Pub. 1 2011-2012 Issue 2

30 Hughes beat the odds for most kids in his situation. “Unlike my situation I want to provide an environment in which kids feel welcome and motivated by school,” Hughes explains. “Because of my own experiences I know how and where students can fall through the cracks.” Recognizing that something is broken and successfully fixing it are two different things. It would take Hughes’ then five-year-old daughter applying for admission to Summit Academy in 2004 to further the education of Utah’s House Majority Whip. At the time Summit Academy was a proposed K-6 charter school that had yet to open its doors. “When Sophie was accepted to Summit Academy, I was invited to serve on the school’s advisory board,” Hughes said, recalling that the value he brought to the school stemmed mostly from his being a sitting legislator with a grasp of the real-time political climate on Capitol Hill for charter schools. After Hughes’ experience on the advisory board, he was asked to join the Summit Academy’s Board of Directors, where he has served since 2006 (Editor’s note: Charter school boards are completely voluntary positions.) While Hughes was making a difference for Summit Academy itself, his experience on the Board of Directors proved immeasurable in helping shape his view of educational governance as chairman of the Education Standing Committee. His experience working with Summit Academy taught him the micro-level of how technology and innovative thinking can foster a nurturing environment for learning. Hughes has translated this to his work at the State Legislature. Serving on both the Education Standing Committee and Public Education Appropriations Committee, Hughes brings a perspec- tive few have. “I bring both perspectives to the table,” he said. “When we’re discussing a reduction in the weighted pupil unit I know first-hand how that impacts individual schools. I take the lessons I’ve learned from Summit Academy and apply them to the Legislature.” Hughes has always been a strong advocate of public education, both traditional and non-traditional. As a result of his leader- ship opportunities in the State Legislature, Hughes has done a great deal to shape the opinions of others in the Legislature about charter schools. As a result of Hughes’ efforts and many others, mainstream education administrators are beginning to embrace charter schools. Charter schools are fulfilling the purpose of the original pilot program, to be laboratories of innovation. “As lawmakers, we’re always looking for best practices,” said Hughes. Charter schools give us the opportunity to test different curriculums, technolo- gies, programs, etc. “Our hope is that traditional districts will take the innovations tested by charters and incorporate them into their schools.” In addition to Hughes’ public service in the Legislature and the charter school movement, he is a small business owner in Salt Lake City. He has lived in Draper for 16 years with his wife Krista and three children. ...continued from page 28 GEEKS & GIFTS Driven by ingenuity and perhaps a skosh of altruism, the founder of deal- pickle.com created a novel way to promote the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (S.T.E.M.) education initiative. His interest in computers began at an early age and by high school, while all his classmates were chasing girls and strumming guitars, Beau N. Brewer was mentoring a room-full of teachers on how to navigate the internet. Beyond his high school years, he has plied his computer talents as a volunteer mentor throughout villages in East Africa and the Altiplano of Peru. He’s not sure whether it was an inspired dream or a bout of insomnia that motivated him to create this novel “Online Marketplace.” Dealpickle.com is a web platform that integrates gift giving with fund raising. The Deal Pickle website offers consumers an assortment of elegant gift certificates at significant discounts. Each certificate has the charm of a “Hallmark” greeting card with a personalized message from the sender. The storefront features a convenient search function for locating just the right gift certificate for that special someone. Gift certificates can be sent as occasional gifts, thank you gifts, tokens of recognition, and loyalty rewards. Every day there are dozens of offers from any number of local businesses like restaurants, florists, and day spas. A portion of every transaction is earmarked to support K-12 education. Emanating from the company’s commitment to support the S.T.E.M. initiative, Deal Pickle is proud to support the Utah Association of Public Charter Schools. If you want to help as well, simply go to the link below, find a gift certificate you want, and we will donate a portion of your transaction directly to the UAPCS. Additionally, each gift purchased through this link will have “Proud to Support the Utah Association of Public Charter Schools” printed on the certificate. Beau and his team of GEEKS are honored with the opportunity “to pay it forward” in support of our nation’s educational excellence.