Sixth-graders pledge to education

The Young Scholars Program guarantees participants admission to OSU.

By HAROLD GWIN

VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Eleven city school pupils entering the seventh grade this fall have made a long-term commitment to education.

The 11 were inducted into the Class of 2007 Pre-Young Scholars Program by the city schools and The Ohio State University at a school board meeting this week.

The program guides the participants through high school and guarantees them enrollment at OSU with a financial aid package based on their individual need.

The pupils and their families are making a 10-year commitment to education, and only 120 children are inducted into the program annually.

“You’re becoming part of a great legacy,” Dr. Wendy Webb, Youngstown superintendent, told the inductees. “You have the responsibility on your shoulders to make the best of this.”

The program offers hope and fosters leadership, she said, calling on the children’s parents to support them in their efforts to succeed academically.

“We’re in this together,” Victoria Dunn, interim assistant director of the OSU Young Scholars Program, told the inductees. “We’re in this for the long haul.”

The program offers workshops, tutoring and career exploration to help ensure the academic success of participants.

Program goals and selection

The Young Scholars Program was created by OSU’s Office of Minority Affairs in 1988 as a pre-collegiate and collegiate program designed to enhance academic, personal and career development of targeted young people.

It is aimed at low-income, inner-city children from the nine largest urban school districts in the state, and only first-generation college-bound young people are accepted.

Each spring, teachers, principals and guidance counselors from those schools nominate sixth-graders as Pre-Young Scholars. Nominees are interviewed and selected on the basis of academic performance, leadership, community involvement and other factors, with OSU and community representatives making the final selections.

Formal induction as Young Scholars takes place in the ninth grade.

Participants in grades 10 through 12 attend a two-week residential summer academy at OSU’s Columbus campus. Those in grades seven through nine participate in a one-week academy in their home districts.