Score one for the high school students who can't dunk a basketball or who fall short of perfection on the Scholastic Aptitude Test.
In other words, score one for the solid students whose interests also reach into their communities.
It was a pleasant surprise last week to learn that more colleges are awarding hefty scholarships to service-minded students who volunteer in their community. The scholarships rival the packages athletes receive. Read more »
In Wednesday's assembly line of young volunteers at the Southwestern Virginia Second Harvest Food Bank, Melissa Downey abruptly halted the activity and called a quick confab with Glenvar High schoolmate Kimmie Martin.
Should Downey toss the 12-roll pack of Scott tissue, which was really an 11-pack, because it had been ripped open? Or was it safe to put in the donation bin to go out to a needy family? Without hesitating, Kimmie made the call.
Because the rolls were exposed, 17-year-old Kimmie figured, they might not be sanitary. Melissa, 14, agreed.
The tissue was tossed.
Across town at Greenvale School, Glenvar junior Taylor Montgomery welcomed his role as the oldest kid in a circle of preschoolers dancing and moving to the "bean bag" song.
By late morning, another crop of Glenvar students had raked enough leaves at the Bradley Free Clinic to fill 43 bags. Afterward, they lounged in a large multipurpose room at the facility.
Don't call today's youth self-absorbed. Read more »
Who is this group of people that persuaded school officials to put in play a kinder, gentler academic policy for student athletes?
I don't know, but in the end, that vocal minority won.
A few years back, when he was principal at Noel C. Taylor Learning Academy, George Miller was asked to accompany 10 high school students to a football tryout at St. Paul's College in Lawrenceville.
The students six from William Fleming and four from Patrick Henry were standout athletes and wowed the college coaching staff. The Division II school was interested in all of the young men.
"Everybody was happy," recalled Miller, now Roanoke schools' athletic director. Crosstown rivalries faded as guys from Fleming and Patrick Henry talked about rooming together at St. Paul.
Then the phone call came.
The crisis of the black male is our crisis ... -- Sen. Barack Obama
According to the National Urban League's 2007 State of Black America, more than half of the nation's 5.6 million black boys live in fatherless homes.
In many inner cities, more than half of all black men do not finish high school. In 2004, 72 percent of black male high school dropouts in their 20s were jobless. The incarceration rate for black men from ages 25 to 29 is 8 percent, compared with 1 percent of white men.
Yet, in a society in which his gender and race mark him as an endangered species, William Fleming High School senior Adrian Ambrose forcefully declares, "I am not a statistic."
In her signature plainspoken style, Michigan native Shanna Flowers peels away the layers and gets to the heart of the issues. No pretense. Just straightforward perspective. Shanna writes about local people whose circumstances reflect decisions made as near as City Hall or as far away as the halls of Congress. Other times, she weighs in on a topic because it is incredibly ridiculous. Or heartening. Or fascinating. Read Shanna's column three days a week, Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, at roanoke.com
