Devin Boone doesn’t necessarily have the grades for college, just the desire.
But that will get him in the door of historically black Florida Memorial University this fall.
Under a partnership between Miami-based FMU and Boone’s soon-to-be-alma mater, South Gwinnett High School, the university guarantees admission to young black males from the Snellville high school, regardless of their grades or SAT scores.
It’s the newest of two initiatives in Gwinnett, the state’s largest school system, aimed at improving the academic prospects of young black males.
The other is a mentoring program that pairs adult males with middle school students. The interaction has been a life-saver for Jamar Tindall, says his mother, Capricia Kegler of Suwanee.
“If it wasn’t for this program, I don’t know what I would have done,” Kegler said. “It’s turned around his attitude about life and his grades.”
The academic struggles of young black men have been well-documented. In 2010, three high-profile national research studies found that less than half of black male students graduate from high school in four years. Black male students are three times more likely than their white peers to be suspended or expelled, according to the studies.
That was a concern to administrators in majority-minority Gwinnett Public Schools, where, according to state data, 24,580 of the school system’s 161,665 students are black males, including 750 who attend South Gwinnett.
The college program
Teresa Wilburn, director of the college and career center at South Gwinnett High School, said Boone and nine other SGH seniors have been accepted to Florida Memorial for the fall.
All had recommendations from a teacher, counselor or community leader and had written essays on topics such as leadership, character, motivation and tenacity.
For some, who are what Wilburn calls “late bloomers,” the guaranteed acceptance provides “a second change to go to college.”
“They are very talented and smart. Just for whatever reason, in their freshman or sophomore year, they were having a tough time,” Wilburn said.
Boone and classmates Philip Love and Brandon Dacres are enthusiastic about their prospects at Florida Memorial.
Love, who played football at South Gwinnett for four years, had been thinking of going straight into the Army until he heard of the “good opportunity” the school offered. He hopes to major in business.
But college had been a childhood dream for Boone and a long-time expectation for Dacres.
“I goofed off like every freshman, but I got my act together,” Dacres said. “I realized college was what I wanted. This year, I made the honor roll.”
The partnership with Florida Memorial was just cemented this spring, and Wilburn expects more students will participate next year. She also hopes it will be extended to black females.
The program’s been in place at Florida Memorial since 1994, wherethe South Gwinnett students will receive tutoring and the “undivided attention” of student mentors, program coordinator Kareem Coney said. Students in the program pay normal tuition, minus any scholarships or financial aid they receive.
The mentoring program
About 100 men, most college graduates in their 40s, are mentoring black boys, usually ages 12 to 14, in Gwinnett middle schools, said James Rayford, the system’s director of academic support.
The volunteer mentors are go to schools weekly to encourage the boys’ academic success and to be a male role model and friend. Most of the boys come from single-parent homes, Rayford said. Jamar and his mentor, for example, go golfing, out to dinner or just hang out together.
More than 150 students have had the one-on-one mentoring since 2009.
Teachers, Rayford said, report a difference in the students’ academic performance and behavorior.
More than 80 percent of the mentored students are keeping up with their classwork and being promoted to the next grade, Rayford said.
“I believe the program gives the boys a sense of belonging and instills confidence to know that there are men in the community who are there to support and encourage them to succeed in school,” Rayford said.
Jamar’s mother said the difference is unbelievable in everything from Jamal’s now 88 average in math to his attitude.
“His history was terrible,” she said. “Now he wants to go to school and college. And before he really didn’t care.”
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