cleats for Week 12.
