Shoe Club Nation is searching Michigan for middle school teachers who believe every kid has a story worth telling. Applications open April 21.

Somewhere in a Michigan middle school right now, a teacher is staying late for a student no one else has figured out how to reach. Shoe Club Nation wants to find that teacher.

The program, founded by Matt Hamilton, recipient of the 2024 MEA Educational Excellence Award and the 2025 NEA Award for Teaching Excellence, and built around 230-plus donated shoes from figures including Michael Jordan, Tim Allen, and Jane Goodall, has spent 18 years proving a single idea: when kids feel valuable, they act valuable. Now it is searching Michigan for the educators ready to prove it in their own schools.

The search is called Michigan’s Top Educator All-Stars. It is open only to educators who apply directly. No nominations. No administrative endorsements required. Just the willingness to create a truly transformative program in their school.

Each Shoe Club Nation chapter brings 20 to 30 middle school members into direct contact with the stories behind shoes donated by some of the most remarkable people of our time. The collection includes shoes from athletes, scientists, civil rights icons, entertainers, and entrepreneurs, each pair chosen because its donor’s life embodies the program’s four pillars: Dream Big, Set Goals, Work Hard, and Give Back.

But the famous shoes are not the point. They are the door. What’s on the other side is a student who, sometimes for the first time, understands that their own story has value, and starts acting like it does.

In East Jordan, Shoe Club Nation students have raised $163,000 for a veterans’ memorial, converted their school building to solar power, and designed custom cleats for Detroit Lions All-Pro Amon-Ra St. Brown. Their work has been featured in Sports Illustrated Kids and recognized with the National Education Association’s highest honors.

In 2025–26, Shoe Club Nation completed its First Circle pilot with four Michigan chapters: East Jordan, Boyne City, JoBurg-Lewiston, and Whitehall. Each chapter, led by a passionate educator, demonstrated that the model works beyond its founding school.

Applications open April 21, 2026 at shoeclubnation.org/start. The deadline is May 31, 2026.

The selected All-Stars will be announced publicly in July 2026, one per day, each with a dedicated local press announcement in their home community. Each All-Star will receive:

• Full Shoe Club Nation chapter launch support and curriculum.
• The “Shoe Club in a Box,” which includes Leader guides, teacher training videos and coaching, monthly calendars for meetings and events, and easy-to-follow case studies from successful chapters.
• Mentorship from First Circle pilot chapter leaders.
• Direct connection with Matt Hamilton and the SCN leadership team.
• A dedicated student field trip to the Shoe Club Nation exhibit at the Grand Rapids Public Museum, opening March 2027.

Michigan’s Top Educator All-Stars applications open April 21 at shoeclubnation.org/start.

Shoe Club Nation is a youth development program built around the stories of 230-plus donated shoes from notable athletes, entrepreneurs, artists, and public figures. Founded in 2008 by Matt Hamilton, recipient of the 2024 MEA Educational Excellence Award and the 2025 NEA Award for Teaching Excellence, at East Jordan High School, the program teaches students to Walk in Their Value, a guiding philosophy brought to life through the shoe stories and the program’s four pillars: Dream Big, Set Goals, Work Hard, and Give Back. Shoe Club Nation completed its First Circle pilot in 2025–26 with four Michigan chapters and is expanding to additional schools in 2026–27. A year-long exhibit of the collection will open at the Grand Rapids Public Museum in March 2027. Learn more at shoeclubnation.org.