“My mother
is perfect,” said Walter Paige, age 20, a student at Shearwater
High School.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>For Father’s Day, he cooked her pancakes, eggs and grits because she’s “all that makes me happy,” he said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“She tells me, ‘Never give up,’” Paige said. “She’s always there for me.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Two months ago, Paige learned his mother had brain cancer. Although he previously had dropped out of Beaumont High School, Paige was determined not to give up on his education.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>In December, his cousin told him about Shearwater, a charter school in the city that focuses on preparing struggling teens for college.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The school, chartered by Saint Louis University and located on Ranken Technical College’s campus at 4470 Finney Ave., also offers opportunities for paid internships. The internship was the main attraction for Paige, he said, but he never expected the school to have such a profound impact on his life.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“It has changed me,” he said. “It feels like family. If I didn’t go to Shearwater, I probably would have been locked up,” he said – like his father.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Now entering its second year, the school has slots for 75 students. But at the end of the third trimester of its first year, 40 of those were empty. Two-thirds of the students did not stick it through last year. Two students were murdered last year.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“Our students live in perpetual crisis,” said Stephanie Krauss, president and CEO of the Shearwater Education Foundation, which founded and operates the school.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The school’s mission is to cater to students who have challenging personal situations, and it organizes a variety of social services to get its students on the right track – providing a sort of “college prep for dropouts,” Krauss said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Looking around Paige’s afternoon class on June 20, two of his fellow students had been homeless. One was currently homeless. Two just had recent encounters with the law. And two were young parents.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>To provide such students with support, Shearwater partners with several agencies, including the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, United Way of Metropolitan St. Louis, Teach For America, Better Family Life, Provident, Epworth Children and Family Services, St. Patrick Center and Youth in Need.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Students attend school year-round, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It’s like a regular 9-to-5, but their full-time job is to get into college. That focus will be more single-minded this year, Krauss said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“Last year we recruited students by saying we would prepare them for life, work and college,” Krauss said. “Now we are telling students we will prepare them for college.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>When Anthony Agnew, age 20 and a parent, arrived at Shearwater in January, he had very poor attendance and questionable commitment to the school, he said. His conversations with a resource specialist and instructor at Shearwater were critical.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“After awhile, I thought about the conversations I had with Stefanie Bishop and Amy Sutherland,” Agnew said. “I figured I might as well get ready for life.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Now, he said, Sutherland is like a mother to him.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>In search of diversity “font-family: Verdana;”>
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Every student at Shearwater is African-American, except for one. Yet all of the teaching and social-work staff members are Caucasian. Krauss said the lack of diversity on Shearwater staff concerns her “deep to my heart.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“How do we get brilliant, committed, diverse young talent to enter into the teaching profession and remain or come to the city of St. Louis?” she said. “I look forward to a day when my teaching staff is of the highest quality and representative of the students that I serve.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>R. Nelson Williams is an African-American board member at Shearwater Education Foundation and an associate at Thompson Coburn who practices human resources law. He said the students should have “someone they can identify with in more way than one.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“That is something that we as a school are trying to solve,” Williams said. “Part of the process is, number one, bringing in more diverse board members.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Nelson said he became involved in the school because he appreciated that it gives students a second chance at meeting their educational needs. The Shearwater team is still testing the waters, he said. But everyone at the school is committed to the mission, especially the students.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“It shows initiative on the part of the students,” Williams said. “Shearwater really reaches a specific niche that many other organizations are able not to reach.”
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Internships and experience “font-family: Verdana;”>
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Even with a more determined focus on preparing students for college, coursework at Shearwater includes life skills activities, as well as literacy, math and college-prep courses. Students also must complete job-readiness training, which prepares them for the internships.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>When students complete the job-readiness training, they work towards applying and interviewing for internships with one of the school’s partners, including Saint Louis University, McCormack Baron Salazar, Urban Strategies, SSM Healthcare, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Harris-Stowe State University and the Missouri History Museum.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Dajah “Poetry” Dale, age 20, said her internship at SSM St. Mary’s Hospital has been “spectacular.” Dale spends half of the day at her internship and the other half in the classroom.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“I’ve been around the whole hospital since I’ve been there,” Dale said. Although she would like to be an architect or fashion designer, she said she plans to major in nursing to make sure she has a fallback plan.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“I shadow the nurses,” she said. “Whichever college I go into, I already have experience at a hospital.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>In 2008, when her grandmother became ill, Dale dropped out of school to take care of her. She took GED classes at Covenant House until she started at Shearwater in August 2010.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Dale exemplifies the challenging life situations that can force a promising student to drop out. As Krauss said, “It’s not so much drop out as get pushed out.”
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Until July 18, Shearwater will be enrolling students for the new school year. For more information, call 314-289-1203.
