Jason Verrett & Jimmie Ward have made access to Rhymes With Reason a reality for 700 Mountain View High School students. This partnership was inspired by Jason & Jimmie's desire to boost student academic achievement in the Bay Area, which is the backyard of their NFL home base with the San Francisco 49ers.

Part of a wider 'Bay Area Rhymes & Reads' network, these 49ers players' contribution unlocks popular music-based learning modules with thousands of academic vocabulary terms for MVHS students. In addition to earning achievement badges within the program, students will improve their literacy levels and reading comprehension.

Mountain View High School students recently wrapped up their first full year of access to Rhymes With Reason, made possible by NFL greats Jason Verrett and Jimmie Ward.

Students and teachers were joined virtually by former San Fransisco 49er Jason Verrett for a special end-of-year opportunity.

Together, Verrett and the students discussed cultivating and maintaining resilience (as a key pillar of sustaining mental health) to navigate various challenges in one's development.

Students like to be able to listen to music during class, so this is a great compromise! They are more excited about learning new vocabulary when they recognize the musicians and songs that accompany the vocabulary.

- Sarah Block, English Teacher at Mountain View High School

Rhymes with Reason is a Black-owned educational technology program utilized in over 200 schools across the country and has partnered and collaborated with high profile organizations including Chance the Rapper’s SocialWorks, The City of Detroit’s Grow Detroit Young Talent and San Diego’s Founders First Capital Partners CDC.

The program's culturally-relevant, music-powered approach to closing the vocabulary and reading gap serves as a refreshing learning experience for youth in grades 2 through 12.