“Our belief is that by exposing students to alternative educational opportunities’ this will help them gain a new life experience and offer an alternative outlook for their future,” David Swingler, tour director, said of the People’s Community Action Corporation’s first college tour.
Thirty-nine students from Vashon High School, and three students from Innovative Concepts Academy (ICA) spent three days touring Historical Black Colleges and Universities such as Tennessee State, Fisk, Spelman, Morehouse and Clark Atlanta.
The students who attended the tour had to meet specific requirements, as well as pay a $100 fee to attend. They had to have obtained a 2.5 GPA or higher, 95 percent attendance and no previous infractions, including in- school or out-of-school suspensions.
Vashon and ICA are both located in low-income neighborhoods with some of the highest crime rates in the city, but they were selected as the recruitment sites for this year’s tour.
“My future goal is to have all St. Louis Public Schools attend this college tour every year,” Swingler said.
“I want to make it a nationwide experience and tour all colleges out there even Ivy League. But that’s where boundaries are met when you have limited funding.”
He received generous donations from PCAC, Vashon Alumni and the St. Louis Graduates Foundation. The students were also asked to fundraise within their schools and community to raise money for the tour.
When asked what the goals for the tour were, Swingler said, “Since most of them have never been out of town, basically leave the St. Louis metropolitan area, visit and interact with college-minded students in a college setting, and to develop and maintain goals for their life’s plan after graduation. ”
He saw an impact.
“Many of the students have financial constraints, come from poverty-stricken neighborhoods or have learning disabilities,” said Swingler, “but by seeing and listening to the students on campus, it gave them a realistic solution to that particular problem.”
From his viewpoint, the college tour gave students a chance to interact with people who had grown up in the same reality as they are in now. They were able to see that these people are making something of themselves.
“A lot of them told friends, and with that many more students came up to me saying, ‘I wanna go, I wanna go,” Swingler said. “I simply told them you have the meet the same requirements the previous students did.”
The program’s mission is to inspire, encourage, and assist minority students in attaining higher education and career goals. By giving them firsthand experience in an educational environment, the students were able to begin discussing the things they need to do in order to better themselves. This included: better ACT Test preparation, improving grades and applying to colleges and universities.
Several seniors attending the tour had applied to some of the schools the group visited, but “the tour wasn’t just for college-ready students,” Swingler said. “It was for undecided students as well.”
He said his efforts gave students the opportunity to see colleges up close, promoted higher education and held students accountable for positive, respectful behavior.
With the money they raised within their communities and through fundraising, the students were able to visit Lambert’s Café in Sikeston, Missouri. Swingler said, “They were excited to eat at “The Home of Throwed Rolls.”
For more information, contact David Swingler at dswingler22@yahoo.com or 314-305-9290.
Tre’via Blount is a summer intern at the St. Louis American. Tre’via is a recent graduate of Gateway STEM High School and plans to attend Newman University in Wichita, KS this fall. Tre’via is participating in the WIA Youth Program at MERS/Goodwill, funded by SLATE.
