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Young Students Look Toward Future: The Kauffman Scholars Get a Head-Start on College With the Challenge U Program.

Posted on: Saturday, 17 June 2006, 06:00 CDT

By Frank Tankard, The Kansas City Star, Mo.

Jun. 17--MARYVILLE, MO -- At this moment, they're not thinking about college.

They're busy watching the man with the goofy voice, bow tie and golf hat tell them from a video screen how to pull a string and shoot |f their rockets. Their newly printed Northwest Missouri State University ID cards hang from lanyards around their necks in Room 3600 of the Garrett-Strong Science Building.

The rockets they've built are designed to shoot far into the air. They're 13 or so, heading into eighth grade. But for the last couple of days, they've been living the college life, sharing four-person suites in Tower Suites West dormitory, eating in the dining hall, meeting the faculty and, well, building rockets.

These 20 kids are on the free or reduced-price lunch program at Kansas City and Kansas City, Kan., public schools. They are Kauffman Scholars, and for three days this week they stayed overnight at Northwest Missouri State as part of the Challenge U program.

Statistics say not all of them belong on a college campus.

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education reported that 70 percent of last year's graduates in the Kansas City School District didn't go to college. The Kansas State Department of Education said that half of last year's Kansas City, Kan., School District graduates didn't either.

But as long as Joel Bailey maintains a C average from now through high school and stays out of trouble, he gets to study at any college in the nation on the tab of the Kauffman Scholars program.

"I'm the best drawer in my school," says the Southwest Charter School student, who wants to study animation. He says this quietly, matter-of-factly.

He's put a little thought into what college he wants to go to -- one called Full Sail in Florida. The Kauffman Scholars program wants these kids to think about that kind of thing. This is their third college visit, which puts them ahead of many college-bound high school seniors.

"This whole program is geared toward college graduation," said Manomay Malathip, who works with the children in the program. "That's why we start residential trips so early with them."

The Challenge U program began at Northwest Missouri State and has since expanded to five other colleges in Kansas and Missouri, plus the University of Arkansas.

But now isn't a time for college; now's a time for rockets. Joel pulls a string that sets off his rocket, which is made out of a bottle, a paper tube, a cylinder and a pingpong ball. His partner, Devyn Oatis of the Academy of Kansas City, pulls with him, but too hard.

The string pulls down the base the rocket sat on, sending the rocket feebly into the air for 4.5 seconds, tied for the worst time of the afternoon. The paper tube is badly busted when it hits the concrete.

"It's hard," Devyn says, holding the frayed rocket. "I did a lot, and now it's just bad."

In all, Kauffman Scholars Class Two has 249 members. Next summer they will spend four days at college; five days the next summer ; then a week; two weeks; and from four to six weeks after graduating high school. Twice a week during the school year, they attend "academic enrichment academy" at either Penn Valley Community College or Donnelly College, where they get extra tutoring in science, math, English and life skills.

"By the time they're seniors, they would have seen 10, 15, 20 different campuses and stayed in four or five," Malathip said.

The program may be an opportunity, but it also has proved difficult for some of them. Of Class One, half of the 200 students inducted in 2003 have fallen out of the program for various reasons. Some made poor grades, some moved out of the district, some just quit.

Malathip said the program made a mistake the first year by asking teachers and school officials to nominate the students. Many of the students who got in didn't really know what the program was.

"One day they got a letter saying they were Kauffman Scholars ... there was not a lot of buy-in," she said.

Now the students have to apply for admission. The program requires a minimum C average in core classes, good behavior and being on free or reduced-price lunches. Once they get in, if they drop below a C average or cause problems in school, they get put on probation and can get kicked out. Only six members of Class Two are no longer in it, a year after being inducted.

Those remaining in Class One are now heading into their sophomore year of high school with five to seven college visits under their belts. A new class of 300 sixth-grade graduates will be inducted in August, plus 100 rising sophomores to replace those who dropped out.

Back at Northwest Missouri State, the rockets have been fired and the three-day program is drawing to a close. It's now time to think about college, at the students' small award/graduation ceremony.

They're given Northwest Missouri State T-shirts and wristbands that say "College Knowledge."

Carla Mebane, who runs the Challenge U program here, tells them: "This is the beginnings of your future."

The students clap and hoot, half in jest at the little ceremony and half in excitement, and someone yells: "We're college people!"

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To reach Frank Tankard, call (816) 234-4415 or send e-mail to ftankard@kcstar.com.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Kansas City Star, Mo.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Missouri)

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