After serving four years at the helm of the Summit Academy Management Board of Directors, outgoing chair Tony Malorni sat down for a one-on-one interview. He reflected on his passions for supporting students with special needs, building a team of resourceful and committed experts and celebrating what he calls Summit Academy’s “secret sauce.”
Malorni says when he was invited to run for a post on the SAM board in 2018, he quickly discovered a board of directors with a collective desire to support Summit Academy’s mission.
“I knew I was in a place where people cared. That was important to me,” Malorni says. “One of my passions is kids. It’s a soft spot for me, especially kids who have disadvantages. I want to help those kids. They deserve every break they can get.”
When Malorni joined the board in 2018, he chaired its Connections Committee, which catapulted the Summit Educational Foundation (SEF) from an aspiration to an active foundation centered on supporting Summit Academy students and staff. Malorni says the SEF’S role in helping to bring students amenities, such as a new playground at Summit Academy Community School – Parma, bring him immense pride.
“I’m most proud of the Connections Committee for getting the foundation, which was in the works for many years, up and on its own,” Malorni says. “Seeing its fruition, the creation of a vehicle that invests more money into the kids and benefits the schools and their communities, without taking from funds that go toward salaries, makes me very proud.”
Another point of pride for Malorni is the intentional development of a SAM Board of Directors with expertise in areas critical to Summit Academy Schools. Malorni describes the board as an essential resource for SAM, the schools, and their governing authorities. Therefore, having a board tailormade to support Summit Academy’s distinctive needs is essential.
“We are bringing resources from the business environment to support the business of education. Through the board, the SAM Leadership Team, our schools and their governing authorities have experts they can trust, resources who have Summit Academy’s best interest at heart,” Malorni explains. He points to board members’ wide-ranging professions, which span from architecture and building construction to accounting and marketing.
With a competent, dedicated and reliable board, SAM can best support the schools it operates to do what they do best: serve students with special needs in an unmatched fashion, Malorni elaborates.
“Summit Academy is a gem for kids who, in a traditional public-school setting, might be singled out because they are different. At Summit Academy, they are allowed to be themselves and feel like everybody else. That is the special sauce of Summit Academy, allowing kids to grow and thrive into who they are in their own space and direction,” he says.
Malorni describes Summit Academy’s Therapeutic Martial Arts program as a key ingredient in its special sauce. He applauds the achievements taking place in Summit Academy dojos across the state, where students acquire skills of maturity, self-control and growth they can carry with them throughout life.
Malorni says he will continue to help carry out the good work of the SAM Board, on which he also served previously as a vice chair. As a board member for the next two years (marking the end of his three consecutive term limit), Malorni says he could not be more delighted to continue to support Summit Academy students with meaning and an eye on their futures.
“By allowing children to learn differently and grow into whatever flower they are going to be, will enable them to prosper and pursue opportunities as adults,” he says. “We allow an environment for that; we are helping our future.”