
By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Three days after leading a free youth basketball camp, siblings AJ and Amber Storr have a new charitable charge to give back in the classroom.
AJ Storr, a 20-year-old guard who will play for Kansas University this season, is donating some of his NIL earnings to help teachers and students at Jackson Charter School. Amber Storr has pledged to help mentor students when returning to Rockford on breaks from Southwest Baptist University in Missouri.
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The Storrs attended the charter school when it was under a different name at a different location. Now, their mother, Annette Brandy, has returned to Rockford to teach at Jackson, 315 Summit St., after spending the past six years teaching in Kankakee. She leads social and emotional learning classes.
“It means a lot to the school for AJ and Amber to come back to the school that they grew up in,” said Tamir Bell, a Jackson Charter School board member and expected incoming board president. “Now they’re coming back and investing back into the students to uplift them.”
AJ Storr is donating $5,000 to help teachers prepare their classrooms with the supplies for students. There will also be 139 backpacks stuffed with school supplies donated to students.
“My mom is a teacher so I always like giving back to schools,” AJ Storr said. “School is where it starts at … It helped me really. It helped me be a part of something, part of the community.”

Amber Storr said when she was a student at Jackson, then called Patriots, she played on the boys basketball teams because there wasn’t one for girls. With the basketball camp and working with students in schools, she hopes to show young girls a path for success.
“Just to be a role model for young girls who want to be involved in sports is something I want to do,” she said.
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The siblings stopped at the school on Tuesday to talk to teachers and announce the donation about two weeks before class begins.
AJ Storr next summer stop is in Phoenix, where he’s one of 15 college counselors in the country tapped to participate in NBA star Damian Lillard’s Formula Zero Elite Camp.

Brandy said she was in her classroom with AJ after Saturday’s basketball camp combing through Facebook marketplace for discounted school supplies.
“We only get $150 to spend on our students,” Brandy said. “He said, that’s all you guys get? Why don’t I match that $150 not only for you but for the other kids in the school.”
The donation is possible thanks to three-year-old rules implemented by the NCAA that allows student athletes to profit from use of their name, image and likeness, often called NIL earnings.
Storr and Brandy said they plan to continue to give back when possible to the school and toward different community needs.
“2024 is a turn around year for Jackson Charter School and AJ is turning back to his community to give back,” Bell said. “It means so much to have this generous donation to continue and increase our motivation and momentum headed into a school year where we’re trying to raise our test scores and raise the academic success stories here at Jackson Charter School.”


This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas