Local administrators help further students’ careers

Athens-Clarke County is one of the most poverty-stricken counties in Georgia, but the city’s economic recession has not deterred the local school system from preparing its students towards a better future.

Despite experiencing rapid population growth over the past 20 years, Athens-Clarke County has been plagued with all the troubles of becoming a middle-sized city.  Along with people, an increase in crime, poverty and congested city life has transformed the once sleepy southern town into an urban community.

As a result of these drawbacks, an exodus occurred among the county’s wealthy citizens to near-by Oconee County.   Oconee attracts people by boasting a better quality of life and wide-open development, along with close proximity to Athens and the University of Georgia.

“Athens has been hit by the flight of affluent, and it results in a snowball effect.  Oconee County offers lower crime rates and a better overall living environment, so Athens is left behind with lower income, education and citizen-involvement,” said University of Georgia Professor Conrad Fink.

One of the biggest causalities of this snowball effect is the public school system.  The average graduation rate from Georgia high schools in 2008-2009 was 78.9 percent, according to the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement.  Clarke-County’s numbers fell well below the average at 63.3 percent, and have remained sub-par over the past five years.  In contrast, Oconee County boasted a 91.7 percent graduation rate for its students.

Socio-economic status plays the largest role in determining the disparity that exists between these statistics.  According to the Governor’s Office, 58 percent of students in Clarke County fall under the category of economically disadvantaged, compared to only 12 percent in Oconee.

“Tax-payers are needed to fix to fix the public education as well as the influence of parents in the school system,” said Fink.  “Neither of these can occur effectively when so many people are economically challenged however.  People look at the numbers and say we need to improve education here in Athens, but in order to do that, you have to turn around the entire basic structure of the city first.”

Doctor Maxine Easom, who served as principal for Clarke Central High School for nine years and worked within the school district for more then 35 years, believes that the numbers for graduation rate do not represent the quality of education at schools, but rather the economic hardships that many students face.

“Many students must help their families survive by contributing financially at whatever age they can, so people have different opinions on what success is,” Easom said.  “Sometimes finishing school is not part of that plan. Kids with financial issues have more responsibilities and less flexibility. Both these factors contribute to kids not finishing school on the eight-semester plan, although many still graduate at some point.”

Although there is no sugar-coating the numbers, do not be quick to assume that quality of education students are getting is any lesser then in Oconee or anywhere else.  Clarke County has created several programs to help students future their education.  As a result, the school system produces some of the best minds in the state of Georgia.

Over the past decade, Clarke Central High School has consistently sent students to Ivy League schools along with other prestigious universities around the country, said Clarke Central guidance counselor Lenore Katz.

Clarke Central’s diverse student bodies have been the recipients of multiple merit awards and scholarships, such as the Belk Scholarship from Davidson College.  Similar scholarships have been awarded in recent years from the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Spelman College and the University of North Carolina.

One of the school’s newest programs, called the Scholarship Club, helps students research and apply for collegiate scholarships.  As a member of the club, the student must fill out a minimum of 25 applications that could potentially reward them with financial aid.

Katz and other counselors try to help their students further their education by providing individualized career advisement to upperclassmen.  Students meet twice a month with a counselor to help them recognize opportunities in specialized subjects, such as English, art, business and technical studies.

Clarke County administrators are not the only ones doing their part to help students take the necessary steps toward college.  The University of Georgia in recent years has taken on a pro-active role in reaching out to the local school systems with multiple programs to help students.

The Young Dawgs Program provides high school students with internships in their desired study of interest.  Within the corresponding department, University staff members each mentor a individual student and assign them several different projects to give them a taste for the major as well as build their resume.

Caleb Hayes, a junior at Clarke Central, currently interns at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications, where he spends three mornings a week helping create a magazine about high school journalism programs.

“It’s a really cool experience just to be able to spend time at the University and around the professors,” Hayes said.  “But the work they have me do also helps me grow as a writer and helps me prepare for college.  I imagine interning at UGA also doesn’t look to bad on a college application.”

Katz said a great relationship has developed between Clarke Central’s counselors and UGA administrators to help underprivileged minorities. Programs such as Multiple Initiatives and C.A.R.E. help minority students with their college applications.  The University has even started to help out both formally and informally at the local middle schools.

UGA students have also gotten involved in the process with local fraternities forming the Collegiate Candidates Program, which helps underprivileged students with tutoring and college applications after school.

“I realize we might not have the best scores necessarily, but I don’t feel a lack of quality in the education at all and I think the exposure to so much diversity among the students help prepare us for real world experiences,” Hayes said.  “Our administration team puts forth a huge effort from the time we are freshmen to help us graduate and get into college.  I also believe we benefit from UGA being right down the street.  They give us lots of opportunities to be involved and make an effort to recruit students from right here in Athens.”

Training For Tomorrow: the Young Dawgs Program

Julia Cochran talks over plans for adding television screens to UGA's Sanford Stadium with James Geiser.

by M.C. Rhodes

aThEENs staff member

A University of Georgia paycheck is hard to comeby for Athens high schoolers.  The only current jobs available come in the form of unpaid internships, that however lend experience opportunities.

When looking for an after-school job, some Athens teens received jobs in the Food Services branch at the University, working in dining halls or satellite operations such as Bulldog Café in the Tate Student Center.  These teens would come over after school or on Saturdays and work alongside University students and full-time employees.

However, the down has hit University students hard as well, resulting in high demand for jobs on campus.

“There is a very high interest in college students wanting to work on campus,” said J. Michael Floyd, the executive director of Food Services at the University.

The priority for employment on campus is going to UGA students, he said.

“Presently Food Services has an application waiting list of over 400 college students interested in jobs in the division,” said Floyd.

Regardless, there is still the opportunity for high school students to gain work

skills and on-the-job training in a relatively new program at the University.

The Young Dawgs Program was created in 2008 as a catalyst to join together the University and local school students.  It is an internship program for high school juniors and seniors on the University’s campus that not only provides them valuable experience but academic credit at their schools as well.

About 130 high school students each year work on campus in a variety of fields including science labs, such as in pharmacy or biochemistry, conducting research, sports marketing, and radio broadcasting.

The program is meant for “really finding what the profession’s about,” said James Geiser, senior managing consultant in the Human Resources department at the University.

It also gives “the opportunity to see what it’s like to be on a college campus.” Geiser said.

Matthew Paulley, 17, a senior at North Oconee High School, really enjoys the hands-on experience he gets when working in the program.

He works in finance at the Human Resources department, completing tasks like updating spreadsheets and sending out payments to health insurance agencies.  He drives over from high school for his third and fourth block classes.

Because the students are able to get class credit and come to campus during their school hours, they are

Matthew Paulley at work in the University's Human Resources Department.

still able to have part-time jobs elsewhere if needed.

Julia Cochran, 17, also a senior from North Oconee, holds down a job at a local restaurant while working in the Young Dawgs program.

This is actually the second time she has participated in the program, completing an internship in a biochemistry lab this summer, but deciding ultimately that she didn’t enjoy research.

“It’s a good way to get a feel for a career,” she said.

So Cochran returned this fall in a new subject of interest—architecture.  She works in the architecture department where she gets to see actual architects at work on job sites and in meetings.

She says she is “trying to figure out if it’s something I want to do.”

For the moment, the Young Dawgs program focuses on pre-collegiate students.  However, in the past, the program has experimented with providing work skills to students who wish to enter to workforce straight out of high school.

Geiser said that they plan to reinstate this side of the program in January, which allows for valuable on-site training with no cost to participate.  The biggest factor lies in transportation to and from the internships.

But overall, these internships are not paid, so local teenagers will continue to have to look elsewhere from the University of Georgia for their next paycheck.