Diving right in at YSU

By Ed Runyan

Early College students show determination

In the beginning, some students didn’t go to class and didn’t feel like they belonged, one graduate said.

YOUNGSTOWN — Dr. David Sweet, president of Youngstown State University, told the first 40 graduates of Youngstown Early College on Sunday that their complex journey through four years of an innovative high school/college education revealed characteristics similar to an animal dear to his heart: the penguin.

The movie “The March of the Penguins,” which followed a group of 7,000 Emperor penguins in the Antarctic, demonstrated that the animals can endure 80 below-zero temperatures, dive 1,700 feet below the water’s surface, hold their breath for 15 minutes and travel long distances.

But the Early College students, whose mascot is the penguin just like YSU’s, have shown similar characteristics, said the YSU president.

“By earning your diploma today, you have shown you are dedicated, determined, resilient, adaptable and able to endure and overcome many changes,” he said.

The goal of the program is to provide a high school education and a transition to college for bright but underachieving students who might not get that access in the traditional high school setting. It’s free, but students must apply and be accepted to enroll.

Like Sweet, Dr. Wendy Webb, superintendent of Youngstown City Schools, also referred to the adversity overcome by the 41 students, one of whom — Sade Shaw — died last week after an extended illness.

Webb referred to fights, suspensions and hair-pulling that sometimes punctuated the school day in YSU’s Fedor Hall, where the students took their high school classes.

But Webb said the important thing is “not where you’ve been. It’s where you’re going.”

She added, “The possibilities are up to you. You’ve been given a great opportunity. I thank the community and the parents for allowing us to try this pilot program, and I know it was the right thing to do.”

It was obvious that George Harper of Youngstown, father of Andrea D. Harper, was proud of his daughter’s accomplishment, as Andrea walked past him after the ceremony ended.

“That’s my girl,” he proudly told a friend at the Butler Institute of American Art, where the graduation ceremony took place.

Harper said Andrea was a good middle school pupil who might have done well at East High if the Early College had not been available.

But Andrea was one of five Early College graduates who has earned a full scholarship so that she can complete her bachelor’s degree at YSU. Four other students also earned enough credits to receive an associate’s degree.

The credits Andrea has now, added to the opportunity to get her bachelor’s degree, is a “big opportunity,” he said.

David Payne and his fianc e, Kelli Mae Shields, both Early College graduates, know what adversity is.

The couple completed college credits while earning their high school diplomas and starting to rear a family. The couple, which have plans for marriage, have an 11-month daughter, McKenzie. David worked a part-time job this school year.

“I think he did better than he would have if he would have gone to Youngstown City Schools,” said David’s grandfather, John Payne of Austintown.

David says he is glad he got the chance to attend YEC and plans to return to YSU after he takes a year off. He earned 12 credit hours at YSU.

D’Aaron D. Damous, who plans to continue his education at YSU this fall with the partial scholarship money YSU is offering, said he thought about leaving YEC at different times over his four years, but he’s glad he didn’t.

“It was like a small school, so the teachers care about you personally,” he said of the high school classes he took at Fedor Hall.

He said it took him and many of his classmates a couple of years to gain enough confidence to feel like they belonged on a college campus. Many didn’t show up for classes a lot in the beginning. Many others quit or were kicked out, he said.

But YEC has made some adjustments to help the students. And now, he believes he can succeed right away at YSU, Damous said.

Of the 41 students who earned a diploma Sunday, 13 earned 25 semester hours or more of credit and all have been awarded at least some level of financial assistance to continue at YSU.

runyan@vindy.com