Posted 8-23-01
photo by Mike Sands/IRISCongresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones addresses students from Shaw High School attending the Cardinal Scholars Mastery Program. The program, developed in association with the Weatherhead School of Management, seeks to improve student achievement and change the culture of Shaw. |
CLEVELAND -- Set high goals for yourself. Don't settle for mediocrity. And above all, don't let anyone tell you you're not capable of achieving your goals.
These were the messages Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones recently delivered to about two dozen juniors from Shaw High School in East Cleveland, who met over the summer at Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management as part of Shaw's Cardinal Scholars Mastery program.
Jones, who has represented Ohio's 11th Congressional District since 1998, drew on her own experience to offer inspiration to the students. She graduated from Collinwood High School with good grades but poor SAT scores. "But I had people who believed in me, who said, 'She's got poor scores but she's capable of doing things.'" Through their help and her determination she was able to enroll in CWRU as an undergraduate.
After obtaining undergraduate and law degrees from CWRU, Jones practiced law and prepared to run for judge at the age of 31. "People said, 'You don't look like a judge. Are you old enough to be a judge? Are you smart enough to be a judge?' And I said, 'Watch me.'
"Sometimes you have to do that," she added. "There are people who are trying to see how you'll react in a situation, whether you'll be able to handle the things people will throw at you."
Jones also encouraged the students not to fear failure. "If you fail you should not think of it as the end of the world. Failure should be a learning lesson, not something to grieve about forever. More businesses have failed than have succeeded, and people who've had businesses that have succeeded have usually had the experience of failure. They learned from their mistakes."
The Cardinal Scholars Mastery Program grew out of a joint initiative between Shaw, Weatherhead, and Project Love Remember the Children Foundation, aimed at changing the culture of Shaw and boosting student achievement there. The initiative utilizes the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) method developed by David Cooperrider, associate professor of organizational behavior at the Weatherhead School. AI tries to discern what is positive and useful about an organization and to focus on those qualities in building for the future.
Charleyse Pratt, who earned her Ph.D. in organizational behavior at Weatherhead and retains strong ties to the school, designed the program and conducted AI training for Shaw students last fall. She followed up with a three-day "community summit" in January. The summit, held on the CWRU campus, brought together Shaw students, community leaders, government officials and business executives. One of the discoveries to emerge from the summit, said Pratt, was that students felt the state proficiency tests create an oppressive environment at Shaw, because of the school's poor performance on the tests.
Another result was the creation of the Cardinal Scholars program. Meeting for five weeks over the summer in Weatherhead's Kulas Auditorium, the scholars heard speakers, engaged in scholarly research, went on field trips, and worked on language, math, and science skills. They also heard talks from members of a "Council of Elders," volunteers who spoke on their life stories and the obstacles they had to overcome to achieve their dreams.
Shaw teachers who participated in the program were surprised at the changes they saw in their students. "One teacher told me, 'It's hard for me to believe these are the same students who come to my class,'" says Pratt. "It's easy to understand, because in this environment they are liberated, can be creative, and can try out skills they'd never tested before. Now they can go back to the school and begin the process of changing the larger culture."
