November
2002
Feature: Trenton
High's next generation
The city's brightest plan to return and make
Trenton better-before they even leave
By
Joe Emanski
Ambition
is the most energizing form of expression a teen can have. Ambitious
students put wide grins on teachers' faces. Sure, there's a little
bit of naivete in every grand plan. But you don't stifle ambition.
Ambition in today's Trenton Central High School students is what
will make the City of Trenton great tomorrow.
Ambition is evidence of hopefulness, of optimism, of faith and
trust. That's why it's so gratifying when you see that Trenton
High's brightest young people are not only full of ambition, but
full of action. Ambition that isn't nurtured turns hopefulness
to hopelessness faster than disinterest ever did.
Teachers and advisers and counselors and principals know how to
nurture. But there's more to it than that. In a city with a school
system that is rated near the bottom of the state, the loss of
students who have excelled in the classroom, then left the city
for greener pastures, is crushing.
Trenton's
next generation knows the legacy of those who came before them.
A redesigned curriculum and the utilization of corporate support
are visibly revitalizing the Trenton school system. But fostering
the attitude in the student body that the city needs them, needs
them to get an education and breathe life back into the state
capital-that could be the keystone of the school's future.
When sophomore Jerell Blakely says, "I will stay in Trenton
the rest of my life," he says it for a reason. Trenton High's
best students today have already put in a tremendous amount of
time and effort into their community. Leaving once they finish
school would be abandoning their hometown.
Jerell's
fellow students echo what he's saying. This is their school, their
community.
The
Trenton school district has got some high hills to climb to earn
back the respect of the rest of the state. The administration,
led by Superintendent James Lytle and Trenton High principal Priscilla
Dawson, has broken out the hiking boots and said, Let's go.
And
the students are following. Or in some cases, leading the way.
*
* *
The
Tornado Resource Center provides a wide range of culturally sensitive
programs and services for the student body. As much as anything,
the Tornado Resource Center gives these students hope.
Senior Andrew McRae sits in the office of Dr. Joseph Youngblood
II, the director of the Tornado Resource Center, chatting about
his home life. To a stranger hearing the conversation, it's obvious
that these two have a caring relationship. The Tornado Resource
Center seems designed to deliver the students a particular message,
that their issues, desires and problems-whatever they are-are
important.
The
Resource Center staff minds the cultural distinctions that would
likely curtail the effectiveness of similar programs implemented
elsewhere in the county or state. Under the care of Dr. Youngblood,
the Resource Center supports everything from the counseling of
pregnant teens to the student government.
Dr.
Youngblood put us in touch with some members of the Student Assembly.
In this article you'll find out a little about them-who they are,
what they've done, and what they hope to do.
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Andrew
McRae
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Small
learning community: Medical Arts
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Dream college: Princeton, Villanova, Seton Hall,
Georgetown
|
Andrew McRae has modest plans, if you consider aspirations to
become a lawyer, then mayor of Trenton, then governor of New Jersey,
then President of the United States modest. You sense it's not
all he's got planned.
When
the school instituted a student government that replicated the
Federal government system, Andrew was involved. He helped bring
about the school television studio and has helped shape future
architectural plans for the school. As a sophomore, he was appointed
student representative to the school board. He participated in
the W.E.B. DuBois Scholars Institute, a two-year program for gifted
minority student leaders who demonstrate a sense of community
purpose.
Andrew was one of two students selected for the Governor's School
of Public Issues-the first African-American male governor's scholars
ever from Trenton. Over the summer he worked with the NAACP helping
to reactivate the Trenton branch of the Youth NAACP. He has also
been a volunteer at the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen and for Angel's
Wings, which provides emergency foster care. He's also in the
community service club and the environment club.
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Amaryllis
Ortiz
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| Small
learning community: Business and technology |
| Dream
college: University of Pennsylvania |
Senior
Amaryllis Ortiz is vice president of the Student Assembly. What
first seems to be shyness turns out to be humility. She exudes
a drive to succeed and the confidence necessary to do so.
Like
Andrew, she was appointed as student representative to the school
board as a sophomore. The pair organized a voter-registration
drive through the board, and also influenced installation of metal
detectors in the school.
Amaryllis
volunteers at her church, St. Mary's Cathedral, where she has
been a Sunday School instructor in two languages. She's involved
in the Puerto Rican Parade and the Latino Law Enforcement Society.
She
chose the business and technology community despite holding drama
close to her heart. Active in productions put on by her church,
Amaryllis hopes to put her business training to use in drama or
the entertainment field.
*
* *
"The
Writer's Room is a wonderful example of how students have access,"
says Dr. Youngblood. Students come during the day to get feedback
on their writing assignments. Modern PCs connected to the school's
computer network line the walls.
Technology is one common thread to Trenton High's recent growth.
In particular, the number of computers at the school has had a
positive effect on life at the school. Business and Technology
students have the opportunity to learn how to use and repair copy
machines thanks to cooperation from Xerox or how a network router
works thanks to the sponsorship of Cisco Systems.
The
students in our story, though, are universal in their desire to
see the progress of the past few years continue.
"In
the last three years we've had a huge influx of computers,"
says Andrew, who is nevertheless not placated. "Over a large
time you can get behind," he notes. "In books and equipment,
we still have a long way to go."
At
that, the students slip into an introspective mode. It's an illustration
of the nearly global obstacles that the Trenton community faces-and
must overcome. No matter how strong the Trenton High curriculum
becomes, it must go hand in hand with a restoration of stable
family life for the majority of the students.
"Because
of a lot of our home environments, a lot of students have to work,"
says Andrew. "We don't have the luxury of participating in
activities. We have great programs-[but we have] 67 clubs that
are not all full."
Adds
Amaryllis, "Many students' home lives really affect them.
It's easy for people to say you have to have motivation."
For her, the opportunity to take a class at the James Kerney Campus
of Mercer County Community College via the LINK program changed
her life-enabled her to see herself in a different environment,
as the college student she realized she wanted to be.
"Trenton
High School has really shaped the person I am," she says.
"Trenton High has really helped me connect with the community.
If I want to say something I'll say it. There's a spirit and a
passion. Sometimes it's masked by distractions, but you can see
in people's eyes-people really mean what they're saying. That's
why we do what we do."
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Shamelle
Ingram
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Small learning community: Media technology |
| Dream
college: North Carolina A&T |
Shamelle
Ingram, a native of North Carolina, admits that she didn't look
forward to attending Trenton High.
"I
had a closed mind of what Trenton was," she says. "But
freshman year was the best year of my life. It's basically what
you make it. I was elected freshman president-I couldn't believe
I was in so many things. Youth NAACP. I was in Junior ROTC. I
got to travel, be in parades. Basically I get here early and stay
late."
Shamelle
has been a volunteer at the P.J. Hill Elementary School Get Set
program and also volunteers in a big-sister type program at her
church. She is in the media technology community and though she's
just a sophomore, she intends to purse a career in communications,
possibly as a news reporter or a producer, if she opts to go behind
the scenes.
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Jerell
Blakely
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Small learning community: Law and justice |
| Dream
colleges: Georgetown, George Washington, NYU |
When
Jerell takes issue with Trenton High's lack of advanced placement
courses, Andrew has an answer. Trenton's students were failing
the AP test, a shortcoming costly both in time and money.
According
to Andrew, the revised AP program will be on line just about the
time Jerell and Shamelle will be eligible to take the courses.
He gives it as an example of how Trenton High is improving, not
regressing. His demeanor is I-can-handle-it cool. Jerell is crackling
energy.
A
senator in the Student Assembly, Jerell was 8th grade president
at Holland Middle School and helped shape the Student Assembly
there. He interned for the Doug Palmer 2002 mayoral campaign and
the 2002 Rush Holt congressional reelection campaign.
Jerell
is involved in the Children's Home Society, where he gave the
invocation at the 106th annual gala. He's also a tutor.
"Freshman
year, I didn't know if I wanted to go to Trenton High," says
Jerell. "But now I wouldn't trade it for anything else."
His ambitions include becoming a historian, an educator, and a
politician. To help make it happen, Jerell is participating in
Princeton Prep, a three-year learning and enrichment program for
gifted Mercer County high school students who are financially
disadvantaged. Shamelle is in the program as well.
*
* *
There's
other evidence of Trenton High's ongoing resurgence. The Trenton
Central High School store, in its second year, is managed and
staffed by the students of the Business and Technology and the
Marketing small learning communities. The students decide everything
from how the store is laid out to what the store should offer
(everything from notebooks and pens to hats and shirts).
The
small learning communities (there are eight: applied engineering
and science; business and technology; creative connections; media
technology; hotel, restaurant and tourism; law and justice; renaissance
academy; and medical arts) are not vo-tech divisions that concentrate
only on their areas of specialty. Each community has a counselor,
an attendance officer, a disciplinary officer and 15 teachers
in all subject areas from core community classes to English, history,
science and math. The goal is a team approach, coordinating efforts
to suit each community's curriculum.
According
to Janice Williams, teacher-leader of the Business and Technology
community, "The small learning communities bring staff closer
together. We're on the same page delivering quality learning to
students. It enables teachers to get to know students. And students
have taken ownership of their communities. They each want their
community to be the best it can be."
While
Business and technology students focus on skills like accounting,
computer applications, graphic design and Web page design, students
in the Medical Arts community develop skills necessary for success
in areas involving medical technologies, medical therapies, or
in nursing. Medical Arts students' education culminates in a senior-year
internship at a local medical center or social service agency.
Applied
Engineering and Science teacher-leader David Cipolloni has taught
at Trenton High for 23 years. Like Williams, he's seen the ways
that the small learning communities have changed the student-teacher
dynamic.
"It
allows (students) to explore projects they normally wouldn't be
able to," says Cipolloni. "Teacher leaders have a love
for their area. I think that goes a long way to making it great."
In
the AE&S community, the Youth Transition to Work program,
undertaken with the help of the Carpenters Local 31, provides
a chance for students to train for a trade, as do the school's
modern machine shops. Meanwhile, the robotics program also offers
a look at a potential college career. Either way, the greater
Trenton and Mercer County communities are involved.
Princeton
University sponsors the robotics program. For the last three years,
a Trenton High/Princeton U. team has competed in the FIRST Robotics
competition, an annual event that by 2003 will involve more than
20,000 students from the U.S. and abroad. The national championships
are held at Walt Disney World.
Cipolloni
believes projects like the robotics program are becoming integral
to education, especially in districts like Trenton, where students
may not always thrive in traditional settings. Another such project
is the Tour de Sol, an exhibition sponsored by the Northeast Sustainable
Energy Association (NESEA). The Tour de Sol makes four stops each
year: Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York and Trenton.
The
Tour de Sol promotes alternative energy vehicles. If Trenton High
is confirmed as an entry, the school already has local sponsors
on board and is interested in obtaining more. The Trenton entry
will run on "biodiesel" fuel, which is made from used
vegetable oil. In future years Cipolloni hopes Trenton High students
will get to engineer an electric car.
Cipolloni
tells a story that perhaps embodies what Trenton High has become.
"I have one senior-up until this year he wanted to be a machinist.
Now he's talking to me about being a machinist and also about
ways to continue his education. The difference is, now he takes
design classes. His experiences led him to aspire to a more academic
career. We want them to see their options."
*
* *
Or
maybe Andrew McRae tells the ultimate tale of 21st-century Trenton
High.
"My
passion and love goes back before I even came from Arthur J. Holland
Middle School. My circle of friends was recruited by private institutions.
I chose to stay in Trenton. Not one of them stayed with me. I
was forced to make a lot of personal decisions. I said we are
capable of producing great students personally and professionally."
He
reiterates an observation that may yet prove to define Trenton
High in history:
"Our
best and brightest go elsewhere. We want to come back and make
Trenton better."
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