You’ve seen it in the movies: A motivated, young individual helps struggling high school students graduate and attend college.
You’ve seen it in the news: Urban high schools in the United States face low student attendance and graduation rates.
This is the real thing: Recent University of Missouri graduate Jay “B.J.” Spann attended high school at Gateway Institute of Technology — a magnet school in the St. Louis public school district. He graduated in May 2008, and moved into College Avenue Hall at Mizzou one week later as part of the university’s Trial Admission Program.
As it turns out, real life blends two story lines: College doesn’t come easy, but having help preparing for it improves the odds.
The circumstances surrounding Spann’s youth weren’t necessarily ideal. Spann’s mother, Sarah McElroy, had a brain aneurysm in 1995. The resulting damage caused some long-term effects. “I don’t remember much about the kids growing up,” McElroy says.
At the time of the aneurysm, Spann was 6 years old. His grandparents cared for him and his older brother while McElroy recovered. Now, he and his mother are very close. In fact, the situation fostered close family ties all around, and Spann often accompanied his brother to after-school activities.
Although he didn’t know it at the time, one group activity in particular — the MU Extension 4-H Youth Development after-school program —would affect him for the rest of his life. “It was like my second home,” Spann says. “We were a family. We supported each other.”
Home away from home
At 3 p.m. almost every weekday, 15 high school students make their way to the basement of 724 North Union Blvd. This is not a stereotypical 4-H program — there are no farm animals, no barns and no corn. Although it has historically focused on agriculture and animal husbandry in rural areas, a new breed of 4-H focuses on urban youth development.
“Whether rural or urban, young people are facing the same kinds of issues,” says Jody Squires, MU Extension urban youth specialist and city program director for the St. Louis program.
Squires, who earned a bachelor’s degree in general studies at Mizzou and master’s and doctoral degrees in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at University of Missouri-St. Louis, is referring to the downward trend in high school graduation rates and the barriers some youth face to attending college.
She and her staff equip students from the St. Louis public school district with the values and leadership skills necessary to graduate from high school and attend college.
Spann was part of the program for nine years. “This is the type of program that helps you define yourself,” he says. “Being part of it kept me off the streets and kept me from doing bad things.”
Academic prep
The program emphasizes the importance of education and community service and teaches students such practical skills as managing finances, communicating and teamwork. The group also visits local colleges and takes other field trips. Each student is expected to do well in school, fulfill responsibilities at home and give back to the community through volunteer activities.
Standardized test preparation such as for the ACT — required for most college admissions — can be a barrier to acceptance to a four-year institution for some students. So the 4-H program also helps them prepare academically for college and guides their families through the college admissions process.
Spann’s ACT score combined with his class ranking made him eligible for MU’s Trial Admission Program. Students in the program take two college courses during the summer. Successful students — Spann among them — then start regular course work in the fall.
The transition to college life in fall 2008 was fast, Spann says. “I had to adjust to that, but I quickly learned what to expect.” He graduated in May 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in textile and apparel management from the College of Human Environmental Sciences.
All of the students who have participated in the 4-H Youth Development program over the past 12 years have graduated from high school and gone on to college — Spann was the 23rd.
“I’ll stay involved in the program — of course I will,” he says. “It helped me, and I want it to help others too.”
Editor’s note: Story updated and republished with permission from MIZZOU magazine.
