Transcripts
text | pdf |
SPEAKER 1: 450 kids will have a fighting chance to go to college thanks to a new initiative announced today by the Minneapolis Foundation and the Minneapolis--
TIARA BELLAPHANT: I remember that day. I got picked to go on a field trip with my third-grade class. What I didn't know was I was going to the kickoff of Destination 2010. We got official T-shirts and listened to some speakers in a huge auditorium.
SPEAKER 2: This morning, when I came in, I had the opportunity to talk with the kids. I asked them if they knew what this meant. And they said, yes, it means that we have a scholarship to college.
TIARA BELLAPHANT: I was excited. My first thought was, I'm rich. I was doing cartwheels and backflips. I thought I had it made.
Back then, the odds were against me. I attended Maxfield Elementary School. At the time, it was on academic probation. Only about 60% of students in Saint Paul public schools were graduating from high school. And for me, being African-American, the odds were even lower.
I never knew why my class was picked to be a part of Destination 2010, but I recently heard Dr. Emmett Carson was the man behind this project. He was head of the Minneapolis Foundation at the time. So I called him to ask.
EMMETT CARSON (ON PHONE): Tiara?
TIARA BELLAPHANT: Yes.
EMMETT CARSON (ON PHONE): Hi, Emmett Carson. How are you?
TIARA BELLAPHANT: I'm good.
EMMETT CARSON (ON PHONE): Congratulations to you this year.
TIARA BELLAPHANT: Thank you.
EMMETT CARSON (ON PHONE): You're a big time senior.
TIARA BELLAPHANT: Yeah.
[LAUGHS]
EMMETT CARSON (ON PHONE): And where are you headed off--
TIARA BELLAPHANT: Dr. Carson told me that there was nothing special about my class. We just happened to be in a low-performing school in third grade at the time. It turns out statistics show that you can predict whether or not a student will graduate by their third grade test scores.
EMMETT CARSON (ON PHONE): And I felt that that was intolerable. And so that we needed to show that that wasn't inevitable, that there were things that we could do to change those outcomes.
TIARA BELLAPHANT: So the program took us all in and invested in our future so more of us will graduate and go to college. Some of us did well in school and some of us had trouble. For me, school was easy. It was more fun than work. Rickeisha Powell was one of the students who had a hard time. She was in my school when Destination 2010 started so I went to her house to ask her some questions.
RICKEISHA POWELL: So now I can't look at the questions?
TIARA BELLAPHANT: No, Rickeisha. I asked her how school was for her.
RICKEISHA POWELL: I just hated school so much. I mean, like, dang, I had senioritis my whole-- ever since kindergarten.
TIARA BELLAPHANT: How would you be different without Destination 2010?
RICKEISHA POWELL: Oh, I'd be a hot mess.
TIARA BELLAPHANT: Rickeisha is still kind of a hot mess.
RICKEISHA POWELL: I'll still be going to Central sleeping in class.
TIARA BELLAPHANT: Yep, that's Rickeisha.
RICKEISHA POWELL: Can we start over?
TIARA BELLAPHANT: We both agreed that Destination 2010 kept her on track. I asked her what exactly motivated her.
RICKEISHA POWELL: The scholarship to be dead honest. That made me get motivated for school. And every time I felt like I'd quit it, my mom just reminded me that, you don't have to worry about college and everything. It's there for you. You just have to make it to it.
TIARA BELLAPHANT: Actually, the scholarship will only cover a fraction of my college expenses, but it's important to me, too. My mom always wanted me to go to college, but we never knew how we would pay for it. She was a single parent raising three kids on a low income. We thought of the scholarship as a good start.
But in sixth grade, I almost dropped out of the program. To get the money, you have to attend school in Saint Paul or Minneapolis, and my mom decided she wanted to move to Las Vegas to help my grandma. Thankfully, at the very last minute, she changed her mind. Two-thirds of the students who started in Destination 2010 did drop out of the program over the years. I don't know what happened to most of them, but I'm still friends with Ashley Hollman.
ASHLEY HOLLMAN: We were in every class together.
TIARA BELLAPHANT: I've known Ashley since I was young.
ASHLEY HOLLMAN: I couldn't even say Destination. I remember when I was at Maxfield, I couldn't even say Destination. I would just say 2010 because my mouth wouldn't say-- I would say-- [STAMMERS] 2010.
[LAUGHS]
TIARA BELLAPHANT: And back then, I didn't even know what 2010 stood for. Ashley and I were apart for the first time when she moved out of the school district. She had behavioral issues and wanted to move so her parents sent her to Roseville Area Middle School.
ASHLEY HOLLMAN: I didn't make any friends. I had. I made one friend. I can't even-- honestly, I can't remember anybody.
TIARA BELLAPHANT: Dr. Carson said that moving around makes it harder for students to do well in school. Ashley did well even though she moved. But for other friends of mine, changing schools made it harder on their academics. And even though Ashley is heading off to college in the fall, she's upset that she's not as prepared as some Destination 2010 students.
ASHLEY HOLLMAN: I promise I didn't start thinking about college until my senior year. You don't do that. You should already be thinking about college.
But it was never put in front of me. It was never put right in my face. It was more of a stumbled across, oh, yeah. I should probably take my ACT now. I didn't take any type of ACT prep course. No.
TIARA BELLAPHANT: Destination 2010 gave me the opportunity to take ACT prep courses, attend leadership camps, and go on out-of-state college tours.
- This one's you?
[GIGGLES]
TIARA BELLAPHANT: A couple of weeks ago, I came home and found my mom putting together pictures for my graduation open house. I asked her, how would I be different without Destination 2010? She said, I would have graduated regardless, but I probably would have taken a year off or I've gone to a two-year school instead of Tennessee State University.
SPEAKER 3: Yahoo! I think it's great. I think being on the college tour, you got to choose which college you thought would fit you. And because it was your first pick, I'm very happy for you.
TIARA BELLAPHANT: I agree, it's the best for me. I will be attending the college of my choice and getting a chance to experience life outside of Saint Paul. Looking back, my mom says Destination 2010 really got me thinking about college early.
SPEAKER 3: I would have probably talked to you about college, but not as young as third grade. So I probably would have waited till a later time, yeah, maybe ninth grade.
TIARA BELLAPHANT: But Destination 2010 did more than that. It has made me more outgoing, open minded, and comfortable with myself. I've learned leadership skills and I've met positive people with similar goals. But that's not what Dr. Carson said the program was started for. So I called him back to ask, is that success?
EMMETT CARSON (ON PHONE): Absolutely. I think everyone responds to opportunities based on where they are. The question is whether or not it moved you forward. And at least I think that it made you more aware of the opportunities in front of you. If we just create a little bit of energy, those that were going will go further and those that weren't going at all will get on the boat.
TIARA BELLAPHANT: I do plan to go further. And sometimes, I wonder what will happen if all third graders were offered $10,000 and help from a program along the way to college. For Minnesota Public Radio news, I'm Tiara Bellaphant.