Four Middle Schoolers Who Defy the Odds
from the Minneapolis Star Tribune
Friday, May 16, 1997
by Mary Jane Smetanka
In many ways, they are typical 13- and 14-year-olds: funny and curious,
answering questions all at the same time, words tumbling out in a rush of
laughter and intensity.
But their teachers at Northeast Middle School in Minneapolis say they stand
out because, as many kids like them are failing the state's basic-skills
reading and math tests, these teens are doing well. Very well, in fact.
Part of it may be that they're bright and confident. But lots of bright
kids fail, and confidence may just be adolescent bravado. Teachers say these
kids have something else: an internal compass that has them pointed in the
right direction, a sense that school is important, the will to shrug off
teasing about academic accomplishment when it isn't always cool to do well.
Preston Buckner
To his teachers, 14-year-old Preston seems more mature than some of his
classmates. He listens to them and thinks about the future.
"Ain't gonna do no Generation X thing," Preston said. "It's
gonna be the year 2000, and there's gonna be computers everywhere. Ain't
nobody gonna be flippin' burgers at McDonald's. Computers are gonna be doing
that."
Preston passed both state tests, getting an 81 on math and an 83 on reading.
"This is a middle-school thing," he said. "If you fail, you
look like a fool."
Talkative and enthusiastic, Preston now lives with his father, Patrick Buckner
Sr., a general contractor, and his stepmother, Babette Buckner. He admires
his dad and his self-reliant philosophy.
"If you want to provide for your family . . . my dad says, 'Be a man,'
" Preston said. "I like that he's getting me ready."
This summer, when he's not at a talented youth program at Macalester College
in St. Paul, Preston will earn money by working for his father to help pay
for his own school clothes.
Next year Preston, who hopes to be an engineer, will attend the aviation
magnet program at Washburn High School. He likes reading, has been in gifted
and talented programs and likes to watch science and animal programs on
television.
Jeff Lundeen, his geography teacher, says Preston is "an independent,
motivated kid. He is one of my best students. He has an awareness of the
world; he can talk about different subjects. . . . He has a vision of the
future. Not all kids do."
Sandy Lucius
Sandy lives in Robbinsdale now, but she likes the teachers at Northeast.
So every day the 14-year-old gets up at the crack of dawn to take the bus
with the rest of the commuters to make the 7:15 a.m. start of school.
She's almost never late.
"She is incredibly motivated," English teacher Karen Lee said.
Sandy scored a 76 on the state math test and an 85 on reading. Before the
test, she studied 30 minutes a day to hone her math skills.
"Why take something like that over and over again?" she asked.
One of seven children, Sandy shares an apartment with her godmother, a real-estate
agent. Before she came to Northeast in the middle of this year, she attended
another Minneapolis school. She has been in gifted and talented classes.
In a group she is quick to smile but reserved. Other students respect her.
"She's not afraid to stand up for what she believes in, but she does
not present herself in an outgoing way," Lee said.
Sandy, who will attend programs for talented students this summer at Macalester
College and St. Olaf College in Northfield, wants to be a lawyer or a math
teacher. Next year she would like to go to North High School to play basketball,
but she also is interested in Edison High's education magnet program.
She is focused on school because she wants to be, she said.
"My godmother says it's better to learn than to play around,"
she said. "If you have education, you can survive anything."
Kehara Snowden
Although Kehara's family is not rich -- her mother is a department-store
clerk, and the family has no car and no phone -- her mom found a way to
buy Kehara encyclopedias for Christmas.
Kehara, 13, is a reader. It comes from being in a family, she said, where
if her mom or aunt likes a book, they read it straight through.
She has seen a lot, changing schools and moving from state to state, remembering
when her mom couldn't pay the bills or buy diapers for her brother. It has
given Kehara a fierce desire for independence. Her mom, Tina Evans, dropped
out of college after two years. Kehara says she is going to finish.
"My mom says education comes first before anything," she said.
"I want to work for myself and not look up to anybody."
Kehara doesn't mind not having a phone: If she did, she says, she would
be on it "24 hours a day." This summer, she will be in a talented
youth program at Macalester College. She wants to go to Edison High for
its business magnet program and is thinking about careers in medicine or
law, because "when you got all this crime, you need to help the world
be a better place."
Lee, the English teacher, said Kehara is amazing. "She has the survivor
mentality. She has decided what she wants out of life, and she's going after
it, and she won't let anyone stand in her way.
"What she has, I can recognize and encourage, but I can't create."
A few kids teased Kehara when she passed the state tests with a 90 on math
and an 83 on reading. They got a quick answer: "See you in college."
Eric McCottry
Ask Eric how he passed the state tests, and his answer is simple.
"I like to play sports," the 14-year-old says. "If I want
to play sports, I need to pass the tests."
Pass he did. He got a 96 in math and an 80 in reading.
Eric likes math and science but says he only reads when he's bored. Still,
he gets to school on his own every day because his grandma, Esther Tucker,
whom he lives with, leaves for work by 6 a.m.
"My grandma encourages me to finish high school; she knows I want to
play sports," he said. "I have to study."
Eric plays football, basketball and baseball and plans to attend the business
magnet program at Edison. He has been in gifted and talented programs, and
teachers say he is popular and a leader.
His favorite teacher is Dave Brodek, who teaches social studies and also
is the school's athletic director. Eric said Brodek has met his mom and
his grandma. "We talk about things," he said.
Brodek lives near Eric and occasionally gives him rides home from school.
"With Eric, building relationships is important," Brodek said.
Together the two have worked through some problems.
He said he was not surprised that Eric passed the tests, but he was a little
surprised at how well he did. And Eric did well because he had a good foundation
in elementary school and because his grandma makes sure he does his homework,
Brodek said.
"We get some parents who say they will do that, but you can tell nothing's
happening at home," he said.
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