The Origin Story:
Janelle Hocker, the mother of Isaiah Revels, started Step Higher Academy in the early 2000s. During Spring Break, she gathered local high school students from Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati and took them on a week long travel tour, to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in states including: Georgia, Alabama, and Virginia and more.
These students were able to tour schools first hand, experience the culture, and get a better understanding of attending particular schools. Most of these students had never heard of the term HBCU until this tour. The Step Higher Academy Tour encouraged kids from urban communities and high schools to pursue their higher educational goals by being exposed to people who looked like them doing that very thing. 22 years later and counting, these tours are still going strong each and every spring and now Step Higher Academy has taken a branch to further the experience of high school students.
New Beginnings:
In April 2023, Step Higher Academy will honor its very own basketball team in Italy. This will be led by Isaiah Revels, a Sports-Marketing Businessman, who has hand selected the best kids in the U.S.A to represent the Step Higher USA Team.
Talented high school players of the 2023 and 2024 graduating class, from all over the country, will embark on this journey which includes a media day, training camp, educational tools, and more. Education includes how to truly understand NIL (Name, Image, Likeness), social media marketing, valuable information pertaining to the 1992 Olympic Basketball Tournament, and more! The players will then officially be prepared to play 5 consecutive games, in Italy, against top players from Europe and North America.
We can't wait to kick of our inaugural Step Higher Academy Summer Trip!
“All the days that you wake up, you got one job, and that's to get better every single day.” -Derrick Rose
That’s outstanding opportunity and wishing the Step Higher Academy much continued success!!!