Terran Williams hopes to own and operate his own restaurant one day, a down-home place that serves “just about everything,” he said.
Darla Meaders dreams of singing her way into the music business much like Chicago native-turned-Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson.
And Helen Lai wants to study sculpture in a college beyond Illinois, a state she left for the first time Sunday during the Chicago Public Schools’ inaugural spring break college tour.
“I’d really like to see Parsons [The New School for Design] in New York City. ‘Project Runway’ is there, so I’m psyched for seeing that,” said Lai, 17, a junior at Walter Payton College Prep High School, before boarding a bus that would take her there.
The students joined more than 450 others drawn from nearly five dozen public high schools who will visit four-year colleges and universities across the country during spring break. Students earned a bus seat by writing essays and posting high enough grades to merit acceptance to schools included on myriad tours that feature everything from Ivy League universities to historically black colleges.
The college push follows a study that found schools must do more to help students navigate the often puzzling application process. Too many teenagers “sell themselves short” by opting for two-year colleges or vocational schools despite having the academic standing to attend four-year institutions, according to a report released Wednesday by the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago.
District officials said the college tours are an example of efforts to get more students into college and help them stay there. They hope to make the campus visits a standing event. “We need to expose our young people to choices that are more appropriate matches not only in the academic side, but also on the affordability side,” said Greg Darnieder, director of post-secondary education and student development. “We also know most of our students don’t leave Illinois, and it’s usually for financial reasons. But it’s misunderstood financial reasons.”
Many colleges offer scholarships and financial aid for low-income students. Elite schools such as Harvard, Yale and Northwestern Universities recently expanded financial grant and aid programs to help more families afford pricey tuition and fees.
Chicago students will learn about the application process and financial aid offered at every college they visit. “The $40,000 and $50,000 price tag may not scare them away anymore,” school board President Rufus Williams said.
Darla Meaders, for one, was less concerned about financing a degree than finding the best school. The 15-year-old sophomore at Morgan Park High School visited Chicago-area colleges but wanted to see more before settling on one that will groom her for a career in music. “I want to be prepared,” said Meaders before getting a send-off hug from her parents.
Lisa and Darrin Meaders said the district will take their girl to schools scattered between Rhode Island and Michigan, a trip that would be hard to make on their own. “By going on the art tour, it gives her a chance to see what is out there,” Darrin Meaders said. “It was a great opportunity and a blessing.”
Selected students paid $25 to participate in the weeklong tour. Private donations subsidized the total cost, estimated at $200,000, Darnieder said.
Students and parents arrived towing suitcases shortly after 6 a.m. at the Teachers Academy for Math and Science in Bridgeport. By 7:15 a.m., seven buses bearing students and staff members pulled away in a whirl of honks, waves and shouts of encouragement.
Kelly High School college coach Nadia Flores will take 35 students to schools known for serving Latino students such as Temple University in Philadelphia, Penn State University and Syracuse University in New York. Flores said she wanted to gauge each school’s willingness to work with students who may be the first in their families to attend a four-year college away from home.
Just 46 percent of all Latino students in the Chicago Public Schools applied to four-year schools, and only 30 percent enrolled in the fall, the University of Chicago report found. Across the district, 59 percent of students who wanted to attend college actually applied and 41 percent enrolled after graduation, according to the study of 5,100 Chicago public high school graduates in 2005.
“We want to be able to have them leave Chicago, and we want them to have other experiences,” Flores said.
Michelle Rodriguez, 17, a Jones College Prep High School junior, said she always planned to spend spring break visiting colleges but thought she’d stay near Chicago. The district’s tour will broaden her search and give her a taste of college life in the Big Ten, she said.
“There’s a lot of students who didn’t have a chance like this,” Rodriguez said. “It’s just eye-opening.”
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tmalone@tribune.com
