At 15, Carver Promise has evolved

Dorinda Marks, W'92, (c.) gets to know Carver Elementary School students during the early days of the Carver Promise program.

BY BARBARA FITZGERALD

Fifteen years after its launch, Carver Promise has evolved into a program that is different, but just as purposeful as the one originally envisioned.

The seeds of the innovative plan to help prepare the city’s at-risk children for higher education were sown at the University of Richmond in 1991 and grew into an unprecedented coalition between Richmond Public Schools and four city colleges: Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Union University and J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College.

The original promise of the Carver Promise was multifaceted. Every third year the program was to offer third-grade students at inner-city George Washington Carver Elementary a chance to enlist a college student as a personal and academic mentor for the rest of their elementary, middle and   secondary school years. The students at Carver, many of them residents of the city’s oldest housing project, Gilpin Court, would also have a standing offer for need-based college tuition assistance upon graduation, enabling any who qualified for admission to attend one of the four colleges. Finally, the student’s family also would be nurtured and assisted in learning how to help their student grow academically and socially.

Today, those heading the program focus on what they consider to be a more realistic approach to helping high-risk children. Lisa Winn, who oversees the program from her office at Carver School, points out that public education has changed greatly in Richmond during the 15 years that the Carver Promise has been in operation. 

“When this all began,” she says, “the student population at Carver was about a thousand—twice what it is now. Also we had no SOLs in those days, so it was easier for the college student mentors to get the kids out of class to tutor and work with them individually. Now the teachers are reluctant for them to leave and risk missing important information they might need for that testing. It is a huge necessity to improve the SOL scores for Carver, and everyone feels the pressure.”

The volunteer mentors from the area’s four colleges work around the new realities. If their tutorial role has been reduced somewhat, their mentoring responsibilities have increased. “It’s so important that the college students expose these children to that other world, to a college campus and a bit of college life,” says Winn. 

“Being in contact with someone who actually goes to college helps our students keep the concept of education in focus, helps them to know what’s out there. The mentors take their students on campus visits, field trips and to ballgames. They do workshops and back-to-school and end-of-year programs. Carver Promise has been a wonderful thing for Carver students, and I expect for our college volunteers as well.”

Jeremy Smith, ’07, of Hillsborough, N.C., has been mentoring sixth-grader Eric for two years. Last year, Smith went to Carver once a week, helping Eric with that day’s schoolwork and, afterwards, playing games or visiting outside the classroom. 

“I think what Eric likes about the program,” says Smith, “is that … he has someone come every week to school specifically to spend time with him and work with him. That gives him something extra to look forward to and work for during the school week. Eric is a great and funny kid. Spending time with him in school has been one of the best things I have done at Richmond. The program is an easy way for students from out of town like me to get in touch with the community of Richmond.  It is definitely true that I get as much out of the Carver Promise program as Eric does.”

Katie Fischer, ’09, of Brick, N.J., echoes Smith’s enthusiasm. “I have had an absolutely sensational experience so far,” she says. She has been working with Elijah, who entered the program with a different mentor two years ago.  

“I adore him,” says Fischer. “He is a pleasure to work with, and I love helping to make a difference in his life.” Last year, Fischer went to Carver every Wednesday, where she and Elijah spent time working on math or reading, working on the computer or playing games. 

“Sometimes” says Fischer, “we just talked about our family and friends.” Elijah’s teacher thanked Fischer for helping him with his multiplication of decimals, saying his latest tests were outstanding. “Hearing her say that made me feel so proud that I could make a difference in his life.”  Fischer is working with Elijah again this year, following his progress into middle school.

Many volunteers believe the personal contact might be the most important benefit of the program. Margaret Keliher, ’08, of Dallas, Texas, is a bit overwhelmed knowing that the father of the student she mentors was shot and killed. “She has seen so much more than I have in my whole 20 years,” says the Richmond junior. “Watching her grow is the most rewarding thing I’ve done.” 

Keliher says the facilities at Carver are challenging. She organized a fundraiser on campus last year to provide Carver students with school supplies.  “These kids need supportive people around them so much. I have a brother who is 10, so I have some idea where kids in that age group are supposed to be, and it’s frustrating and sometimes depressing to make the comparison.”

Keliher reaps great rewards from the program, though. “I love it that she’s excited to see me. I’m making a difference, an impact on someone’s life.  It might be a small difference, but it’s a difference—one kid at a time.”

Winn mentions that while two of the original third-grade classes participating in the program have now graduated from high school, so far no students have taken advantage of the part of the promise that offers college tuition assistance. Several of those original third-graders did go on to college, but in other parts of Virginia. 

“It’s still a college-focused program,” says Winn, “but today we have to acknowledge that many of our students are not going to be in that population. A reasonable definition of success now is having a student be successful in high school, stay in school and graduate. Keep in mind that many of their parents did not graduate high school. Considering the population we work with, my standard of success is if they get that diploma.

“It’s important that the Carver Promise be a program that can move with the evolution of education and the realities of the world,” Winn adds. “It is and it does. By 2010, we will have adopted all the children at Carver into the program, not just intermittent third-grade classes. And while we’ll still follow them into middle and high school, 85 percent of the focus will be on Carver and its students. This is the time you work to bring them to the next level.”

Fifteen years of experience may have altered the program’s perspectives and focus a bit, but the promise is still good and in a variety of important ways being fulfilled.