When These Teens Couldn’t Afford College, a Celebrity Invested in Their Future and It’s Clearly Paying Off

Across the country, scores of talented, hardworking and very accomplished teens will not get the opportunity to go to college no matter how well they do in school.
Why? Because they can’t afford it.
Back in 2009, that was the exact situation facing Delaware high school students Jaiquann, Elijah, Darien and Barien. Overcoming extreme hardship, they persevered and were each accepted to their dream colleges. However, they each had a rude awakening when they realized they could never pay for it.
This crushing of aspirations was unfortunate not only for these four students, but for the entire country because a better-educated workforce would certainly benefit everyone. After all, an education is a surefire way for low-income individuals to break into the middle class.
Luckily, something incredible happened for these four young men. And it came in the form of entertainer will.i.am.
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As the Huffington Post reports, five years ago these teens were guests on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” After each shared his story, Winfrey brought out the Black Eyed Peas singer who decided to give them his first-ever i.am scholarships — a full ride for four years, including room and board and books.
“I know my purpose is to continue to inspire young people because it’s just going to keep inspiring me back. I want to do my part,” will.i.am said at the time. “I want to invest in America’s future and I want to send you to college. I am here to let you know that you can be anything you want to be. You are the future of the world.”
Fast forward to present day, and it’s clear that will.i.am’s investment was no mistake. In a recent episode of “Oprah: Where Are They Now?,” Winfrey decided to check in on these now-grown men. And not only have they all become accomplished individuals, they have soared.
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Thanks to will.i.am’s generous gift, Jaiquann is now a teacher after earning a degree in education from Pennsylvania’s Cabrini College. Elijah, an Indiana University of Pennsylvania grad, is working his way into the architectural field. Darien will graduate with an industrial engineering degree from Morgan State University in Baltimore next year, and Barien is set to graduate from pharmacy school in 2016.
Not only that, but these men are also paying it forward to help kids who were just like them. “We’ve been going to a lot of elementary, middle and high school just talking to the youth about how important it is to maintain high grades, how important it is to go to college,” said Jaiquann. “Basically, do whatever it takes to follow your dreams and meet your goals in life.”
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This City Gives Dropouts a Realistic Way to Earn Their Diplomas

Over three million students drop out of high school each year, according to Statistic Brain. And although there have been many successful efforts to prevent future dropouts, such as Chicago’s After School Matters, few programs exist that give opportunities to students who have already quit school.
So that’s where Engage Santa Fe comes in. The idea behind it is to entice students to resume course work by enrolling in a program that’s more attractive to them and realistic for their lifestyle.
“[Dropouts] work 8 to 5. They have families. Who’s going to take care of the baby? Some of them are taking care of their brothers and sisters,” explains local resident Korina Nevarez to the Santa Fe New Mexican.
Given these challenges, creating just the right program has taken creativity, and getting it approved has taken a lot of perseverance. Luckily, Santa Fe’s educators never gave up, despite working on it for a while.
First approved by the school board this spring, Engage Santa Fe was originally going to be funded by the state and run by a private educational company from Florida — though after criticism from Santa Fe teachers, that company withdrew its bid to run the program. That didn’t stop it from moving forward, though; with a combination of funding from the Department of Labor, the school district, and the Santa Fe Community Foundation, the program is currently kicking off enrollment.
To help bring dropouts into the program, the school district has enlisted none better than the dropout’s own peers to canvass neighborhoods. Valerie Alvarado, 18, a recent graduate of Santa Fe High School, and Udell Calzadillas, 19, a student at University of New Mexico, are both peer recruiters. Their goal is to get at least 75 16- to 21-year-old dropouts to resume their education through Engage Santa Fe.
“I want to graduate,” one candidate for the program told them, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican.
Hopefully, with the continued work of volunteers in Santa Fe, completing their education can be a reality not only the dropouts in the southwest city, but the millions of dropouts across America.
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In This Tough Chicago Neighborhood, Kids Are Choosing to Box, Not Fight

The Chicago Youth Boxing Club (CYBC) is tucked in a church basement in the Windy City’s Little Village neighborhood, providing one of the area’s few after school activities. Since it was founded in 2006, the gym has become much more than a place for kids to hang out. “It isn’t enough to get kids off the street,” says Ana Patricia Juarez, programming manager for CYBC, “you have to build them into leaders and people who will eventually give back to their communities.” The boxing club now provides counseling, nutritional education, and college readiness programs.

These Computer Science Programs Have Just What Women Want

The likes of Marie Curie and Jane Goodall may have set great examples for future female scientists, and it’s time that more women follow in their footsteps — especially when it comes to computer science.
For all the jobs available in the industry and programs to train workers for it, a mere 18 percent of computer science graduates in the United States are women. Can we balance out the gender gap amongst computer scientists? Some of the top institutions of higher learning have already started, according to The New York Times.
At Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science, 40 percent of incoming freshmen are women, and almost a third of computer science graduates this year were women at the University of Washington. And that’s not all. Harvey Mudd College in California boasts that 40 percent of their computer science program enrollees are female and this year, more than half of their engineering school graduates were women — a first for the school.
As promising as these numbers are, these three schools represent only a fraction of the computer science programs in the country. The question remains – what’s their secret, and how can it spread to every school?
Unsurprisingly, there is no cure-all, but one general trend is helping out everywhere: With so many professional opportunities for computer science majors, the field in general is attracting more students — regardless of gender.
But what sets Carnegie Mellon, University of Washington, and Harvey Mudd apart is that they are grabbing potential students when they’re younger by promoting computer science at an earlier age. By hosting summer camps and training high school teachers to teach computer science, girls are more likely to gain exposure to the discipline and develop a lifelong interest in it.
Another tactic used by these schools is revamping their marketing and support systems. Harvey Mudd, for example, has featured female students in their brochures to show that it’s normal for girls to study science. “We made it very clear that being a female scientist, that’s normal,” said Maria Klawe, president of Harvey Mudd. Plus, the school now talks about computer science as a way to problem solve (as opposed to it simply being about technical coding), putting an emphasis on its practical applications.
At Carnegie Mellon, the requirement to have prior experience in order to enter the major was eliminated and an official student mentorship program was established. By removing barriers and easing the process of becoming a computer science major, more women are showing interest.
Good news is, this can be easily replicated elsewhere.
As Lenore Blum, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon told The New York Times, “I don’t think we’re doing anything that nobody else could do, but it has to be sustained and institutionalized.”
If other schools picked up some tips from this trend-setting trio, America could be well on its way to unlocking a whole new set of minds for computer science.
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Here’s How Colleges Are Leading the Green Revolution in Sports

Here’s the beauty of sports: It unites people from every political, cultural and socioeconomic stripe. And when it comes to the environment, we also should be on the same team.
The amount of resources used to run a typical, large scale sporting event can be shocking. When thousands of people are gathered in one stadium, they consume a lot of food, create a lot of trash and use a lot of power. Of course, it’s all in the name of fun and games, but there’s really a better way.
With America’s green revolution taking off, the sports industry has also embraced this planet-friendly mentality. The U.S. Open recycles their tennis ball cans and has replaced all their virgin-fiber napkins with recycled ones. The Seattle Seahawks (NFL) and Seattle Sounders (MLS) are playing under the bright lights powered by solar panels. And the New York Yankees are composting.
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And now, the green movement in sports has passed the ball to the collegiate level. Thanks to efforts from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NDRC), which pioneered the movement in 2004, you’ll see solar panels, recycling bins and other green touches just as often as hot dogs at many college and university facilities these days.
As Sports Business Daily reports, the University of Colorado has a zero-waste program across its entire sports program. Ohio State seriously whittled its landfill waste from 15,000 pounds after an average home game to a shockingly small 447 pounds. Arizona State University has installed solar panels throughout its Wells Fargo Arena.
And the trend is only growing. Below, you’ll see some collegiate greening initiatives by the numbers (based on a 2013 survey by the University of Arizona via the NDRC):
At least 216 collegiate sports departments (97 athletics and 119 recreation) have installed recycling infrastructure throughout their sports facilities.
At least 88 collegiate sports departments (41 athletics and 47 recreation) have pursued LEED green building design certifications for new facilities, major renovations and/or existing facilities, with at least 24 certified sports venues to date.
At least 162 collegiate sports departments (68 athletics and 94 recreation) have installed bike racks and other infrastructure to promote bicycle commuting at their sports venues.
At least 116 collegiate sports departments (50 athletics and 66 recreation) have upgraded to water-efficient fixtures.
At least 83 collegiate sports departments (30 athletics and 53 recreation) have implemented an environmentally preferable paper purchasing policy that includes prioritizing paper with recycled content.
23 collegiate sports departments (8 athletics and 15 recreation) have installed on-site solar energy production systems.
And to encourage more colleges to get on board, Sustainable America announced in a blog post that NRDC has also released a free, first-of-its-kind online guide — called the Greening Advisor for Collegiate Sports — to improve sustainable programs and practices in collegiate athletics and recreation. It offers practical tips on how to start and fund recycling programs, engage students and create healthier environments.
College sports are helping us save the earth. Now that’s a winning formula.
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A Simple Solution For America’s Achievement Gap

The difference in achievement between high and low-income students at every education level is staggering.
So what are educators to do? Despite providing all children with the same teachers and curriculum, they can’t do anything about the circumstances that kids are saddled with before and after the bell.
One way to narrow this so-called achievement gap? Exercise.
Back in 2012, using physical activity to help low-income schoolchildren gained popularity after a study showed that it could be of significant help to them. Short, 12-minute bursts of exercise like those used in the study could have the obvious effect of releasing the extra energy that little kids seem to harbor.
But would exercise help college-age low-income students as well? Further research was performed by Michele Tine, an assistant professor of education at Darthmouth College in New Hampshire.
Sure enough, a little bit of physical exertion helped focus that age group too, regardless of income. A test measuring students’ ability to focus on stimuli while ignoring distractions found that scores shot up for all who did a workout beforehand, while remaining unchanged for the control group. Tine’s results were recently published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.
Despite benefiting everyone, physical activity before class proved the most effective for low-income students. The result was not a slight bump, though – rather, those same 12 minutes of aerobic exercise that helped disadvantaged little kids effectively eliminated the achievement gap between low and high-income students. The low-income students were able to maintain their gains for a sustained 45 minutes after exercise as well, making this an effective technique for improving scores on actual tests as well as performance in the classroom.
Thanks to Tine and her team, the permanent roadblocks preventing so many from academic excellence can now be broken down with a few minutes of jumping jacks or jogging in place.
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Here’s How Starbucks is Fixing the American Education System

This news will probably justify the expense of your next Frappuccino.
In a surprising announcement, Starbucks is giving an amazing new perk to its workers across the country: A free college education.
The New York Times reports that the coffee powerhouse will pay tuition for any of its 135,000 employees to attend online college classes at Arizona State University as part of the Starbucks College Achievement Plan.
Incredibly, workers don’t even have to remain with Starbucks after receiving their degree — encouraging them to leave coffee-making for better jobs. Starbucks president and CEO Howard D. Schultz told the newspaper that he wants employee success to be “accreted to our brand, our reputation and our business,” and adds, “I believe it will lower attrition, it’ll increase performance, it’ll attract and retain better people.”
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To qualify, an employee must work at least 20 hours a week at Starbucks and have the test scores necessary for admission into ASU. Employees who’ve already completed two years of college credits will have their tuition fully paid for. For those with less than two years of college, the company will pay partial tuition costs.
The company is also providing a dedicated enrollment coach, financial aid counselor, and academic advisor.
The fact is, the American education system is flawed; our $1.2 trillion student loan crisis proves it. These days, you need a college degree in order to land a competitive, well-paid job — but too many people have to go into a mountain of debt to obtain a degree. As Schultz says in the video below, “the last few years in America, we have certainly seen a fracturing of what I’d loosely describe as the American dream or the American promise.”
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He continues, “there’s no doubt the inequality within the country has created a situation where many, many Americans are being left behind. And the question I think for all of us is, ‘Should we accept that, or should we try to do something about it?'”
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According to the Times report, “70 percent of Starbucks workers do not have a degree but want to earn one; some have never gone to college, some have gone but dropped out, and others are in school, but have found it slow going.”
While employer-paid college tuition isn’t something new, it’s not very common. And programs like this are unheard of. Most companies want their workers to study subjects that will suit the company’s needs, while Starbucks allows employees to choose from 40 of ASU’s educational programs, from retail management to electrical engineering. (It’s also worth mentioning that the very successful global coffee company also offers health care for all employees — full- and part-time — and gives stock options, too).
As we previously reported, Shultz is the quintessential social innovator and philanthropist. This past March, he donated an extraordinary $30 million to help with the rehabilitation of our returning soldiers, putting the money towards research into brain trauma and PTSD — ailments that thousands of warriors suffer from.
Let’s go ahead and say it: Best boss ever.
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This Venture Capital Firm Bets on College Students

In this country, we used to talk about ballooning credit-card debt. Now the bigger money worry? Student-loan debt.
As more students graduate with a crippling amount of it (the total amount of student loan debt now tops $1.2 trillion, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau), Silicon Valley is rethinking the way in which we ask people to pay for college.
As it currently stands, borrowers carry all of the risk while the government lender is only responsible to make up for unpaid balances through taxpayers around two decades later. Private lenders are only responsible for paying a collection agency to chase the unpaid balance and schools receive tuition regardless, all the while a borrower could go into default and ruin their credit for the rest of their lives. And for low-income students, this risk is even greater.
Instead of placing the entire burden on students, financial executives at venture capital firm 13th Avenue Funding believe that education loans should be perceived as equity, placing bets on a student’s potential achievements and earnings.
Two years ago, the New York-based firm offered four students at Santa Barbara’s two-year Allan Hancock College $15,000 for tuition to become a part of a “cohort” before transferring to a four-year institution to earn their bachelor’s degree. The students leave college without the possibility of defaulting and are expected to pay a small percentage of their salary each month if they make more than $18,000 a year post-grad. If they should surpass an annual income of $25,000, they’re required to pay back five percent of their income for the next 15 years.
Granted, borrowers do run the risk of paying back more than they received — but the money is used to cover other members of the cohort who are unable to repay the loan. And any additional remittances are used to fund new scholarships for future cohorts.

“It’s pooled venture capital,” said Casey Jennings, chief operating officer for 13th Avenue. “It’s sharing risk.”

The 2012 experiment, which is the first of its kind in the United States, was backed by four of the VC firm’s founders as well as two board members. The firm put together enough money to support a second cohort of seven students last year and hopes the model will be successful enough to continue.

While the idea is unique, it’s actually similar to that of investing in any small tech startup in Silicon Valley. You run the risk of failing — more often than not — but the chance of success can be worth it. The challenge therein lies with convincing higher education professionals to take the gamble on the concept of “income sharing” agreements.

“It’s really painful,” Jennings said. He continues to meet with college administrators to make them the “investors,” but has found no school wants to be the first to take a chance. “We talked to a bunch of colleges. They’re like, ‘It’s interesting, but come back when you get another college.’ “

If the 2012 experiment succeeds, it shows that students — especially those with low-incomes — can be an untapped market for investments. When it comes to funding those low-income students, Jennings added, “the payback for getting that group to go to college is unfathomable.”

After all, having a more diverse group of college graduates is something that you can’t put a price tag on.

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How A New York Program is Reframing Prison Education

About two hours miles north of Manhattan, a group of young men meet weekly to debate philosophy and discuss composition. The curriculum is like any other liberal arts course, but the classroom is quite different from what most people experience.
These classes take place behind the confines of the Otisville Correctional Facility, a medium security prison in New York where many of its inmates are serving life sentences.
Otisville was the first to implement the Prison to College Pipeline (P2CP), a partnership between the City University of New York (CUNY) and the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS). Led by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Hostos Community College, the initiative selects inmates who have high school diplomas or GEDs and are eligible for release within five years to enroll as students through a process that includes assessment tests, submitting essays, and sitting down for an interview — much like the traditional college application process.
Founded in 2011, P2CP has successfully served 26 students incarcerated at Otisville and 30 students from John Jay College who sat in on monthly seminars with the Otisville students. The program boasts 12 students that have been released back into society, plus four that are enrolled at CUNY institutions (two at John Jay, one at Hostos and another at Bronx Community College) while two others have started the enrollment process. All of the men are employed and enrolled in a training program or an internship.
It’s no secret that prison education programs have been successful in crime prevention, but since the government passed a bill halting the federal financing of Pell grants to prisoners in 1994, support has been limited.
In fact, earlier this year New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo introduced a proposal in his budget to finance prison education but lawmakers opposed the plan. Since then, the governor dropped it. He need not look farther than his neighboring state of New Jersey, however, where Governor Chris Christie recently expanded the privately funded program the New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons program (NJ-STEP). The initiative includes eight higher education institutions across the state offering courses to almost 500 inmates at six correctional facilities, NJ.com reports.
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Elsewhere in New York, programs such as the Bard Prison Initiative — a partnership with Bard College that began in 1999 — has reported that two-thirds of the program’s alumni are employed, finishing college degrees, or enrolled in graduate schools including New York University, Columbia and Yale. The College and Community Fellowship in New York focuses on helping female inmates leaving prison finish college.
As the New York Times points out, prison education programs can go beyond preventing prison recidivism and crime prevention. A program to engage young inmates could serve as a model to educate wayward youth in troubled communities — preventing entry into the correctional system altogether.
In the meantime, P2CP continues to break barriers between the life an inmate expects and one that they can actually accomplish. The program is recruiting for Fall 2014 semester at Otisville, plus Greene and Wallkill, two other correctional facilities that will serve as potential breeding grounds for more untapped, bright minds.

This Non-Profit is Making Sure Kids of Fallen Heroes Can Go to College

Funding a college education can be a difficult proposition for anyone, but for children of parents who died while serving in the military, it can be downright daunting. According to the Jacksonville, Florida-based nonprofit Children of Fallen Patriots, 15,000 American children have lost a military parent over the past 25 years. Now, the foundation is on a mission to identify as many of them as possible and offer them help paying their college bills. So far they’ve found 5,218 of these students, and paid $7.5 million toward their college educations.
“Our focus is on military children who have lost a parent in line of duty or any related deaths, like PTSD suicide or illnesses from exposure launch,” Army veteran David Kim, the founder of Children of Fallen Patriots, told Helena Hovritz of Forbes. “When government benefits don’t come through, we step in and pay for what they need.”
Hovritz writes that before Daniel Richard Healy’s final deployment, he told his son Jacob Centeno Healy that what he most wanted was for him to go to college. When Senior Chief Petty Officer Healy died, Jacob didn’t know how he could pay for college. “The VA wouldn’t provide benefits to me because they didn’t recognize me as my dads’ son,” Healy told Forbes.
So Fallen Patriots stepped in and funded Jacob Healy’s education. Now he works as a program administer for the organization, helping other people who’ve lost parents in the military find all the scholarships and government aid available to them, and covering the rest of the costs with funds from the nonprofit.
On this Memorial Day, Children of Fallen Patriots reminds us that we owe our fallen heroes so much. They gave our country their parents: the least we can do is provide them with a college education.
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