This school year in the nation’s capital began like many others in recent years, with a noticeable student-population decline and low graduation rate. The annual enrollment audit won’t be taken until fall, so official numbers are not yet out. As for graduation rates, they look dim, too.
The most recent federal data showed that from 1996 to 2006, the on-time graduation rate for D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) was 48.8 percent, down 8.8 percentage points from the previous year. The study, which excluded charter schools and was released in June, was conducted by researchers affiliated with Education Week, a trade publication.
Expectations begin anew with the 2009-10 school year.
Students who graduated from DCPS prior to Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee implementing her reform plans — say, youths who want to go to college or the military — should think about community relationships and service as well as academics.
The four students interviewed for this article represent a cross section of DCPS’ student population as well as the percentage that did graduate and exercise their post-secondary options.
Military service
College isn’t the only option after high school.
Pfc. Julian Chase, 19, graduated in 2008 from Woodrow Wilson High School. He enlisted in the Marine Corps and recently graduated from Boot Camp at Paris Island, S.C. Pfc. Chase is tasked with “calling in artillery and close air support” and works with a team of four.
He grew up on 14th and Oak streets NW in Columbia Heights, where he observed socioeconomic differences between his neighborhood friends and the students he befriended at Wilson High, which is northwest of Columbia Heights in Tenleytown.
“It’s not about white or black,” says Pfc. Chase. “The bigger thing is the economic situation. Some students were always raised with the expectations to go to college. In my side of town that wasn’t always as true.”
He fondly recalls John (“Johnny Mac”) McCarthy’s Alternatives to Violence Class in 11th grade. “Johnny Mac used to always tell us not to crab bucket,” Pfc. Chase laughed.
He knew he “wanted to serve.” His great-great-grandfather fought at Antietam for the Union; his maternal grandfather served with the occupation forces in Germany after World War II; and his paternal grandfather was with Navy communications on a carrier force in the Pacific during World War II.
Pfc. Chase enlisted in the Marines because he “didn’t like the idea of going straight to college and didn’t want to waste my or my parent’s money” and because it is the “best way to make a career.”
He is strongly considering applying for the corps’ Enlisted Commissioning Education Program to transition from enlisted to officer.
Political science
Thomas Jordan, 20, graduated from Wilson High School in 2007 and is a junior at Tufts University in Medford, Mass.
He spent his early childhood in Michigan Park in Northeast before moving to Woodley Park in Northwest, where he spent his high school years.
In high school, Mr. Jordan was a drummer for the D.C. Youth Orchestra, and he served on the D.C. Youth Advisory Council as a Ward 3 representative. He was on the crew team, and he is a crewman at Tufts. This summer, he interned at a local film-production company.
Mr. Jordan says that DCPS is racially diverse, and he has only experienced more diversity while in college.
“For the most part the stereotypes concerning blacks in DCPS are bad,” says Mr. Jordan. “And unfortunately, more times than not, they are true as well. The real problem is that too many of us slip through the cracks in the DCPS system and go unnoticed.”
Mr. Jordan is “leaning toward a political science future” and depending on the circumstances would like to attend either law or graduate school. He is committed to “contributing back to the city and community that raised me.”
Political science and education
Antar Tichavakunda, 19, is a 2007 graduate of Benjamin Banneker Academic High School and a junior at Brown University in Providence, R.I.
Mr. Tichavakunda represented Ward 4 on the D.C. Youth Advisory Council when he was in high school. He spent his summer days interning for the D.C. Office of General Counsel and summer nights reuniting with a diverse swath of friends.
Many years ago, a group of older gentlemen in his Shepherd Park neighborhood in Northwest nicknamed his collection of friends the “knot hole gang” after the adventurous members of “Our Gang” and “Little Rascals.”
Mr. Tichavakunda, a political science and education major, says especially proud that his circle of friends are all in college or headed toward college.
At Brown, Mr. Tichavakunda has taken an active role in mentoring young men. Seeing a disconnect between the campus student body and Providence youths, he began a mentoring program now entering its second year. He is planning to make a bigger impact in targeted outreach to young men of color who benefit from 1-1 mentorship.
Nursing
Cynthia Gutierrez, 20, graduated from Wilson in 2007 and now attends George Mason University in nearby Fairfax County. She is pursuing a nursing career.
Ms. Gutierrez grew up in Columbia Heights but always attended schools in the Tenleytown area, including Deal Junior High School. During high school, she was involved in the D.C. Youth Advisory Council as a Ward 1 representative, played soccer and volunteered at youth centers, including the Sitar Arts Center and the Latin American Youth Center’s Art and Media House.
“The stereotypes are bad,” she says. “When I tell people I graduated from DCPS, especially as a Latina, people are almost surprised that I speak English so well. Some people have even stopped in surprise and says, ’Oh, but you speak so well.’ As if they expect ebonics to splurge from my mouth.”
Known for her activism, during high school Ms. Gutierrez performed with El Barrio Street Theatre throughout the city and suburban immigrant communities, worked for a national radio station, volunteered for the Fenty mayoral campaign in 2006, and served as the sound technician for a Quique Aviles show at the D.C. Arts Center on 18th Street Northwest.
This summer she worked for the D.C. Mayor’s Office on Latino Affairs, and with other interns she coordinated a college fair at the Columbia Heights Recreation Center.
“As a student going into the health field, seeing young girls coming out pregnant at age 13, 14 or 15, is alarming,” Ms. Gutierrez says. “Health education programs need to be improved as a form of prevention.
“Many of the kids who came out [for the college fair] had no idea what they were going to do when their senior year ended. The idea of college never crossed their mind. How sad. What’s the point of college counselors in DCPS if some of these kids have yet to even meet with them?” she asked.
Her advice to DCPS?
Put greater emphasis on vocational options so students can “learn a trait that not only will get them off the streets, but provide them with a skill to get a job,” she says.
• John Muller is a writer living in Washington.
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