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13 city sixth-graders set course for OSU
By HAROLD GWIN
YOUNGSTOWN
Thirteen sixth-graders in the city schools have accepted an educational challenge that could one day earn them all full scholarships to attend Ohio State University.
They have been named the Class of 2010 Pre-Young Scholars, a program run by OSU’s Office of Minority Affairs that works to increase college attendance among inner-city children from Ohio’s largest urban school districts.
It’s a competitive process open only to first-generation college-bound students who are accepted as they begin seventh grade. They advance from Pre-Young Scholars to Young Scholars in the ninth grade.
The Class of 2010 was introduced at a recent school-board meeting.
If they fulfill certain academic and performance requirements over the next six years, OSU will grant them admission and pay their educational costs as long as they maintain a 2.5 grade-point average in college.
Being selected for the program means the students have shown great promise, said Patrick Royster, assistant vice provost and director of the Young Scholars Program. The university will assist them academically as they advance through middle and high school, he said.
The road ahead will be full of obstacles, but these students have the ability to succeed, he said.
Members of the Class of 2010 are: Yexica Alvarez, Mele’a Bonilla, Reynaldo Colon, DeNicholas Crytzer, Coralys Fontanez, Jo’Vohna Hughes, Joshua Leal, Nadia Lomax, Luis Marrero, JaJuan Powell, Dionna Stonework, LaRazia Tolbert and Jabrell Walker.
Members of the Class of 2004, now graduating seniors at Youngstown high schools, also were introduced. All seven will enroll at OSU.
The students and their proposed majors are: Mallory Kimble, political science on a pre-law track; Javonne Lafontaine, chemistry; Michelle Lee, biology in pre-medicine; Ryan Logan, pharmaceutical sciences; Victoria Rosa, exercise science; Breawna Toney, chemistry in pre-medicine; and Tionna Walker, pre-law.