Orland Park Mall celebrates local student with scholarship ceremony

Media Contact: Gayle Gleespen, Orland Square Mall
(708) 349-1647
GGleespen@simon.com

Elizabeth Friedland
(317) 684-7711
efriedland@bch.com

Orland Park Mall celebrates local student with scholarship ceremony

Student receives $1,400 to continue education from Simon Youth Foundation

ORLAND PARK, IL (July 9, 2012) – Raymond Garcia of Orland Park received a Simon Youth Foundation Community Scholarship valued at $1,400 on Wednesday, June 27, 2012. The scholarship is awarded in partnership between Orland Square Mall and Simon Youth Foundation, a national non-profit organization dedicated to providing educational and career development opportunities to youth.

Garcia is a recent graduate of Gordon Tech College Prep and exemplified himself through academic excellence, leadership skills, and participation in both school and community activities.  He plans to study journalism at Ball State University in the fall.

The ceremony was held in his honor in the Mall Office, where Garcia was presented a certificate. Along with mall staff, Gracia’s father Ray, mother Dina and sister Mariola were there in support.

“We are very proud of the Simon Youth Scholarships program, because it has given us the opportunity to support the academic endeavors of promising youth right here in our community such as Raymond,” says Director of Marketing and Business Development Gayle Gleespen. “He is an outstanding individual and we wish him the very best in this exciting new chapter of life.”

With a combined value of more than $1 million, Simon Youth Scholarships have been awarded this spring to at least one student in every nationwide community that is home to a Simon^® property. The highly competitive program awarded one scholarship for every five applicants that applied at SYF.org or their local Simon property.

“Anything is possible with education, and Simon Youth Foundation is committed to igniting this kind of hope in students,” says J. Michael Durnil, Ph.D., President and CEO of SYF.  “We are proud that our Simon Youth Scholarships help remove financial obstacles that would otherwise prevent deserving young people from pursuing the dream to attend college or another post-secondary institution.”

About SYF
Simon Youth Foundation, established in 1998, operates 23academies in 13 U.S. states that give at-risk students the same education they would receive in a traditional classroom while offering the flexibility that their individual circumstances require. Recipient of the Crystal Star Award of Excellence in Dropout Prevention from the National Dropout Prevention Center, the foundation has helped more than 8,000 students earn their high school diploma and provided more than $9.5 million in post-secondary education scholarships to 3,200 students in 42 states. The Education Commission of the United States has recognized the foundation with its Corporate Award for sustained and substantial investment in improving public education.

About Orland Square Mall
Orland Square is located on the corner of 151^st Street and Rt. 45 (LaGrange Road) in Orland Park, Illinois. It is the largest, most upscale shopping center in Chicago’s south suburbs. Orland Square is home to a variety of department stores, specialty shops and restaurants. Follow Orland Square Mall on Twitter at http://twitter.com/orlandsquare or like them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/OrlandSquareMall.

About Simon Property Group
Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) is an S&P 100 company and the largest real estate company in the world.  The Company currently owns or has an interest in 337 retail real estate properties in North America and Asia comprising 245 million square feet. We are headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana and employ approximately 5,500 people in the U.S.  For more information, visit the Simon Property Group website at www.simon.com.