Going through school as an underrepresented or minority student can be challenging, especially when it comes to relating to peers.
That’s why Westerville City Schools has launched the Student Connections Initiative – a program that connects students to mentors and tutors, diverse literature they might not otherwise be exposed to, and resources that address their growing pains.
Photos courtesy of Westerville City Schools
In 2015, Coordinator of Minority Student Achievement Cynthia DeVese, along with additional facilitators, applied for three grants through the district with the goal of targeting minority and underrepresented students. Minority students, DeVese says, are students of color – black, Latino, Asian, etc. Underrepresented students can be students with special needs, or students who face socioeconomic challenges.
“We helped write all three of those grants, so when the Westerville Education Foundation saw (the applications), they said they’d always wanted to work on a diversity initiative,” DeVese says. “We came up with Student Connections, and they funded it with a separate pool of money they’d previously set aside for a diversity initiative.”
Out of that nearly $10,000, three separate Student Connections Initiative programs were born: the Spirit Book Club, Mentors Opening Doors and Enriching Lives (MODEL) and Minority Scholars.
“We’ve had great feedback,” DeVese says. “Parents want to know how to get their kids involved, and students who haven’t been participating want to start participating.”
Spirit Book Club
The Spirit Book Club is active in all four of the district’s middle schools, and is facilitated by teachers and counselors. There are about seven titles that circulate among the students in each club, DeVese says, each one a Coretta Scott King Book Award winner.
“We wanted to put those books in students’ hands and encourage them to read books they wouldn’t normally read,” DeVese says.
The students engage in activities related to the books – they meet in small groups once or twice a month and have discussions on the novel’s themes and other related topics.
While evaluating the books, students named Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson and The Crossover by Kwame Alexander as two of their favorites. Participants don’t have to be students of color, DeVese says. The door is open to anyone who wants to join and participate.
“It’s really interesting,” DeVese says. “Through these evaluations, we find out how many books students are reading on their own each year. A lot say they don’t read very often – maybe one to two books. And now, we’re doubling the amount of books they’re reading by putting them in their hands.”
MODEL
Right now, MODEL exists solely at Heritage Middle School and serves more than 60 eighth-grade girls. The girls meet with about nine other community mentors, guidance counselors and program coaches once a month during lunch to engage in programming that’s centered around empowering young women.
“We’ve had motivational speakers come in and discuss bullying, leadership building, self-esteem, how to be an entrepreneur,” DeVese says.
Just like Spirit Book Club, DeVese says, MODEL is open to all students.
“When you come into the room, it’s very diverse and balanced out,” she says. “We want to make sure everyone’s connected to someone they don’t know. That way, they can hear different perspectives on life.”
Eventually, DeVese says, the plan is to expand MODEL to the other middle schools.
“We invited counselors from the other three middle schools to observe our first year, in hopes they’ll implement it in the 2016-17 school year,” DeVese says.
Minority Scholars
The Minority Scholars program serves as an after-school mentoring and tutoring program for students of color in eighth, ninth and tenth grades. The program operates in all three of Westerville’s high schools.
“It came about when we realized that, in our advanced-level courses, minority students were significantly underrepresented,” DeVese says. “We did a big push to find those students who tested well in math, reading and science, but didn’t enroll in advanced classes.”
After locating the students, teachers and counselors worked to encourage them to enroll in advanced classes. And if they chose to enroll, they were paired with peers in 10th, 11th and 12th grades who had already completed the course. Those mentors are students of color, too.
“We wanted to make sure the students who were taking on the challenge saw students just like themselves who were successful in that particular course,” DeVese says. “We need students like them so they can say, ‘We can do it, too.’”
Through the program, students have the opportunity to meet with students and professionals in various fields. In 2015, they toured The Ohio State University campus and spoke with engineering students.
“We want to make them aware of what’s out there,” DeVese says. “We hope the students can connect with individuals who will give them the opportunity to job shadow. We want to help students make the best choices.”
Hannah Bealer is an editor. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
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