With a donation of 100,000 kroner from 'Fonden Sol og Strand by Margit og Kjeld', LøkkeFonden has the opportunity to create additional capacity at the Boys' Academy, which is a 14-day intensive educational program taking place during the summer vacation.

– This donation means that we now have the funds for two more boys to participate in the Boys' Academy, says Lars Andersen, who is the program leader at LøkkeFonden.

The Boys' Academy was first held in 2012 and will be conducted for the 13th time in 2024. The target group is boys in seventh and eighth grade, and what they have in common is that they have lost faith in their own worth and potential.

The aim is to improve the boys' skills in Danish and mathematics so that they pass the primary school leaving exam and can be assessed as ready for education in 9th/10th grade.

The Boys' Academy is characterized by a very clear structure, where there is a carefully planned daily routine with a program from 7:30 AM to 10:00 PM, and where the teaching is based on each student's academic level.

Each year, the academy receives 250-300 applications, and of these, 110 boys are given a place in a program.

– Today, we see an increasing number of boys being squeezed in the system due to academic challenges combined with having been diagnosed. This creates a breeding ground for distress, which is not only a burden during adolescence and for the young people's social life, schooling, and learning but also in relation to educational and job opportunities, says Lars Andersen, who does not wish to point fingers at the primary school, but he notes that – with 28 students in a class – it can be difficult to take individual considerations.

– We have the opportunity to conduct very differentiated teaching, and our focus is to create development for each individual.

In addition to giving the boys an academic boost, the goal is also to lift them mentally so that they leave the program with greater self-confidence and a sense of camaraderie with the other boys.

– With us, they experience a community where they find out that they are not alone in struggling, and they discover how they can move forward. These boys also have a desire for a good life, and they dream, for example, of becoming a lawyer, carpenter, or something else, but often they have built up a narrative that they are not good at anything, says Lars Andersen.

According to Lars Andersen, experiences show that the Boys' Academy has a 'positive long-term effect on the boys' readiness for education, average grades, and whether they pass the primary school leaving exam.'

Joy among the founders of the foundation

The couple Margit and Kjeld Andersen established Sol og Strand Holiday Home Rental A/S in 1979. The couple has now transferred ownership to a foundation with the desire to both preserve and develop the business in Danish hands and to support charitable and local causes.

– It is gratifying for us that we can support an organization like LøkkeFonden, which manages to give boys who are struggling in school a boost. In this way, they get the opportunity to educate themselves and eventually create the possibility for a good life, says Margit and Kjeld Andersen.

In total, the foundation has donated nearly three million kroner this year, and the expectation is that this amount will increase in the future.