During a recent Thursday after returning from school, 15-year-old Eryka Joseph took a break from her homework in her bedroom to plop down on a cushy living room chair next to a television stand crammed beneath with board games and videos. Nearby a Christmas tree glowed, sheltering presents under its branches.
Long braided hair framing her face and cascading down to her gray and pink hoodie, the Radnor High School sophomore appeared as relaxed as any Wayne teen would be at home. Her teal-socked feet brushed the floor as she talked passionately about her favorite school subjects that include English and singing in an honors chorus. After high school she hopes to attend an Ivy League university, perhaps Penn or Harvard, and one day become an attorney.
But Joseph is a long way from her family and home in New York. She is one of six students enrolled in the Radnor A Better Chance program.
Radnor A Better Chance is an affiliate of a national program to provide academically promising minority students an opportunity to attend a top-notch school without the financial hardship. The home, a century-old Victorian with a wraparound porch on the 100 block of West Wayne Avenue, has been a base for Radnor A Better Chance for more than 40 years. The students attend Radnor High School, which was named in 2012 as among the nation?s best high schools by ?U.S. News & World Report,? while boarding at the home during each semester.
In return, say ABC House board members, the high-school community is enriched by a greater diversity of students.
?That?s a win-win for both sides,? said Anna H. Davis, the board?s vice president and a Tredyffrin resident.
Close to 3,000 students nationwide apply each year for admittance to the nonprofit ABC program, which was founded in 1963 during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. The program includes about 300 of the nation?s leading schools ? private and public. Radnor ABC is only one of a handful of coed programs in the country, however.
The current class of Radnor ABC students is made up of three males and three females: two freshmen, two sophomores, one junior and one senior. They hail from as far away as Georgia and Queens, N.Y., and as close as Philadelphia, and Wayne is their home away from home.
Each girl has her own bedroom in the main house, which is owned outright by the board, while the boys reside in the carriage house. But everyone eats together in the dining room and comes together for evening study hall.
Their surrogate family currently includes an in-house residence director as well as three tutors ? one male and two females - who live in apartments in the house or in the rear carriage house, and a paid part-time skilled cook, who everyone reverently refers to as the ?The Chef.? Continued...
Vanessa Ramlah, 16, who is from Queens, is a sophomore at RHS. Sporting a wide smile, she talked about the school?s wide array of extracurricular activities, an option not found at many inner-city schools. She is involved in ice hockey, a book club and a girls?-only multi-cultural club. She is pondering a career in the medical field or perhaps forensics. Ramlah?s college choices include Columbia or St. John?s.A village of supporters
The ABC board members are deeply involved in the lives of the youngsters. They attend parent-teacher conferences, help the children with the college-application process, drive students to area shops or the mall for clothing or school supplies or to medical appointments, as well as many other tasks.
?It?s six lives you?re responsible for for four years,? explained Schorr, who lives in the Wayne section of Tredyffrin.
The board also relies on the generosity of the community for support.
Cappelli Tailors of Wayne, for instance, donated the use of shoes, shirts and tuxedos to the students for the prom last year. Peppers Caf? in Ardmore, Jules Thin Crust Pizza in Wayne, Trader Joe?s and the Bagel Factory have all donated food. And Wayne-based Dr. David Perkins sees to the students? medical needs.
?He?s been seeing our kids pro-bono,? said Sharon Martin, Radnor ABC co-president.
Corporate and business sponsors are part of the extended family, too. Oaks-based financial company SEI, for instance, supplies academic tutors and funds a mentoring program.
?We truly couldn?t exist without the support of the generous community,? said Schorr, referencing the proverb that it takes a village to raise a child.
The tutors, all college educated, instruct the students in exchange for room and board as well as a small stipend. ?They?re really an integral part of our program,? said Schorr.
Alexis Bradford is one of the tutors. Currently a graduate student at Temple, she intends to pursue a career merging social work with education in an urban setting.
?I felt this was the perfect opportunity for me to start this process,? she explained.
Aside from the in-house tutors, each student is also assigned an academic mentor from the community, an adult volunteer who helps monitor their academic progress over their four years at RHS and communicates with the house tutors, residential director and academic coordinators.
To help foster a family-like environment, each student is also paired with a host family in the community, and every other Sunday the student attends a?dinner there. On alternate Sundays community volunteers prepare dinner for the students and staff at the Radnor ABC House.
?It?s almost like a surrogate family,? said Martin, who lives in Wayne.
A record of success
More than 100 scholars have graduated from Radnor ABC since 1972.
Just inside the entranceway to the home is a wall of neatly arranged wood-framed photos of smiling Radnor ABC graduates, each inscribed with the college they attended. Students have graduated from Ohio State, Morehouse, Syracuse, Temple, Georgetown, Columbia, NYU, Duke and Williams, just to list a few. After college, Radnor ABC alumni have gone on to become executives, attorneys,? educators and other professionals.
Alumni include Steven Rogers, Radnor ABC Class of 1975, an honor student and all-league linebacker at Radnor High who was inducted into the school?s hall of fame. He is currently the Gund Family Professor of Entrepreneurship at Northwestern University and was named by ?Business Week? in 1996 as one of the top 12 professors at graduate business schools in the U.S.
Another success is Brooklyn?s Alex Breland, who graduated from Radnor ABC in 2000 and went on to graduate from Penn and then Chicago-Kent College of Law. He is today an attorney in the labor and employment law field.
Then there is the rise of Jonathan Coleman, who graduated from the Radnor program in 2009 to flourish on a scholarship as a wide receiver for Boston College, a triumph considering his poverty-plagued childhood, a victim of a broken home where his mother sold drugs and his father was a no-show.
?There are a lot of amazing stories,? remarked Schorr.
For more information on Radnor ABC and how to donate or volunteer, visit radnorabc.org.
Radnor ABC?s board, in conjunction with the Radnor High School Scholarship Fund, will hold a major fundraiser, the 2nd annual Recipe for Success Kitchen Tour, on Sunday, May 5. The tour will present a variety of stunning kitchens in the Main Line area. Proceeds will be shared equally between Radnor ABC and the RHSSF. Details, including buying tickets, will be posted on Radnor ABC?s website.
During a recent Thursday after returning from school, 15-year-old Eryka Joseph took a break from her homework in her bedroom to plop down on a cushy living room chair next to a television stand crammed beneath with board games and videos. Nearby a Christmas tree glowed, sheltering presents under its branches.Long braided hair framing her face and cascading down to her gray and pink hoodie, the Radnor High School sophomore appeared as relaxed as any Wayne teen would be at home. Her teal-socked feet brushed the floor as she talked passionately about her favorite school subjects that include English and singing in an honors chorus. After high school she hopes to attend an Ivy League university, perhaps Penn or Harvard, and one day become an attorney.
But Joseph is a long way from her family and home in New York. She is one of six students enrolled in the Radnor A Better Chance program.
Radnor A Better Chance is an affiliate of a national program to provide academically promising minority students an opportunity to attend a top-notch school without the financial hardship. The home, a century-old Victorian with a wraparound porch on the 100 block of West Wayne Avenue, has been a base for Radnor A Better Chance for more than 40 years. The students attend Radnor High School, which was named in 2012 as among the nation?s best high schools by ?U.S. News & World Report,? while boarding at the home during each semester.
In return, say ABC House board members, the high-school community is enriched by a greater diversity of students.
?That?s a win-win for both sides,? said Anna H. Davis, the board?s vice president and a Tredyffrin resident.
Close to 3,000 students nationwide apply each year for admittance to the nonprofit ABC program, which was founded in 1963 during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. The program includes about 300 of the nation?s leading schools ? private and public. Radnor ABC is only one of a handful of coed programs in the country, however.
The current class of Radnor ABC students is made up of three males and three females: two freshmen, two sophomores, one junior and one senior. They hail from as far away as Georgia and Queens, N.Y., and as close as Philadelphia, and Wayne is their home away from home.
Each girl has her own bedroom in the main house, which is owned outright by the board, while the boys reside in the carriage house. But everyone eats together in the dining room and comes together for evening study hall.
Their surrogate family currently includes an in-house residence director as well as three tutors ? one male and two females - who live in apartments in the house or in the rear carriage house, and a paid part-time skilled cook, who everyone reverently refers to as the ?The Chef.?
The ABC students, who are referred to as ?scholars,? go on to college, the majority on full scholarship, and most have successful careers.
But Radnor?s ABC family is smaller these days ? down from the usual 10 students.
Radnor?s ABC program has fallen on hard times, a victim of the down-turned economy. Donations are down. And officials say close to $50,000 in needed renovations that took place in 2011, including driveway repaving, boys? bathroom repairs and roof replacement, to the more than 110-year-old home have all but exhausted the $112,000 annual budget.
?We?re facing financial stress,? confided Melissa Rose Schorr, co-president of Radnor ABC, during a recent interview at the house.
?What?s going to happen? We?re not sure,? she added. ?It?s scary.?
?We?re in a critical place right now,? Davis said.
Corporate and individual donations and foundation grants are a major funding source, according to ABC?s board members.
?We don?t get state or government funding,? said Schorr, and the national, New York-based program does not channel funding to the local affiliates.
The board also depends on the community for donations to furnish and operate the group home, from as large as furniture such as tables and lamps to as small as a sponge and other cleaning supplies.
A better chance to succeed
The tree-shaded Victorian home next to the Radnor Library is a welcomed respite from the youngsters? urban communities which, in many cases, are plagued by crime, violence, poverty and distressed public school districts. Parents of these children, say ABC supporters, make the sacrifice to allow their children to live away from home for months at a time to have the opportunity of a better education and thus a better life.
?It tugs at our hearts,? said Schorr of the parents? commitment to their children.
The teens, who enroll in an advanced college-prep curriculum and must maintain a minimum 3.2 GPA, also realize the long-term benefits of attending a highly rated school.
?It?s really helped,? said 14-year-old Jordan Coleman from Philadelphia. ?It?s giving me the opportunity to go to a top school.?
Impressed with the school?s extracurricular activities, the freshman has been involved with wrestling, and also enjoys competing in the township?s recreational basketball program. He has also learned to play the guitar.
?I love guitar; I learned a lot of songs,? he commented.
His favorite academic subjects include Spanish and Western Civilization, the latter course taught by Maria Williams.
?She has really pushed me a lot to do better,? he said about Williams.
As for a career, he pointed out that ever since the sixth grade he has wanted to become a neurosurgeon or chemist.
?The brain is amazing,? said Coleman.
Vanessa Ramlah, 16, who is from Queens, is a sophomore at RHS. Sporting a wide smile, she talked about the school?s wide array of extracurricular activities, an option not found at many inner-city schools. She is involved in ice hockey, a book club and a girls?-only multi-cultural club. She is pondering a career in the medical field or perhaps forensics. Ramlah?s college choices include Columbia or St. John?s.
A village of supporters
The ABC board members are deeply involved in the lives of the youngsters. They attend parent-teacher conferences, help the children with the college-application process, drive students to area shops or the mall for clothing or school supplies or to medical appointments, as well as many other tasks.
?It?s six lives you?re responsible for for four years,? explained Schorr, who lives in the Wayne section of Tredyffrin.
The board also relies on the generosity of the community for support.
Cappelli Tailors of Wayne, for instance, donated the use of shoes, shirts and tuxedos to the students for the prom last year. Peppers Caf? in Ardmore, Jules Thin Crust Pizza in Wayne, Trader Joe?s and the Bagel Factory have all donated food. And Wayne-based Dr. David Perkins sees to the students? medical needs.
?He?s been seeing our kids pro-bono,? said Sharon Martin, Radnor ABC co-president.
Corporate and business sponsors are part of the extended family, too. Oaks-based financial company SEI, for instance, supplies academic tutors and funds a mentoring program.
?We truly couldn?t exist without the support of the generous community,? said Schorr, referencing the proverb that it takes a village to raise a child.
The tutors, all college educated, instruct the students in exchange for room and board as well as a small stipend. ?They?re really an integral part of our program,? said Schorr.
Alexis Bradford is one of the tutors. Currently a graduate student at Temple, she intends to pursue a career merging social work with education in an urban setting.
?I felt this was the perfect opportunity for me to start this process,? she explained.
Aside from the in-house tutors, each student is also assigned an academic mentor from the community, an adult volunteer who helps monitor their academic progress over their four years at RHS and communicates with the house tutors, residential director and academic coordinators.
To help foster a family-like environment, each student is also paired with a host family in the community, and every other Sunday the student attends a?dinner there. On alternate Sundays community volunteers prepare dinner for the students and staff at the Radnor ABC House.
?It?s almost like a surrogate family,? said Martin, who lives in Wayne.
A record of success
More than 100 scholars have graduated from Radnor ABC since 1972.
Just inside the entranceway to the home is a wall of neatly arranged wood-framed photos of smiling Radnor ABC graduates, each inscribed with the college they attended. Students have graduated from Ohio State, Morehouse, Syracuse, Temple, Georgetown, Columbia, NYU, Duke and Williams, just to list a few. After college, Radnor ABC alumni have gone on to become executives, attorneys,? educators and other professionals.
Alumni include Steven Rogers, Radnor ABC Class of 1975, an honor student and all-league linebacker at Radnor High who was inducted into the school?s hall of fame. He is currently the Gund Family Professor of Entrepreneurship at Northwestern University and was named by ?Business Week? in 1996 as one of the top 12 professors at graduate business schools in the U.S.
Another success is Brooklyn?s Alex Breland, who graduated from Radnor ABC in 2000 and went on to graduate from Penn and then Chicago-Kent College of Law. He is today an attorney in the labor and employment law field.
Then there is the rise of Jonathan Coleman, who graduated from the Radnor program in 2009 to flourish on a scholarship as a wide receiver for Boston College, a triumph considering his poverty-plagued childhood, a victim of a broken home where his mother sold drugs and his father was a no-show.
?There are a lot of amazing stories,? remarked Schorr.
For more information on Radnor ABC and how to donate or volunteer, visit radnorabc.org.
Radnor ABC?s board, in conjunction with the Radnor High School Scholarship Fund, will hold a major fundraiser, the 2nd annual Recipe for Success Kitchen Tour, on Sunday, May 5. The tour will present a variety of stunning kitchens in the Main Line area. Proceeds will be shared equally between Radnor ABC and the RHSSF. Details, including buying tickets, will be posted on Radnor ABC?s website.
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