Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 6, 1994 TAG: 9407060059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
At William Fleming High School, Jeanene Sims had two teachers who deeply touched her and became role models.
Now she wants to give back to Roanoke's schools part of what she received as a student.
"Teachers can mold people's lives, and it will be good to have the chance to influence children's lives," Sims said. "I want to give back something of what my teachers gave me.'
Katina Wright's feelings are the same. Only the words are different.
"I love children. I want to help them learn, to help them do something good with their lives," Wright said. "I want to make a difference in their lives."
Kurrai Baskerville hopes to spark an interest in learning among children.
"I like working with people," Baskerville said. "I liked my student teaching, and I think I will like being a teacher."
The three have similarities beyond their reasons for becoming teachers.
All grew up in Roanoke. All are black. All attended Virginia Tech on four-year scholarships, worth up to $40,000, that paid almost all of their expenses. And all agreed to come back to Roanoke and teach for four years.
The three are interning in summer school at James Madison Middle School as they eagerly await their teaching assignments for the fall.
They will be joined by Robert Johnson Jr., who is finishing work on a master's degree. Like the others, Johnson grew up in Roanoke and attended Virginia Tech through the minority scholarship program.
The four have come home to help shape the lives of children who attend some of the same schools they attended just a few years ago.
They are the first graduates of an innovative program to encourage more blacks to become elementary and secondary teachers in Roanoke.
Nationwide, 35 percent of school-age children are minorities, but only 8 percent of their teachers are black.
The imbalance is getting worse nationally as fewer blacks major in education in college than a few years ago. By the end of the century, experts predict that only 5 percent of teachers will be members of minority groups.
Roanoke fares better, but school administrators still want to hire more black teachers. Nearly 40 percent of Roanoke's students are black, and 19 percent of its teachers are black.
The program, named Tomorrow's Teachers, was founded in 1988 by Virginia Tech's College of Education, Roanoke school administrators, and business and community leaders in response to the shortage of black teachers.
The idea behind the program is simple: Black students can receive scholarships to cover almost all of their expenses at Virginia Tech if they agree to return to Roanoke and teach in city schools for four years after they get their degrees.
Eight corporations and one private donor have joined Tech to help finance the scholarships and other expenses.
The donors are Appalachian Power, C&P Telephone, Crestar Bank, the former Dominion Bank, First Virginia Bank-Southwest, Shenandoah Life Insurance, the Cartledge Foundation and Robert Fishburn, a member of the family that once owned the Roanoke Times & World-News.
IBM donated 40 personal computers, which are loaned to participants while they are still in high school to improve their computer skills and better prepare them for college.
The Tomorrow's Teachers program is supervised by Sidney Crumwell Jr., executive director, and an advisory board that is led by Wallace Allen of Roanoke
Crumwell said the board is trying to raise at least $1 million to establish an endowment so the program won't have to depend on contributions to keep it going. With an endowment, the future of the program will be more secure, Allen said.
Crumwell said the board will also seek more money from foundations. The Jesse Ball du Pont Foundation has provided some assistance.
Taylor said the program helps attract some of the city's brightest students. "We are losing our best minds to business," he said. "We need some of them in our schools."
The program is a winner for everyone, Taylor said. The students get a free education, the city gets more black teachers and businesses get a better-prepared work force if students are taught by better teachers.
Three or four students usually are awarded scholarships each year, but the number can vary. Three high school seniors were selected this year and will join seven other students at Virginia Tech who were given scholarships in previous years.
The scholarships have made a difference in the lives of some recipients. Without them, some wouldn't have gone to college.
"I'm not sure if I could have done it if I didn't have [the scholarship]," Baskerville said. "This has enabled me to have the chance to see if I can be a teacher."
When Baskerville was growing up, she thought she wanted to be a lawyer. But she changed her mind after taking a business law class in high school.
She learned about the Tomorrow's Teachers program from a guidance counselor who thought she might be interested in it.
Crumwell said students are recruited to participate in the program during their sophomore year. They are chosen based on academic performance, leadership qualities, interest in the teaching profession and the recommendation of a teacher, principal or guidance counselor.
During their senior year in high school, the students decide if they want to compete for scholarships. Final selection of the recipients is made by the advisory board.
As she was growing up, Sims said, she thought about becoming a teacher because her mother is director of the Head Start program operated by Total Action Against Poverty. But she was not sure until she was influenced by two of her high school teachers.
The program provided another benefit for Sims, who majored in Spanish. She got to spend a year in Spain to study at the University of Valencia. "I could not have done that if I had not received the scholarship," she said.
Sims said she would like to go back to William Fleming and teach Spanish, but she knows that is unlikely to happen in her first year in the classroom. She is certified to teach in all grades, kindergarten through 12th.
Sims expects to remain in Roanoke after she completes her four-year obligation to city schools.
Wright, who graduated from Patrick Henry High School, said she also learned about the scholarship program from a guidance counselor. Trips to Tech during her junior and senior years helped her make up her mind to accept the scholarship.
The Roanoke scholarship program has been so successful that a similar program has been established in Norfolk. A recent Associated Press story about the first student in Norfolk's program - who will enroll at Tech this fall - caused chagrin among Roanoke school administrators because there was no mention of the Roanoke program.
by CNB