THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 19, 1995 TAG: 9508180045
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MICHELLE MIZAL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LEXINGTON LENGTH: Long : 154 lines
RONNIE JORDAN cautiously edged up to the brink of the 12-story cliff and looked down anxiously.
``I just want to get this over with,'' said Jordan, 16, of Nansemond River High School in Suffolk. He and his 29 comrades were about to rappel down the sheer rocks, left slippery by a passing rainstorm.
This was one of the final tests before completing the Virginia Military Institute's three-week College Orientation Workshop. The next day, the group would graduate.
With a helmet strapped tightly to his head and security straps around his legs, Ronnie hesitantly leaned back over the edge and began his descent. Halfway down, he stopped and looked at the ground far below. Then he tried to brace himself, back to the cliff.
But after a few words of encouragement, he regrouped and finished the rappel.
``Yes! I did it!,'' Ronnie yelled, raising his arms in triumph. Then he quickly bent over and kissed the ground. ``It felt like I conquered the world,'' he said.
Also on the cliff that day in July were four other young men from Hampton Roads - Hassan Mallory of Virginia Beach, Joseph Parker of Chesapeake, and Jose Gomez and Sean Vaughn of Newport News.
Ronnie said he was introduced to the program by his cousin Brian Jordan, a 1993 VMI alumnus. Although his parents made him attend the program, Ronnie said, he was glad they did because he learned to speak up for himself. VMI alumnus Eugene Williams established the workshop in 1987 - called COW for short - to motivate minority males to go to college. VMI alumni fund the program for rising high school juniors and seniors.
Alumni work closely with school counselors and local churches in their areas to find candidates who are academically at-risk and who can benefit from the program.
Each applicant writes two essays answering these questions: What will you be doing in five years? What will you be doing in 10 years?
After telephone or personal interviews, Williams makes the final choices.
Williams, who in 1974 became the first minority member appointed to the Board of Visitors, said the program is limited to 30 kids a year. This year 60 applied from throughout the country.
Since the program was initiated, 70 percent of its graduates have gone on to college, he said.
``It's almost like shocking them into the college way of life,'' Williams said of the rigorous schedule, combining physical activity and academics.
The program gets off to a rigorous start. The first weekend, students climbed a mile-high mountain near the campus.
On the second weekend, students took a camping and canoeing trip down the Maury River.
The mental exercises are just as tough. Courses are college-level. The math/computer science course teaches college algebra and Pascal (a tutorial for writing computer programs). There is also an English/communications course, and a study skills class introduces students to career options and study techniques.
``Before I went, I had no idea what I wanted to do, but then in study skills I researched chemical engineering and I saw how much money they made and I said, `Yeah that's what I can do,' '' Ronnie said.
Hassan, who is a rising senior at Bayside High School in Virginia Beach, called the program demanding.
``We had math and English homework every day. We had to give a speech every day and write three essays,'' he said. Hassan studied one to two hours every night.
The students live in non-air-conditioned barracks on campus. Furnishings are sparse: bunks, dressers, a sink. 6:15 a.m. - Physical training
Three days a week, the students were up before the sun rose above the mountains that surround the campus.
At exactly 6:15, they began a morning jog and exercises underneath an archway inscribed with the words of Stonewall Jackson: ``You may be whatever you resolve to be.''
This year's students made up a marching song about cow pastures and program director and coach Jimmy Coale to go with the exercises.
After a quick shower, it was off to breakfast at Crozet Hall, the campus dining room.
``Just don't touch the eggs,'' Simon Alexander, 15, from Pittsburgh, said the last day of the program. ``They're nasty.'' The black-rimmed glasses he wore revealed the reason for his a k a - ``Malcolm X.''
``That's why I eat the cereal,'' said Javan Felder, 16, who is from Alabama. ``Stopwatch'' - as the others called him - looked at the black stopwatch hanging around his neck and reminded the guys that they had to report in 20 minutes to Professor Robert Bedell's English/communications class.
``Mr. Bedell is real cool,'' said 16-year-old Superfly, whose real name is Nhat Nguyen. 7:30 a.m. - Academics
Settle down, settle down,'' Bedell said, stretching out his arms and lowering them as if trying to suppress the last-day-of-school excitement. ``We still have to recite our graduation speeches.''
But the talking continued.
``It takes me 3 1/2 hours to get home'' to Virginia Beach, said Hassan.
``I got seven,'' a classmate responded on the other side of the room.
Bedell told the students that when they finished their graduation speeches, he would show ``The Wizard of Oz.'' He said the movie exemplifies three traits necessary to succeed: brains, courage and heart.
Each student rehearsed his speech in front of a video camera.
Michael Lumberger, 16, of Pittsburgh, said the program taught him to be a man. He told the class that when he went back to school, he would get good grades and hoped to be accepted into a good college.
Bedell, who has been teaching English/communication in the COW program for nine years, said students learn group pride during the three weeks by working together to solve problems. He said they also learn self-discipline and time management. 2 p.m. - Motivation
Later that day, politician James Artis of Roanoke spoke to the students about success.
Artis, who is a Republican candidate for the House of Delegates, related personal experiences about hanging out with his ``homeboys'' before finally getting motivated to complete college. He now teaches at William Flemming High School.
Some of the students related motivational anecdotes of their own.
Jose Gomez, a rising junior at Ferguson High School, lives with his mom in Newport News. He said he had been having trouble in math, but he finally understands it. He has ambitious plans: to attend college and to run in the Olympics.
Joseph Parker, 15, a student from Western Branch High School in Chesapeake, said he was determined to make the honor roll when he went back to school.
Joseph, who was introduced to the program by track coach Wade Williams, said he, too, planned to attend college and learn how to manage his own business.
At the end of a long day, they retreated to the barracks for the last time.
The barracks, they said, are supposed to be haunted. Stonewall Jackson is said to roam the grounds. Some even claimed they saw Jackson's statue move. 11:30 p.m. - Rest
Despite the ghost stories, lights out. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by Victor Vaughan
Ronnie Jordan, 16, frrom Nansemond River High, prepares to rappel
130 feet down the sheer rocks as part of VMI's College Orientation
Workshop.
Jordan, here making his way down the rocks, said afterward, "It felt
like I conquered the world."
Joseph Parker, center, of Western Branch High, listens as a cadet
instructor explains how to rig a safety harness.
Photo by BURTON FLOYD
Sean Vaughn of Newport News endures a math/computer science class at
VMI's College Orientation Workshop.
KEYWORDS: MINORITY STUDENTS by CNB