For 18 years, Shoe Club Nation lived in a single Michigan middle school classroom. This past school year, it lived in four. Today, founder Matt Hamilton announced that the program will expand to ten additional Michigan schools for the 2026-27 academic year, on the strength of a First Circle pilot that produced measurable cultural shifts across every participating district.

The expansion follows the program’s first year of operation beyond the building where it was founded. Hamilton, winner of MEA’s 2024 Educational Excellence Award and the NEA Foundation’s 2025 award for Teaching Excellence, has taught Shoe Club Nation at East Jordan Middle School since 2008. Until last fall, no chapter had ever existed without him in the room. The First Circle pilot was designed to answer a single question: would the model work somewhere else, with somebody else, in another building, with another principal.

It worked.

Across the 2025-26 academic year, four chapters operated simultaneously. The founding chapter at East Jordan Middle School, plus three new chapters at Boyne City Middle School, JoBurg-Lewiston Middle School, and Whitehall Middle School. Each was led by a different educator. Each operated independently. Each produced the kind of student culture shift that administrators describe as difficult to manufacture and easy to recognize when it appears.

“It’s a powerful reminder that when students learn the value of kindness and service, it strengthens the entire culture of our school,” said Mike Wilson, principal at Boyne City Middle School.

Pilot chapter members read Value Up, the program’s foundational text co-authored by Hamilton, donated a personal shoe to their school’s collection, and wrote ten life goals with implementation plans. The four chapters together brought roughly 100 middle school students into direct contact with the 230-plus shoes in the Shoe Club Nation collection. The collection includes pairs from Michael Jordan, Dolly Parton, Jane Goodall, Ruby Bridges, Tony Hawk, Phil Knight, Steven Spielberg, Temple Grandin, and many others. Each pair was donated by someone whose life embodies one or more of the program’s four pillars: Dream Big, Set Goals, Work Hard, Give Back.

What the pilot proved is not that the famous shoes carry the program. It is that the curriculum behind them does. Chapter leaders in three districts, none of which had Hamilton in the building, led the same student transformations he has been leading in East Jordan since 2008.

“It’s not only the most fun you can have as a teacher, it’s the most rewarding,” said Chris Baxter, Shoe Club Leader in Boyne City.

The Search for the Next Ten

The 2026-27 expansion will be filled through Michigan’s Top Educator All-Stars, a statewide search for the next ten chapter leaders that opened April 21 at shoeclubnation.org/start. The application is open to Michigan middle school educators directly. No nominations. No administrative endorsements required. The deadline is May 31, 2026.

Selected All-Stars will be announced publicly in July 2026, one per day over consecutive days, each with a dedicated press moment in the educator’s home community. Each selected educator receives full chapter launch support and the program curriculum, the “Shoe Club in a Box” leader kit with training videos and monthly meeting calendars, mentorship from First Circle pilot leaders, direct connection with Hamilton and the Shoe Club Nation leadership team, and a dedicated student field trip to the Shoe Club Nation exhibit opening at the Grand Rapids Public Museum in March 2027.

“The pilot answered a question we’d been asked for 18 years,” Hamilton said. “Does this work somewhere else, with somebody else, in another building, with another principal. The students at Boyne City, JoBurg-Lewiston, and Whitehall answered it for us this year. We’re ready for ten more.”

About Shoe Club Nation

Shoe Club Nation is a youth development program built around the stories of 230-plus donated shoes from notable athletes, entrepreneurs, artists, scientists, and public figures. Founded in 2008 by Matt Hamilton at East Jordan Middle 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 ten 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.