Never Give Up on a Kid.

For Teachers and Administrators. Follow Emilio 'Dee' DaBramo’s forty-five year career as a teacher and administrator that began in 1948. During his tenure at the Mamaroneck, N.Y. Union Free School District (1960 to 1978), he solved the high school drop-out problem that was endemic in the socially, culturally and economically-deprived neighborhoods. His alternative school APPLE Program (A Place where People Learn Excellence) and his Summer Co-Op Program designed for the targeted neighborhoods, were a huge success. The APPLE Program garnered a ninety percent graduation rate and a resulting college graduation rate of better than seventy percent. His philosophy of Never Give Up on a Kid, and the organizational structure of these programs are well-documented and translatable to almost any school system. For WWII Historians. Drafted into the Army Air Corps at age nineteen, Emilio DaBramo served as a Radio Operator on a B-24 bomber during WWII. Fly along with the crew on their 31 missions over German occupied Europe. The exploits of the crew are well documented, including the disastrous carpet bombing raid at St. Lo, France and the heretofore untold story of the air delivery of 700,000 gallons of fuel to General Patton’s Third Army tanks in France during Operation Cobra. Re-live their crash landing in France after being shot down by enemy anti-aircraft fire over Cologne, Germany. For WWII G.I. Bill Historians. In 1945 Emilio DaBramo enrolled at Cortland State Teachers College under the WWII G.I. Bill. Read about the social and educational challenges that faced the veterans, the college administrators and professors after the WWII veterans arrived on campus. For Special Olympic Historians. Emilio DaBramo’s early work with the mentally and physically challenged individuals, in the late 1940’s through the 1960’s, caught the attention of Eunice Kennedy Shriver. Impressed with his work, she appointed him as a volunteer member of the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation’s Advisory Committee and as a clinician for the Special Olympics. Read the heretofore untold story of his twelve year tenure (1968-1980) with the foundation during which time he conducted clinics in every state and in several European countries related to organizing and operating Special Olympic Games. He was the Games Director for the State of New York for the first twelve years of the program (1968 through 1980). In tribute to Emilio 'Dee' DaBramo, royalties from this book will be distributed as scholarships through the SUNY Cortland Foundation.