The Student Union (SU) received a corporate sponsorship of $10,000 from Kweller Prep Tutoring and Educational Services in June, making Kweller Prep its platinum sponsor. If the SU upholds the terms of the contract, which include advertising Kweller Prep and allowing it to hold paid tutoring sessions at Stuyvesant, it will receive the funds by June 15, 2016.
Last spring, former SU Chief Financial Officer Benjamin Lanier (’15) e-mailed approximately 500 small corporations for potential sponsorships. Only two corporations, Kweller Prep and Bee Tutored, demonstrated interest. Bee Tutored gradually dropped out and Kweller Prep requested to be the SU’s only sponsor. The SU and Kweller Prep ended up drafting a contract, which was signed by Lanier, a legal adult.
Principal Jie Zhang, Coordinator of Student Affairs Matthew Polazzo, and Assistant Principal of Guidance Casey Pedrick helped the SU review and revise the terms of the contract. The process proved lengthy: “There were many obstacles. We constantly had to call Ms. Kweller. We also had to revise the contract and made many drafts—about ten […] That was pretty cumbersome,” Lanier said.
A similar deal was made two years ago, when SU Chief Financial Officer Jack Cahn coordinated a $10,000 sponsorship with Kweller Prep in which, unlike the new deal, the SU and The Spectator each received $5,000. The 2013 contract also differed from the new contract in that it set forth different criteria for how the SU would advertise Kweller Prep, and stated that Kweller Prep and the SU would divide the net profits of all Kweller test-run prep programs held at Stuyvesant.
The money from the current contract will go to student-run programs, such as clubs, “pubs,” and SING!. The SU declined to publicize exactly how these funds will be allocated, but the SU Budget Committee has decided to double the funding for SING! from previous years.
In exchange for the $10,000, Stuyvesant will provide at most 20 classrooms for afterschool tutoring. “[At tutoring sessions] the students in attendance […] are current students at Stuyvesant and the instructors will also be Stuyvesant alumni,” SU Chief Financial Officer Kai Chen said. The contract also lists the various ways Stuyvesant will advertise Kweller Prep: on the SU website, in every issue of The Spectator, before every SU YouTube video, in the SING! playbill, at parent teacher conferences and the club pub fair, and on the doors of the SU office. Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Kweller Prep Frances Kweller is also entitled to give a lecture at Stuyvesant, advertised by the SU, whose topic might include entrepreneurship or women in business.
The SU is determined to maintain their relationship with Kweller Prep. One of the agreements of the contract is that if Kweller Prep is satisfied with the outcome of the sponsorship, it will donate an extra $1,000 to the SU. “The Student Union will work to make sure that [Kweller Prep] is very satisfied with the relationship we have built,” So said. We’re starting off on a good foot,” Aung said.