In the 1990's J.B. Schramm, a recent graduate of Harvard Divinity School and a youth worker in Washington, D.C., realized that many of the young people he got to know were “better than their numbers.” That is, these students did not score well on standardized college entrance tests yet had the potential to grow into successful and responsible adults. To realize their potential he enlisted a creative writing teacher friend to design a curriculum that focused on one thing: guiding his students through the stages of writing their college essay.
He called his nonprofit organization "College Summit."
His bold idea: utilize the arduous task of writing to help students discover their more authentic selves and their evolving identities. The writing process, in other words, is the catalyst for change, helping students to locate and release the potential trapped within them. Like Carol Dweck’s groundbreaking efforts, J.B. Schramm focuses on students most critical tension point—their evolving sense of self and their own values.
What’s revealed? It’s never too late, even at the end or high school, for students to have a transformational experience that will give them a firm foundation for success in college an beyond. This is especially so when it comes to such motivational factors as identity—the secret sauce of any teenager's success -- and the very release valve of trapped adolescent potential.
The result: Eighty percent of these students went to college, and eighty percent of them would graduate from college. The cost? Four days on a college campus within a small group under the tutelage for a skillful writing teacher. The approach? A combination of direct and group work.
He called his nonprofit organization "College Summit."
His bold idea: utilize the arduous task of writing to help students discover their more authentic selves and their evolving identities. The writing process, in other words, is the catalyst for change, helping students to locate and release the potential trapped within them. Like Carol Dweck’s groundbreaking efforts, J.B. Schramm focuses on students most critical tension point—their evolving sense of self and their own values.
What’s revealed? It’s never too late, even at the end or high school, for students to have a transformational experience that will give them a firm foundation for success in college an beyond. This is especially so when it comes to such motivational factors as identity—the secret sauce of any teenager's success -- and the very release valve of trapped adolescent potential.
The result: Eighty percent of these students went to college, and eighty percent of them would graduate from college. The cost? Four days on a college campus within a small group under the tutelage for a skillful writing teacher. The approach? A combination of direct and group work.