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Thursday, March 4, 2004

Kids Urged to Focus on College

By Kathy Louise Schuit
Mountain View Telegraph
    More than 100 Albuquerque-area businesspeople have joined forces to encourage eighth-graders in three school districts to think math and science when formulating their high school schedules.
    Recently, two members of the group— the New Mexico Business Roundtable's New Mexico Scholars Program— came to Roosevelt Middle School to talk with students about their future in the work force.
    A 50-minute PowerPoint presentation filled with good reasons to go to college— i.e. you can't live on minimum wage, and without college you're not likely to make much more than that— sought to persuade students to make higher education a priority in their lives.
    Every eighth-grader at Roosevelt— more than 200 students— saw the presentation, said Carl Sanchez, school counselor.
    "I think most of the kids understood what they were trying to say," he said.
    The presentation encourages students to prescribe for themselves a high school course of academic study far exceeding that required for graduation.
    New Mexico was one of only 12 states to receive $300,000 from the Center for State Scholars to establish the program for businesspeople to help in encouraging students to complete rigorous high school course work.
    "Students and parents need to know that the educational choices they make today have a profound impact on their ability to secure jobs that are fulfilling and pay a good wage," said Jacki Riggs, New Mexico Business Roundtable for Educational Excellence president, in a news release.
    The state scholars program, which is used in school districts around the county, recommends a course of high school study that includes at least four English credits, three math credits, three lab science credits, 31/2 social studies credits and two credits in a language other than English.
    This is the first year of a two-year scholars pilot program in Albuquerque, Rio Rancho and Bernalillo public schools. If it is successful, it may be implemented statewide, the release said.
    Students who complete the rigorous course of study will be rewarded by the roundtable in a number of ways, said Joe LiRosi, scholars program director.
    Internships, scholarships and mentoring programs are included in the list of roundtable incentives, and LiRosi said there might even be a dinner with the governor.