The Leonidas Foundation gives high school students from every background the skills, mentors and real-world experiences that open doors, through a year-long leadership and entrepreneurship program taught inside their own schools.
Every student who has started the L.E.O. Program has finished it. Most go on to college, and most say it helped them land their first internship or job.
students in the L.E.O. Program since 2017
program completion and graduation rate
went on to attend college
Shark Tank scholarship recipients
say L.E.O. helped them land internships and jobs
secured a full-time job after college
Outcomes from Leonidas Foundation alumni reporting, 2017–2026.
The L.E.O. Program™ is an in-school elective built on the INCubatoredu curriculum from Uncharted Learning. Students work in teams to build a business idea, coached by volunteer founders, executives and professionals, and present it to real investors.
Students apply, complete a questionnaire and interview for a place in the cohort.
New members are pinned as representatives of a pay-it-forward culture.
An entrepreneurship course rooted in financial literacy, taking teams from ideation to an investor pitch.
CEOs, founders and professionals coach students in class, with guest speakers every month.
Students go inside companies like UPS and Morgan Stanley to see how leaders work.
A multi-day summer leadership summit in Washington, D.C., hosted on a university campus.
Teams pitch their businesses to a panel of judges for scholarship awards.
Winning ideas earn scholarships, and some students earn internships.
Students run toy and food drives, and alumni return as mentors and speakers.
“LEO made a great impact on my ability to network and engage with more experienced professionals, giving me lots of contacts and opportunities to interact with them from a young age.”
L.E.O. alum
“Take every opportunity. You grow the most outside your comfort zone.”
Maria, L.E.O. student, with her advice for next year’s class
“The L.E.O. program has taught me the importance of helping others in the professional world.”
Cohort 1 alum, Don Bosco Preparatory High School
“My LEO experience was a blessing.”
Cohort 4 alum, Mount Saint Dominic Academy
2026 Summit: July 9–12 at The Catholic University of America
Each summer L.E.O. students spend four days in Washington, D.C. learning from leaders in government, business and public service. Schools pay $500 per student for an experience worth about twice that; the Foundation covers the rest.
Five partner schools across New Jersey, New York and Greece, with three more planned for 2027–28.
It costs $60,000 to launch L.E.O. at a new school for 25 students, including the curriculum, mentors, site visits, the D.C. Summit and Shark Tank.
Bring L.E.O. to your school
For five years The UPS Foundation and UPS leaders have hosted L.E.O. students on site visits, volunteered as mentors and helped fund the program’s growth into new schools.
At a UPS sorting facility, students met an employee who started as a driver and rose to corporate leadership. One of them went on to pitch a temperature-controlled lunchbox for UPS drivers at Shark Tank.
Host a site visit or mentor a team
Seeing our community come out for the 10th Annual Leo Vagias Memorial Golf Classic means absolutely everything to us. Funds raised this year go straight toward bringing L.E.O. to new schools.
Our annual Washington, D.C. Leadership Summit is about so much more than visiting our nation’s capital. Here is a look back at four days of panels, workshops and a full-day entrepreneurship boot camp.
Real-world exposure makes all the difference. This spring, students from West Side High School and Mount Saint Dominic Academy went behind the scenes at UPS and Morgan Stanley.
Leonidas “Leo” Vagias was 19 when he died in a car accident on June 20, 2016, alongside his friend Samuel Cali. Leo was known for his kindness, his love of business and people, and his instinct to stand up for the underdog.
His family and friends started the Leonidas Foundation that year to carry that spirit forward, by giving high school students the mentors, experiences and opportunities Leo would have wanted for them. 2026 marks ten years of that work.
“I wish I had this when I was growing up…”™
Our founding idea: give every student the experience we wish we’d had.
The Foundation is led entirely by volunteers, which is how 97% of every dollar reaches students.
James EbertPresident
Stephanie Funcasta, MPHVice President
Kara GrifonettiTreasurer
Brianna PerriconeSecretary
Teddy VagiasTrustee
Frances VagiasTrustee
Alexandra VagiasTrusteeA full year of L.E.O. costs $2,500 per student, covering the curriculum, mentors and speakers, site visits, the D.C. Summit and Shark Tank. Gifts of every size help put a student in the room.
Sponsors one student for a full year of L.E.O., from the first class to Shark Tank.
Sponsor a studentEvery gift goes to student programming, with 97% of each dollar reaching the classroom.
Give what you canPartner gifts come with recognition at our events and a direct connection to the students you support. We’ll shape the details with you.
Prefer to give stock or send a wire transfer? See all ways to give
The Leonidas Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, EIN 81-3116420. Gifts are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Tell us how you’d like to help and someone from the board will get back to you.
