EYE-OPENING STORIES
When a small expense threatens a college education
“A lot of people think if you give a kid a scholarship, now the kid’s set, they’ve got everything they need,” said Chris Metzler, director of student services at Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Pennsylvania. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”
"To a middle-income kid from a neighborhood with two cars in every garage, it may be incomprehensible that something costing less than a few burritos at Chipotle could derail a person’s college education. But for many young people across the country — growing up in homes where there’s little left after paying rent and utilities — the challenge is painfully familiar."
Read 2 Revealing Articles About our Country's Student Debt Crisis Through the Eyes of Borrowers.
They affirm the necessity of diminishing scholarship students' debt burdens via Supplemental Scholarship Awards.
A 41 year-old program manager remarks, "I find it unbelievable that the government and private companies are making so much money from people seeking to make their lives better and contribute to society.”
A 34 year old teacher commented, "The interest rate — it should not be cheaper to borrow money from a bank for a car loan than to borrow money from the government to get an education."
Listen to An Eye-Opening Interview with a College Scholarship Recipient, Rebecca, Who Tells It Like It Is & It Ain’t Easy!
higher education is a proven route to upward mobility & all of our youth deserve a chance to pursue their aspirations
“A lot of people think if you give a kid a scholarship, now the kid’s set, they’ve got everything they need,” said Chris Metzler, director of student services at Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Pennsylvania. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”
"To a middle-income kid from a neighborhood with two cars in every garage, it may be incomprehensible that something costing less than a few burritos at Chipotle could derail a person’s college education. But for many young people across the country — growing up in homes where there’s little left after paying rent and utilities — the challenge is painfully familiar."
Read 2 Revealing Articles About our Country's Student Debt Crisis Through the Eyes of Borrowers.
They affirm the necessity of diminishing scholarship students' debt burdens via Supplemental Scholarship Awards.
A 41 year-old program manager remarks, "I find it unbelievable that the government and private companies are making so much money from people seeking to make their lives better and contribute to society.”
A 34 year old teacher commented, "The interest rate — it should not be cheaper to borrow money from a bank for a car loan than to borrow money from the government to get an education."
Listen to An Eye-Opening Interview with a College Scholarship Recipient, Rebecca, Who Tells It Like It Is & It Ain’t Easy!
higher education is a proven route to upward mobility & all of our youth deserve a chance to pursue their aspirations
Eye-Opening Conundrum Stories that All Out for Change® Seeks to Solve
Richard Antoine White Once Had Little More Than His Tuba. Now, He’s a Musical Pioneer
In Clyde McGrady's book review of the “heart-warming and heart-wrenching” memoir, "I’m Possible: A Story of Survival, a Tuba, and the Small Miracle of a Big Dream", he writes: "Perhaps you didn’t know ... that the tuba would be a vehicle for a powerful story about a young man whose focus, persistence and talent helped him survive a chaotic life in Baltimore while achieving what no Black man in his field has ever done.”
A surprising reason keeping students from finishing college: A lack of transportation,
“...some of the most surprising challenges are not academic but logistical." Shamaari's commute costs over $200 a week between DC and Baltimore.
“I Was a Low-Income College Student. Classes Weren’t the Hard Part.”Anthony Abraham Jack, New York Times
Watch a short TODAY SHOW segment with an aspiring opera singer.
School Counselors Increasingly are Missing Link in Getting Kids to College
Giving Up Wasn’t An Option’: How One Man Beat The Odds To Graduate From College
“A poor DC student beats the odds by graduating from Georgetown University with business degrees.”
Amid a Life of Poverty and Torment, the Cello Became his Instrument of Survival, The Washington Post
AND BOOKS
We support independent local businesses. Check your local store and see if they have or can order these books; otherwise we recommend our local store for online orders, Kramer Books; links provided below.
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“In exquisite, heartfelt prose, the bestselling author of The Distance Between Us brings us this moving account of her experience as a first-generation Latina university student and aspiring writer determined to build a new life for herself one fearless word at a time."
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“An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League.” A Hope in the Unseen tells the story of a heroic American struggle. Learn how Cedric Jennings goes from one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in D.C. to graduating from Brown University and his success beyond.
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"The moving true story of a group of young men growing up on Chicago's West side who form the first all-black high school rowing team in the nation, and in doing so not only transform a sport, but their lives. Growing up on Chicago's Westside in the 90's, Arshay Cooper knows the harder side of life. The street corners are full of gangs, the hallways of his apartment complex are haunted by drug addicts he calls "zombies" with strung out arms, clutching at him as he passes by. His mother is a recovering addict, and his three siblings all sleep in a one room apartment, a small infantry against the war zone on the street below.
….one day as he's walking out of school he notices a boat in the school lunchroom, and a poster that reads "Join the Crew Team". Having no idea what the sport of crew is, Arshay decides to take a chance." |
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“In January 2007, Deval Patrick became the first Black governor of Massachusetts, one of only two Black governors elected in American history. But that was just one triumphant step in a long, improbable journey that began in a poor tenement on South Side of Chicago.”
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"A Navajo basketball team takes on the universal challenges of high school and the great joys and unique obstacles facing Native Americans living on reservations…. This book details Powell’s season-long immersion in the team, the town, and a culture in which there are exhilarating wins, crushing losses, and conversations on long bus rides across the desert about dreams of leaving home and the fear of the same."
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“…presents a sensitive, nuanced account of how a generation of ambitious but underprivileged young Baltimoreans have struggled to succeed. It both challenges long-held myths about inner-city youth and shows how the process of “social reproduction”- where children end up “stuck” in the same place as their parents - is far from inevitable."
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“Charlise Lyles came of age amid turbulent events in Cleveland. She watched dark smoke billow as race riots and a river burned…. Despite a dubious debut in the “slow class” at an aging urban school, Lyles developed a drive to succeed. Then she landed a lucky break-- a scholarship to a prestigious prep school in a wealthy suburb.”
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“…even the fact of my survival is some kind of miracle. But the most miraculous part of my story is not me - it is the people who kept me from falling through the cracks, the people who saved my life. I’m no different from the next person, although I do possess a profound belief in what is possible and a deep gratitude for how I came to be here.”
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A masterpiece of a historical novel! The civil rights battle surfaces in a small 1960s Arkansas town. Sanderia Faye’s Mourner’s Bench, brilliantly and richly narrated through young Sarah, puts in perspective the historical connection to several personal page-turning stories on our book list. The townspeople’s kaleidoscopic complexities and conflicts bring into view how the past infiltrates the present in their lives and the lives of those whose stories are told in books on this page.
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"Drawing on interviews with dozens of undergraduates at one of America’s most famous colleges and on his own experiences as one of the privileged poor, Jack describes the lives poor students bring with them and shows how powerfully background affects their chances of success."
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A book recommended by Anthony Anderson (see our Inspiring Stories page), a student at Oberlin Conservatory of Music perfecting his opera skills. Once I opened it, I couldn’t put it down. It’s one of the many riveting stories I’ve read in the last year: heartwarming for the success Ryan Speedo Green achieved thanks to the good fortune of a middle school teacher starting him on a journey out of poverty and, ultimately to operatic stardom; and heartbreaking, for all those students our educational system leaves behind and for whom “angels” don’t discover.
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"Two kids named Wes Moore were born blocks apart within a year of each other. Both grew up fatherless in similar Baltimore neighborhoods and had difficult childhoods; both hung out on street corners with their crews; both ran into trouble with the police. How, then, did one grow up to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader, while the other ended up a convicted murderer serving a life sentence?"
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"Kristof and WuDunn tell the story of America’s crisis partly through the lives of friends Kristof grew up with in rural Yamhill, Oregon, a working-class area that was hit badly by the disppearance of blue-collar jobs."
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"Tells the stories of students trying to find their way, with hope, joy, frustration, through the application process into college . . . Whether you are facing your own decision about college or simply care about the American promise of social mobility, The Years that Matter Most will change the way you think - not just about higher education, but about the nation itself. "
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IN THE NEWS
‘Queen’s Gambit’ actor Moses Ingram’s unrelenting journey from West Baltimore to Hollywood
In 2012, Moses Ingram, then a freshman at Baltimore City Community College, sat down with a student adviser and shared her goal. She wanted to be an actor. The adviser picked out a thick book of professions, plunked it in front of her and told her to “pick something,” Ingram said. As she stormed away, Ingram considered dropping out. But before she left the building, she walked into another adviser’s office. Ingram steeled herself for another brush off. But Nana Gyesie had a different message: He was there to nurture. The Washington Post, 2/25/2021
The latest crisis: Low-income students are dropping out of college this fall in alarming numbers
Many low-income students say they don’t have good enough WiFi at home to take online courses.
"Students from families with incomes under $75,000 are nearly twice as likely to say they “canceled all plans” to take classes this fall as students from families with incomes over $100,000, according to a U.S. Census Bureau survey in late August.” The Washington Post, 9/16/2020
“I spent the last few months focusing on finding a place to live rather than focusing on school,” said Roshelle Czar, 26, a junior at Sacramento State University. “Due to an emotionally unstable family dynamic, I do not have the privilege of going back to an actual home.” The Washington Post, 9/16/2020
As Teens Moving From Foster Care Reach Adulthood, Obstacles Mount
“Young people at 18 or 21 are at this point of falling off a cliff because they don’t have the support or services they need...They also don’t have the folks they can rely on to help them make difficult decisions in their life and get them on the path to success.” The Washington Post, 11/14/2018
In 2012, Moses Ingram, then a freshman at Baltimore City Community College, sat down with a student adviser and shared her goal. She wanted to be an actor. The adviser picked out a thick book of professions, plunked it in front of her and told her to “pick something,” Ingram said. As she stormed away, Ingram considered dropping out. But before she left the building, she walked into another adviser’s office. Ingram steeled herself for another brush off. But Nana Gyesie had a different message: He was there to nurture. The Washington Post, 2/25/2021
The latest crisis: Low-income students are dropping out of college this fall in alarming numbers
Many low-income students say they don’t have good enough WiFi at home to take online courses.
"Students from families with incomes under $75,000 are nearly twice as likely to say they “canceled all plans” to take classes this fall as students from families with incomes over $100,000, according to a U.S. Census Bureau survey in late August.” The Washington Post, 9/16/2020
“I spent the last few months focusing on finding a place to live rather than focusing on school,” said Roshelle Czar, 26, a junior at Sacramento State University. “Due to an emotionally unstable family dynamic, I do not have the privilege of going back to an actual home.” The Washington Post, 9/16/2020
As Teens Moving From Foster Care Reach Adulthood, Obstacles Mount
“Young people at 18 or 21 are at this point of falling off a cliff because they don’t have the support or services they need...They also don’t have the folks they can rely on to help them make difficult decisions in their life and get them on the path to success.” The Washington Post, 11/14/2018
Just for Fun - 1 Minute Read
“For cyclist, trek with his new pal is the cat’s meow”
Cyclist Dean Nicholson found a kitten as he traveled across Europe. He brought her along for the ride.
KidsPost,The Washington Post, 11/17/2020
Cyclist Dean Nicholson found a kitten as he traveled across Europe. He brought her along for the ride.
KidsPost,The Washington Post, 11/17/2020
So Many Urban, Rural, and American Indian Reservation Youth Need More Than Financial Aid to Succeed; All Out for Change® Fills That Critical Need
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