Washington, DC (April 5, 2018) — Today, leading education technology company EVERFI Inc. announced a new digital education partnership with Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin. In honor of Ovechkin’s 1,000th NHL game, the star forward has committed to providing digital education opportunities to 1,000 Washington, D.C. area students.
“It was important for me to find a way to help kids learn more skills than hockey,” said Ovechkin. “EVERFI has great programs to teach kids all kinds of important skills to help them have the best life possible. I am very happy they will work with me to reach so many kids in the Washington area and hope we will do more together in the future.”
The new partnership will focus on a series of critical skills learning opportunities that include digital citizenship, entrepreneurship and health and wellness for middle and high school students. Each of these digital courses will be embedded into school curriculums at no cost to students, families or school districts. Ovechkin and EVERFI are working together to identify students in Washington, D.C.’s Ward 7 and Ward 8 communities, as well as schools in Maryland and Virginia to participate in the program.
“Ovechkin has been an incredible leader on and off the ice for the Washington Capitals throughout his 1,000 NHL games,” said EVERFI Co-founder and Global Partnerships President Jon Chapman. “We’re incredibly excited to help him commemorate this tremendous milestone by providing this powerful educational initiative to students in the city we both proudly represent.”
Implementation of the program will start in schools as the Washington Capitals take part in the 2018 NHL playoffs and will continue during the 2018-2019 school year. As part of the program, Ovechkin will host students enrolled at the program at a future Capitals practice.
For the past four years, EVERFI has powered the NHL and NHLPA Future Goals Program, a digital education program that uses the game of hockey to teach students about science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). In partnership with all 31 NHL franchises, the program has trained over 1.3 million students across North America.