Part III: The Power of Enduring Commitment as Revealed in the Lives of Students in the New Salem Educational Initiative

“Gary, this is Denise.”

 “Hey, Denise, wassup?”

“I just had a meeting with an academic adviser at St. Kate’s because I’m on probation. Now she’s telling me that I can’t move forward with occupational therapy because I can never get my GPA high enough to qualify for the program. I’ve wanted to be in nursing or some kind of high-level health care job ever since I was a little girl. What am I going to do?”

Denise Drummond (data privacy appellation) has been a student of mine in the New Salem Educational Initiative since academic year 2008-2009, when she was a Grade 10 student at Henry High School. Denise had always been in the Minneapolis Public Schools, and therefore came to me as academically damaged as do most of that district’s victims. And if the truth be told, although my students come overwhelming from the Minneapolis Public Schools and specifically the schools of North Minneapolis, I find that no public school student from any district comes to me with the skill and knowledge sets that would have them on a track to become an educated person.

Denise is a genuine academic talent, though, especially in subjects requiring verbal skills. She had passed her Grade 9 Writing Test (necessary for graduation), so that we could concentrate on getting her ready for her Grade 10 Reading Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA), also necessary for graduation, that she would take in April of that 2008-2009 academic year. Even though Denise is naturally talented in verbal matters, there were many vocabulary terms that she did not understand on the Grade 10 MCA Item Sampler that gives students an idea of what to expect on the actual reading assessment. We went to work on vocabulary-building exercises and challenging assignments requiring diverse knowledge of vocabulary in various fields. By mid-April 2009, I perceived that Denise was ready to demonstrate grade level performance on the Grade 10 Reading MCA. And so she did, on her first try.

This meant that we could now focus even more on math, which was Denise’s true academic challenge. It was a shame that Denise had not been properly challenged during her tenure as a Minneapolis Public Schools student, and therefore that we had needed to spend so much of our academic session time further developing Denise’s naturally strong verbal skills. We were able to give enough time to math to allow her to earn “B’s” and “C’s” in geometry and algebra II, but with grade inflation those grades are often questionable, and I was never quite satisfied.

Denise moved on through her Grade 11 and Grade 12 academic years, training with me in college preparatory skills across the spectrum. She did not graduate in June 2011 with the academic weight and ballast that comes with participation in the New Salem Educational Initiative from the elementary school years; but she was a viable college candidate and gained entry into St. Catherine’s, a very good liberal arts institution in St. Paul.

Denise’s coursework earned her a 3.5 Grade Point Average (GPA) for her first semester at St. Catherine’s, but during her second semester her study habits slackened at just the wrong time. She was now taking science courses central to her aspirations as a medical professional. During the first semester of this 2012-2013 academic year, Denise made an “F” in anatomy, the main entry on her transcript that sent her to academic probation and called forth her academic adviser’s dire predictions.

Shortly after Denise’s call to me, we had lunch to discuss her situation and strategize for improvement. Denise admitted to me that she had been overly confident after her encouraging start at St. Catherine’s. She had allowed herself to be distracted by old friends who had none of her own ambitions and aspirations. She would find herself even on her own time in her apartment (located in Brooklyn Park, just beyond North Minneapolis) to be distracted by all manner of things. She is vowing to spend more time in the library, where she will not face such distractions. She knows now that she is in an environment very different from that of the public schools of North Minneapolis and that she must adjust accordingly.

I went thereafter to talk with Denise’s academic adviser. We agreed that Denise has dug a deep hole for herself, but it is at least possible that she can climb out with stellar performances in her science courses from this point forward. In the meantime, I am encouraging Denise to consider a backup plan that would have her shifting to a major more consonant with her natural verbal gifts. I have told her that I think, for example, that she would make a good attorney and that her ability at sophisticated writing, reading, and critical analysis would stand her in good stead in law school. She smiled, as if the idea had appeal, beaming because I had expressed admiration for ability in this direction.

Whether Denise is able to pursue her lifelong dream of being a health care professional, or whether she shifts to another course, she will graduate from St. Catherine’s. I have been properly alerted to her need for my more intensive academic assistance and mentorship during her college years. My relationship with Denise is permanent. She will succeed. I will have it no other way.