Open Meadow School Raises the Bar

"An unbelievable 90% of our 2009 High School and CRUE graduating class passed a college class as part of their high school experience," reports Andrew Mason, Executive Director of the Open Meadow Schools, Pearl Rotary's partner in the Portland community's education arena.  This standard for Open Meadow success rose a notch from the previous year's graduating class record at 78%.

What's more, Mason adds, 75% of students completing Open Meadow's Middle School program this year met benchmark in math and reading areas, a percentage well above the state average for ninth graders. Mason calls it a "remarkable achievement" for a group of students coming in to middle school at Open Meadow with third grade math and reading levels.

To top it off, the school's Step Up program, the middle-to-high school transition program, graduated a star, Vinnie, out of its partnership with Roosevelt High School. He won a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation scholarship with a 3.6 GPA and will attend Columbia College in Chicago to study business, all expenses paid. The award continues through post-graduate studies if elected.

Mason comments: "Four years ago Vinnie enrolled in Step Up.and few believed he would make it to graduation" based on his record coming into the school. Clearly, he made a big step up during his years at Open Meadow.

Summer camps for students in the Step Up program are in session this month.

Pearl Rotary awarded $3,000 in scholarships earlier this year to help students attend these camps.

These one-week camps work with eighth-grade students at risk of dropping out as they face the challenging prospect of high school. The program includes team building development and setting personal and educational goals for each student to help guide their high school careers.

Pearl Rotarians will participate in the program at Camp Tillicum outside Newburg, OR, during the last week of August. Don Barney will act as an on-site volunteer coach for the week to assist staff and students. Lou Radja will accompany a group of students from Portland's Madison High School on a day's outing at mid-week to observe the program. Among this group of sophomores will be students that Pearl Rotarians will assist as tutors during the 2009-10 school year.