College program a casualty with Ford Annex closing

LYNN – Leadership and drive are two attributes that are often difficult to find in middle school students, especially those who struggle to adjust during what is often an awkward and challenging phase of life.Thanks to the College for Every Student Program at North Shore Community College, middle schoolers at the Ford School now not only have the skills to be leaders among their peers, they have the confidence to step up and start planning for their futures at a young age.The program brings the Ford School together with area colleges and universities, including North Shore Community College, in an academic and social partnership that gets students on the right track thinking about their academic future and their self confidence.”The CFES program made the difference,” said Ford Principal Claire Crane, who said she noticed a big change in students who attended the program last year. “If students don’t start thinking about college until they’re in high school, that’s often too late. We need to boost their aspirations much earlier, in middle school or even before. That’s exactly what happened with these students – when you ask them about college now, they all say they plan to go.”The change is glaring to Crane, who says the climate was much different at the school when she first started in 1989.”(At that time) most of them weren’t even making it through high school,” she said.The CFES partnership has expanded to include additional colleges, and by the end of the 2008-09 school year the Ford Scholars had spent time on the campuses of Lesley and Wheelock colleges, Northeastern University and the University of Massachusetts.Despite the program’s successes, the closure of the Ford School Annex, which housed the middle school students, means that the partnership between the two organizations will be short-lived, unless other city middle schools step up to include CFES.All of the students that attended or would have attended the Ford have been spread out to the Pickering, Breed and Marshall middle schools next year, and it is unclear if students will still have the CFES opportunity.”I always thought I would wait until high school to learn about college,” said student Yessica Rodriguez-Rios. “But CFES has opened my eyes to new opportunities. I’m so lucky to have this program at Ford because I get to experience college while I’m still in middle school.”Student Paola Otero is equally enthusiastic as she continues on her own path to the future, now that she’s been accepted to a North Shore boarding school on a full scholarship.”These girls developed a level of self-confidence that is rare among middle school students,” said Marilyn Glazer-Weisner, a mentoring and leadership specialist associated with NSCC. “They are first-generation North Americans, and will be first-generation college students.”Losing the program will be a blow to Crane, who says the change in attitude for the students is huge in getting more of the disadvantaged students she works with confident about school.”I saw many of the students becoming more aware of their interests and natural talents, and saw many coming to envision college as a part of their future,” said Crane. “When the eighth graders made their decisions about which high schools they will attend, a great many said that preparing themselves for college was the most important factor.”