Our First Workshop: The Textbook Stipend Project

We had an inspired weekend with a visit from students from the Philadelphia area and the workshop for the students of the Textbook Stipend Project. They were resounding successes. It's great to see students of color making positive moves in the education arena. They are shattering the negative expectations placed on them by the media and society as a whole. There's still work to be done but it is evident, we're headed in the right direction.

The students from Philadelphia have varied majors that range from Criminology and Forensics to Communications and the Recording Industry. They are equally motivated to complete their studies and also discussed the specter of attending Graduate School. They possess an entrepreneurial spirit that I'm sure will result in the growth of industry that will have important social implications at its core and activism in its practice.

Last August, we introduced you to the students participants of the Textbook Stipend Project. There's Dina Atwa, Faith Culpepper, and Gavin Ferguson. We got the opportunity to hold a workshop designed to bring the participants together to create the shared goals and expectations. The workshop takes place post-semester so we can get a perspective based in experience. The purpose of the stipend is to provide funds for textbooks and supplies necessary to the matriculation process.

In the workshop, we broke things down to the basics. It really came down to what they like, dislike, challenges and their shifting paradigm. The students unanimously liked their first semester of college. They enjoyed meeting new peers from different backgrounds, and quickly came to understand things do not operate the same way they do in high school. They like their classes, events, campus, and in one case, dorm life. Most striking, is the pride in attending college and the opportunity inherent in their new environments.

They are hard pressed to come up with dislikes. I pressed them for some kind of answer. All they came up with is the length and time of travel to and from campus, the number of days with classes, the foreboding darkness of one campus at night, and college food. Not too bad. I'm happy that they're taking full advantage of the resources as well as the advise given to them. They have managed to successfully navigate their first semester without any major drawbacks.

All in all, the most important piece of the workshop is finding out just how helpful and important the stipend is to the progress of their academic pursuit. They are unanimous in the opinion that the stipend makes things easier as well as provides a smoother transition into their studies. Most telling is they are aware of the academic requirements needed to continue in the project and used that as motivation to do well. It works.

In the coming days you will get to see and hear the students tell you in their own words just how important the Textbook Stipend Project is to their success. Stay tuned....

http://youtu.be/_8VWAmof9Mc
http://youtu.be/VXCvRZjM6nA
http://youtu.be/js1Vo5anmWA