Chess Dreams History:
Ozzie Stone, the founder and CEO of Chess Dreams walked around in his new high school’s community and saw the problems it faced. Amongst the many problems he realized that many of the Jersey City public schools faced tight budgets and had a hard time getting through to kids. Ozzie realized that when he was younger he had the benefit of learning how to play chess, a skill that helped him succeed in school. So he decided to create a program that would give the same benefits he had to the kids in the neighboring public schools. Ozzie wanted to create a program in which kids would learn without even realizing that they were being taught. Chess Dreams was born on October 20th, 2011 in Jersey City, NJ when Ozzie walked in to Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School (P.S. 11) and pitched his idea to the school principal. Immediately, the principal thought it would be a great idea and implemented the program.
From then on Ozzie has been finding other high school students, in addition to himself, who are also interested in teaching chess. He then expanded the Chess program to two schools, then seven schools, and hopes to expand the program even further in the future.