| Kogod students helping D.C. high school students BY MIKE UNGER Carly Lundy attended an elite high school in south Florida before coming to American University three years ago as an undergraduate. Although she was aware of the dire state of many inner-city schools she was still taken aback when, with her classmates in the Kogod School of Business’s Washington Initiative program, she visited the District’s H.D. Woodson High School earlier this semester. 
Courtesy of Cheryl Tomlin
From left, Washington Initiative students Syed Hussain, Greg Giusti, Laura Schlockman, Carly Lundy, and Rey Husain are joined by Hoop Dreams Scholarship Fund program director Rachel Cleaver, right, at H.D. Woodson High School in Washington, D.C. “It’s unlike any other school that I’ve been to,” she said. “It’s a struggle for them to keep going every day there. Leaving, I had such a feeling that there’s so much we can do on a personal level, on a city level, on a governmental level. There’s opportunity there. There are clearly so many students that have the potential and motivation to do great things and go great places but their environment is not really conducive to those hopes and dreams.” Susie Kay ’86 felt the same way while she taught American Government at the school for a decade, and in 1996, she decided to do something about it. Kay founded Hoop Dreams, initially a simple one-day charity basketball tournament that over the course of the next 10 years has grown into a nonprofit organization that has helped send more than 750 D.C. public high school students to college. The Hoop Dreams Scholarship Fund has awarded more than $2.5 million in scholarship money, and it also sponsors a college prep mentoring program, runs an internship program, and helps students improve their college board scores through an SAT prep partnership program with the Princeton Review. This semester, Kay has a few new allies. As part of the Washington Initiative, a two-credit Kogod elective in which students consult for a nonprofit group, Lundy and her 11 colleagues are creating an online auction they hope will raise more than $500 for Hoop Dreams, while raising the organization’s profile on campus and in Northwest Washington in the process. Allison Holcomb, Kogod’s undergraduate academic program manager, teaches the class. “It’s very personal when students can see such a connection between what they’re learning in the classroom to a real life situation, especially when it’s connected to service,” she said. “After that trip [to Woodson], their eyes got a little wider.” Throughout the semester, the students sent hundreds of letters to area businesses explaining the work of Hoop Dreams and asking for donations of anything ranging from gift certificates to old electronic equipment. Saturday, they set up shop at Ballston Common Mall in Virginia to accept donations from the general public. Beginning Dec. 14, the auction, “Bid for a Brighter Tomorrow,” can be accessed at ezAuctioning.com, a Virginia company that specializes in running ebay auctions and is partnering with Washington Initiative and Hoop Dreams for this project. Kogod’s impact on Hoop Dreams has been more than just financial, said Rachel Cleaver, the organization’s program director. Last year, Washington Initiative students helped raise money for Hoop Dreams by conducting a marketing and advertising campaign on campus. “The funds are wonderful, but they’ve also taken the time to come out and meet the kids,” Cleaver said. “The wonderful dedication they have to supporting this cause is shown by what they’re doing. They’ve spread the word about Hoop Dreams on AU’s campus and in the communities surrounding AU. It’s helped our name recognition. Any kind of money is very much appreciated. Our scholarships usually are about $1,000 to $3,000, so even if they raise $500 that’s half a scholarship. Even just paying for some food at our mentoring program helps. Every little bit counts.” That knowledge has provided ample motivation for Washington Initiative students like William Quinn, who forged a relationship with a Woodson student during a Hoop Dreams mentoring session he attended. “He was a great kid,” said Quinn, a sophomore from outside of Philadelphia. “People get stereotypes of what kids in D.C. are like, but he was down to earth, a real normal kid. He definitely has some potential and the desire to go to college. That’s always been the driving force for what we’re doing. Sometimes you lose track of it because you get caught up in the everyday goings on. We’ve got to make this thing work as much as possible, because every dollar helps them out.” |
