Press Releases: 2010

AmeriHealth Mercy President Urges Students to Continue Their Education

Michael A. Rashid Addresses the College for Teens Participants

September 2, 2010
Philadelphia, PA – Michael A. Rashid, President and Chief Executive Officer of the AmeriHealth Mercy Family of Companies, recently spoke to Philadelphia teens about the importance of education. Rashid addressed the participants of the College for Teens program offered by the Philadelphia Martin Luther King Jr. Association for Nonviolence on Aug. 5 at the Constitution Center.

"An education opens doors," Rashid told the teens and the event attendees, "but you still have to walk through them. You still have to earn everything you get. But these opportunities won’t be there for you without an education."

The Philadelphia Martin Luther King Jr. Association for Nonviolence, Inc. established the College for Teens Program in May 2001. The association's late founder and president, Dr. C. DeLores Tucker, saw a need for comprehensive educational support for Philadelphia’s public school children. The College for Teens Program equips African American and minority high school students with the tools needed to succeed in high school and beyond while encouraging them to seek higher education.

The event was the closing ceremony for the 2010 College for Teens Summer Program, and it included the induction ceremony of club members as "Educational Ambassadors of Nonviolence."

"'Opportunity' was an important word to Dr. King," Rashid said. "Having a chance to prove yourself - having the opportunity to be what we want to be: That’s what education offers."

At the event, Joye Nottage, Executive Director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Association for Nonviolence, announced that the association will be honoring Rashid in January 2011 for his service to the community.