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Rainier Scholars
Aired Monday, June 21, 2004 on KPLU
By Jennifer Wing
Anchor Lead:
The majority of students enrolled in college are white, even though many public high schools are quite diverse.
In the latest edition of The Learning Curve, we look at an organization in Seattle called "Rainier Scholars."
It recruits bright children of color and puts them through an intense college prep program beginning in the 6th grade.
The ultimate goal for these low-income students is college graduation.
KPLU education reporter Jennifer Wing has the story.
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Sarah Smith: We're going to get started right down the hall in the library at about ten after four.
The library in Aki Kurose, a south Seattle middle school, is packed with parents and kids.
All of the children are in the fifth grade and they're vying for a spot in the Rainier Scholars program.
Parent: As a parent I hope that she made it. Be successful in life and use her skill and help others.
Student: I want, like, a better job and, like, make more money.
Parent: We really want to give her the opportunity to be more than competitive in the school system.
The children are African American, Latino and Asian.
The ones who are chosen will go through a rigorous academic program that begins this summer.
Final exams are in August.
In the Fall students have extra classes on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Next summer will also be spent in the classroom.
Sarah Smith is Rainier Scholars' Academic Director and helps plan what the kids will be doing.
Sarah Smith: It will be very intense. They take seven to eight hours of class a day. They have a writing and
literature course. Over the whole 14 months they'll be introduced to chemistry, biology and physics.
Tisa MaCaroy: My name is Tisa MaCaroy and I'm 13 years old.
Tisa entered Rainier Scholars three years ago.
The first week she started she was up until 2 am night after night doing homework.
Tisa MaCaroy: At the time I was like, "why am I doing this," because all of the stuff I was learning at
Rainier Scholars I wasn't learning any of that stuff in my schools. And now that I'm in seventh grade
we're just getting into some of the things I was learning at Rainer Scholars. It's like you're ahead of
the whole class.
The work paid off. Tisa got a scholarship to the Seattle Academy for the Arts and Sciences, a private school
that costs more than $16,000 a year. A school her single mom could otherwise not afford. Tisa's story is one
that Bob Hurlbut wants to replicate. He's a white, middle-aged man and he's the founder of Rainier Scholars.
The idea to create the program took seed several years ago early in the morning when he was driving to
work along Rainier Avenue and seeing African American parents waiting with their children to be picked
up by a school bus.
Bob Hurlbut: These parents love their children as much if not more than I love my own, yet their ability to
access the same types of opportunities are not the same.
Hurlbut was also inspired by a book entitled Hope in the Unseen.
It profiles a young African American man from a rough inner city high school in Washington D.C.
He was admitted to Brown University. He ultimately graduated and went on to become a motivational speaker.
But Hurlbut says when the young man first arrived at Brown it was painfully clear he was not prepared for an
Ivy League education.
Hurlbut: Brown had other students of color, other African American students like him who were much better
prepared to compete academically at an Ivy League level. And the author talked about a program that
these students were a part of called "Prep for Prep" in New York City.
Prep for Prep mentors young, poor, minority students who then get scholarships to private schools.
Students are guided through middle school and high school until they graduate from college.
So far in the past 26 years Prep for Prep has produced more than one thousand college graduates.
This is what Hurlbut modeled Rainier Scholars after.
Today the Rainier Scholars program is heading into its third summer. The children are very motivated.
When asked what they would be doing if they weren't taking part in the tough academic coursework, most have
the same response as ten-year-old Peter He.
Peter He: I don't really have anything to do at my house. There's not much fun stuff to do. Just eat,
sleep and read, watch TV. It's a pretty boring life so now I have somewhere to go and something to do.
Every year Rainier Scholars actively seeks out highly capable students like Peter. The organization gets a
list from the Seattle School District of minority low-income kids who did well in reading on the 4th grade
WASL test. A group of about 1000 is eventually whittled down to 60. Academic Director Sarah Smith
says about half of the students get into advanced programs in public schools and half pursue scholarships
to private schools. Taking students out of public schools can be a touchy issue, but Smith says
it's in the best interest of the kids.
Sarah Smith: A child who attends Lakeside has a 99 percent chance of going to college and a child who
attends a larger urban south end high school right now, depending on the school, has a 20 percent chance,
a 40 percent chance.
Mentors help with the entrance applications. They're also there to listen and counsel students as they
make the transition into environments that are quite different from what they're used to.
Tisa MaCaroy admits it's strange going to a school where there are only a few other people who look like her.
Tisa: There's three people of color in the whole school. It's really different. But kids is kids.
You all go through the same things really.
Right now the organization has enough money to keep operating for the next few years. But as more students
enter the cost of the summer programs, weekend classes and tutoring is expected to surpass a million dollars
a year. Bob Hurlbut is confident they'll be able to raise the money.
But he says the real sign the program is a success is when the first batch of invitations to college
graduation ceremonies starts coming in the mail.
Jennifer Wing, KPLU News Seattle
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