‘Leave your mark’: Daryl Morey connects to Camden Academy students through Take Charge Foundation

Daryl Morey stood inside Camden Academy Charter High School’s cafeteria last month, sharing the story about the time he traded Shane Battier.

The 76ers’ president of basketball operations’ audience was a group of graduating seniors completing an educational development and leadership program named after the former NBA player. And though moving Battier from the Houston Rockets to the Memphis Grizzlies at the 2011 trade deadline created “some rocky times,” Morey said, the two men shared a “sense of mission that, really, what we want to do is leave our mark on the world.”

“You guys are going to leave your mark on the world,” Morey told the students, as Battier’s wife, Heidi, looked on.

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They had gathered to celebrate those students becoming the first class at Camden Academy to complete the two-year GUIDE program as part of the Battier Take Charge Foundation. A partnership with Morey and his wife, Ellen, brought it to the school located around the corner from the Sixers’ practice facility, where about 30 juniors and seniors participated during a 2023-24 school year that ended Friday. Those graduates received a $10,000 scholarship from the foundation, along with exposure to college and career opportunities.

“‘Battier’ has given me a family,” said Emani Lopez, one of Ellen’s mentees who plans to pursue photography. “I’ve been able to grow as a person, with not only [my classmates], but also our mentors. I feel like they understand us, and they keep it real with us. They don’t sugarcoat. …

“It feels good to know that there are people out there that do want to see you succeed. … They guide us, and they help us to get to that path that we want to get to.”

GUIDE, which stands for Giving Underserved Individuals Direction in Education, launched in 2016 at Miami Central High School, near where the Battiers now reside following Shane’s 13-year NBA career. And Camden was a natural place to expand.

The Battiers had a connection to the Moreys, who were seeking philanthropic opportunities in the area after Daryl joined the Sixers’ front office in 2020. Sixers general manager Elton Brand was Battier’s teammate and roommate during their college careers at Duke. Heidi is a Villanova alumna. And the program is run day-to-day by associate director Hannah Hays, who previously worked part-time for the Take Charge Foundation while completing her law degree at the University of Miami, before coincidentally moving to Philly.

Now nicknamed “Battier North,” the students this year took part in twice-weekly programming focused on college and career preparation.

They were tasked with completing 10 projects, ranging from creating a resumé (“It’s OK to talk good about yourself. It’s OK to be confident,” Lopez said she learned) and sending a networking email. They huddled around a computer together, deciphering the complex FAFSA financial-aid form. And they connected in-person with mentors from a variety of professional fields.

“I really want to emphasize that we’re not coming in and teaching these kids or making them great,” said Hays, who also holds a master’s degree in higher education policy and administration from Boston College. “All we’re doing is giving them the platform to shine.”

Those regular interactions also include Daryl and Ellen, who said she burst into tears the first time she met last year’s initial class and now serves on the Take Charge Foundation board. When one student questioned a Sixers player’s salary while being interviewed for the program, Daryl welcomed the feedback. When another gave a speech about being inspired by actor Rita Moreno’s performance in the film West Side Story, the Moreys (who are avid musical theater fans) helped her get an internship at the Philadelphia Theatre Company. When learning how to play chess came up during a session, Morey guided the group through an impromptu game on Chess.com.

“It’s exactly what we hoped to do when we got started,” Daryl told The Inquirer. “We wanted this to be a high-personal-touch endeavor, where we got to intimately know the kids.”

At last month’s end-of-year celebration, Morey was pleased to hear students were considering a wider range of career possibilities than during initial conversations nearly two years ago. Ciara Rivera, for instance, was inspired by mentor and Sixers in-house reporter Lauren Rosen to study communications at Rowan University and hopes to become a social media manager. Morey expects the program to become even more gratifying as the years progress, when these students finish college and enter the workforce.

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And as the Battiers plan to launch another GUIDE program in Shane’s hometown of Detroit, they can view Battier North as an indicator of success. Hays points to a Lunch and Learn day at the Sixers’ facility as an example of the empowerment it can provide. As they began a string of sessions with various Sixers employees, some students acknowledged to vice president for athlete care Simon Rice that they were nervous or intimidated by their surroundings.

“He looked at them and said, ‘But you were invited here, so you belong here. This conference room is for you. You have a meeting here today,’” Hays said. “Those are the kinds of people that I’m really grateful that the Sixers organization has connected us with. …

“I was blown away. He said it so easily, and it really did allow my students to see, ‘Yeah, I deserve to be in this room and this space.’”