Everyday Angels
28 MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2005
She invests in kids’ future
Teacher’s Summer Workshop Plants Seeds of College Dreams
LARA BECKER LIU
Staff Writer
The children were reluctant at first.
It was August,
after all, and the week long creative writing workshop that University
of Rochester professor Ayala Emmett was offering at North Street Community
Center had all the appeal of summer school.
By week’s end, though, the children were arriving before Emmett.
They were chanting, “We have a voice”; composing poems and
letters to the editor; and taking photographs to accompany their work.
And yet Emmett yearned to give them more.
“I wanted to give them what I call their birthright –the birthright
of every child in America –and that is to be prepared throughout their
educational experience to go on to higher education and find a place in
society.”
So, using her own money, she established a trust fund for them.
“It’s a deal in which I do my part, and you do your part,” she
told the seven participants, who range in age from 10 to 14, when she announced
the trust fund on the last day of the workshop. “I will put the money
in every year, and you will do well in school.”
She calls it “Seeds for College,” and pledges to dedicate $100
to each child every year they earn reasonably good grades. The money will
accumulate until they graduate from high school, at which time it will
become available for their higher education needs, such as books.
North Street Community Center Director Preston Sanders said he “fell
out of the chair” when Emmett announced the trust fund. “With
all the violence and negativity surrounding our young people, here was
a little shining light for me and these young kids,” he said.
Emmett figures it was the least she could do.
“When I drove horme every day, all I could think of is how beautiful
and wonderful these children (were). But we don’t see them as these sponges,
ready to learn. We see them when there is a tragedy,” she said. After
establishing the fund, she said, “I felt better.”
An associate professor of anthropology, Emmett had never worked with urban
youths before; her volunteering experience was limited to soup kitchens.
But when one of her students, Spring Worth –who grew up in Marketview
Heights and is now Housing Opportunities Inc.’s community planning project
manager –approached her about creating a forum for city children,
Emmett agreed to partner with her. Worth later wrote: “After a week
of a lot of laughing, joking, crying, flaunting, disruption, frustration
and eagerness, each of (the children) found their voice through writing
about something that was important to them.”
Workshop participant Leeosha Lorraine Clinkscales credits Emmett with
encouraging her to “write from your heart,” She, like the other
participants, wrote a letter to the editor, as well as a poem titled, “My
Reflection.” The letters, which were written with help from local
journalist Jennifer Loviglio, touch on topics ranging from the high speed
ferry to vandalism.
“When (Emmett) used to tell us what to write about, that made my
hands just work,” said Leeosha, 12. She added that she hadn't seriously
thought about going to college before attending the workshop but now wants
to study photography.
Emmett believes the children simply needed “for someone to tell them:
You can do it. Just try.” And some of them, she discovered, already
were succeeding.
When Emmett told the children about the trust fund, one mother proudly
pulled her son’s report card from her purse and instructed the boy to show
it to Emmett.
Devin Young had struck her as “a tough guy," Emmett said, but
his report card, “had all A’s and B-pluses on it.” As he
handed it to her, “He said, ‘Here. I am on the road to doing it.’”
How to Help
Anyone interested in contributing to the “Seeds for College” trust
fund, or in learning more about future creative writing workshops, should call
Ayala
Emmett at (585) 275-8736, or e-mail her at aemt@mail.rochester.edu.
About this series
This series on Everyday Angels runs on Mondays. Everyday Angels are stories
about ordinary people who do extraordinary things for others. If you want
to nominate someone to be profiled, please send an e-mail with full details
to MetroDesk@DemocratandChronicle.com or send a letter to Metro Desk, Democrat
and Chronicle, 55 Exchange Blvd., Rochester, NY 14614. |
