History of BoostKids

The concept of Boost Kids was initially developed by Boost founder Rob Heller in the spring of 2003 to meet the needs of his son. Rob’s son at age twelve was shy, lacked confidence in social situations and struggled with peer pressure. Rob knew these were issues that many parents, teachers, and advisors of children see kids struggling with. He began researching to find a program that could help his son gain confidence and enhance his social skills. Rob could not find a program that fit what he was looking for to help his son. This led him to create a program to fill this critical but underserved niche for building a child's self confidence.

Many of the techniques in Boost Kids have been developed from Rob’s experience as a successful businessman. He spent countless hours researching character development education and social skills learning to put together a curriculum that would be effective and successful in building a child's self confidence. School counselors, teachers, Principals, clergy, successful business people, child psychologists, and parents were consulted to help develop a simple curriculum for Boost Kids that would be beneficial to the children going through the program.

In October of 2004 Charlie Copp, a recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (04), came on board as the program coordinator to further develop and refine Boost Kids. Charlie immediately identified with the program and wanted to help promote the principals of Boost including building a child's self confidence. He eagerly spent countless hours improving and refining the program.

Boost Kids has been implemented in various schools and social service organizations nationwide, after getting it's start in the Philadelphia area. The positive feedback that the program has received has been overwhelming. Parents praise the program for teaching their children simple techniques such as looking people in the eye, asking questions and listening. They feel their children are more confident after having been through the program and agree the program helps with building a child's self confidence. Teachers and Guidance Counselors time and again say how the program leads to kinder, more appreciative students. Most important, the kids involved in Boost Kids’ have had fun learning and developing skills that will last a lifetime.