Jonathan Ogden Club and Play It Smart
Working Together to Impact Student-Athletes & Lives

In 2000, Play It Smart moved into Patterson High School in Baltimore, Maryland. In 2001, it became an everyday program reaching out to over 100 student-athletes, mainly because of Jonathan Ogden’s contributions. Play It Smart is an excellent program with a simple idea- that team sports have the power to strengthen kids, and put them on the right track for life. Today, this simple idea is scoring points, both on and off the field.

Play It Smart and the Jonathan Ogden Club take a player’s dedication and passion for his game and his team and transform it into a catalyst for scholastic, community, and career development. The positive impact of the program has been remarkable- with grades, SAT scores, and graduation rates rising across the board.

At Play It Smart, we gave kids something they were looking for- an opportunity to be part of a team, to develop their bodies and their minds, and to lift their aspirations for the future. All they needed was the opportunity and they ran with it.

The National Football Foundation and the NFL have teamed up to get these programs off the ground. Currently, there are 30 high school across the country implementing the Play It Smart program. However, it takes Key contributors to keep these programs running. Jonathan Ogden has been one of those key contributors. He has donated time and money to make the Play It Smart program at Patterson one of the best in the country. His club, the Jonathan Ogden Club, at Patterson High School, which teaches the student-athletes about community service, teamed up with the Play It Smart program. Not only do these programs reach out to the community, but also our student-athletes are being taught the game of life.

A key member of the Play It Smart team is the academic coach, an athletically oriented counselor who typically spends his or her days working with the team. At Patterson, Kelley Bagdasarian is the academic coach. “Coach Kelley” helps players set personal goals and the team set quantifiable goals- and then directs them to resources so they can achieve them. These goals are clear: players learn to establish consistent study habits to improve their GPA and SAT scores, and ultimately college acceptance rates.

In the past two years that Play It Smart and the Jonathan Ogden Club have worked together at Patterson our teams have posted some impressive numbers:

• The teams’ overall GPA has risen 17.6%, and now stands 11.4% higher than the all school average.
• Team SAT scores have risen 30 points higher- with 88% of seniors now taking the test, a significant increase from the years before the program.
• 98% of the student-athlete seniors have graduated from high school.
• 84% have gone on to higher education, with the majority qualifying for full financial funding.
• During the past two years, our players have contributed more than 1,800 hours toward community service.

On the field, in the classroom, and in the community, Play It Smart is helping kids unleash their own potential.

You can get involved in the cause. Become a mentor, participate in community service events, contribute funds, and/or assist a student-athlete in going on to higher education. The possibilities are endless.