Back in the spring of 1988, they’d all been friends at Seat Pleasant Elementary, part of a class of fifth-graders from some of Prince George’s County’s poorest neighborhoods.
Then, on a May afternoon, they received an unexpected gift that would alter their lives: the promise of a college education, paid for by two wealthy businessmen. Suddenly, the 11-year-olds were part of an ambitious social experiment being tried across the country, one that brought together rich benefactors and needy kids in a largely untested but intimate style of philanthropy aimed at lifting entire families out of poverty.
At Seat Pleasant, the promise generated a wave of publicity and excitement, transforming the fifth-graders into symbols of hope in their own neighborhoods and well beyond. The scholarships gave them a chance to achieve a kind of success that had eluded most of their parents. Yet their good fortune also became a burden that would endure long after they reached adulthood. The questions followed them: What would become of William Smith, Darone Robinson and the rest of the Seat Pleasant 59?
Would they graduate from high school?
Would they make it to college?
What would they make of their gift?
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Anyone Not Remember This Story?
Anyone curious how it turned out?
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1 comment:
Interesting results. Although not many graduated college, all but one is still alive and 83% graduated high school, and only one in prison. If they took another 5th grade class from the same system, same year, I wonder what they would look like. My guess is that you would have fewer high school grads, more deaths, and more in prison. The article points out that you shouldn't consider college graduation as "success." You should consider becoming a productive member of society a success.
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