Who: Jorge Miranda
Age: 29
What: Opened MATCH Charter Public High School in Boston in 2000
Making a difference with education, Jorge Miranda opened MATCH Charter Public High School in September 2000. The school aims to close the achievement gap by preparing inner-city students not just to get a spot in college, but to succeed there as well. MATCH is turning kids around with its long, hard hours and teachers that care. The students recently learned that this almost entirely poor, minority school was number one in math on the state standardized test. Read the ABC News story below:
Tough School Propels Inner-City Kids
Charter School’s Long Hours Pay Off With Some of the Best Test Scores in the State
Oct. 7, 2007 —
At age 13, Luis Sanchez’s mother kicked him out of the house — permanently — for misbehaving.
“She just brought me to court and was just, like, you know, ‘I don’t want him,’” Luis explains.
The memory hurts. For two weeks he lived on the streets.
A year later, angry and on drugs, he arrived at MATCH in Boston, a high school where school starts at 7:45 a.m. and the day lasts until 5, or even 8 p.m. — late hours required for any kid falling behind.
Watch Dan Harris’ report on MATCH tonight on “World News.” Check your local listings for air time.
MATCH, opened its doors in September 2000, aiming to close the achievement gap by preparing inner-city students not just to get a spot in college, but to succeed in college as well.
Like other charter schools, it is a tuition-free, independent public school. MATCH receives two-thirds of its operating support from the state, and must raise the rest privately.
The school is supported by Boston University, which provides use of athletic facilities and allows students to audit courses, and with other colleges, universities and local businesses.
Students are admitted by blind lottery. Almost all of them are minorities, the majority live in poverty, and most arrive at MATCH well behind in math and reading.
MATCH provides a mix of rigorous rules, demanding academics and regular tutoring. The rules are posted everywhere at MATCH. Principal Jorge Miranda says signs dictate, “everything from the dress code, unexcused absences, tardiness, poor posture in class.”
Reprimanding students for poor posture might seem to hail from a former age, but Miranda believes schools need to make it important.
“If you’re in the classroom and your head is down on the table or you’re leaning back, you’re clearly not focused on learning,” he says. “And even if it’s for a minute, that’s a minute that we’ve lost and we don’t have any time to waste.”
Get enough demerits for infractions like an untucked shirt, and you’ll end up in detention on a Saturday morning.
It wasn’t easy for Luis Sanchez to take at first.
“It felt like a burden on me, because I wasn’t used to it,” he says. “And it just hurt me sometimes; it got me frustrated and angry sometimes.”
What makes the rules work is that they’re backed up by — and this is a word they actually use at the school — love.
There are only 220 students at MATCH. Classes are small and the kids also get one-on-one tutoring from dozens of recent college graduates who live right in the building.
Hundreds of applicants apply to be part of the elite MATCH Corps. The 45 who are accepted receive a small stipend, which is partly funded through a grant from the federal AmeriCorps program, and dorm-style lodging on the school’s top floor. In exchange, they make a one-year, more-than-full-time commitment to tutor students and assist teachers. (See related stories section for more on the tutoring program.)
The program has worked for Sanchez.
“They cared,” he says. “I mean, Mr. Sposato, who was our principal back then … took me aside about every day and just told me, you know, ‘You’re here to learn. You’re here to do something with your life.’”
Many of the students at MATCH need such attention. Christina Bernal learned a few years ago that, as a baby, the state had taken her from her drug-addicted mother. The woman who raised her was actually her aunt.
“When I found out,” Christina says, “it just hit me like, I just felt like I’ve been lied to all my life.”
When we asked another student, Izzy Herrera, about her home life, she simply sobbed.
Despite all the trauma, and despite the students’ academic deficits, MATCH is turning kids around. Just days ago, the students learned that this almost entirely poor, minority school was number one in math on the state standardized test.
As they were handed their individual test results, many students discovered their lives had changed: They scored high enough to get free tuition to any state school in Massachusetts.
But here are the questions: Can this success be replicated nationally? Can you re-create, on a large scale, this sort of small school infused with missionary zeal, where teachers work 11-hours days for low pay?
MATCH executive director Alan Safran answers, “If we can agree as a nation that we have to do it, then we will do it. I don’t think we have in the agreement on the have-to yet. I don’t believe people understand there’s a crisis in urban schools.”
Sanchez may illustrate what the stakes are.
“I think I woulda never come into high school,” he says. “I think I would have dropped out at eighth grade and probably been a drug dealer. … Maybe a year later I woulda got shot. Maybe a year later I would have been in prison. Something like that.”
Instead, he’s an honor roll student applying to colleges — and planning a future he never thought he’d have.
“It hits me every day, especially now, being a senior and getting close to graduation,” he says. “I never pictured myself walking around in a school like this and just being happy every day — and knowing that in a couple of months I’ll be walking down the stage and, you know, maybe my eyes will be tearful because it’s something that I’m gonna be proud of … and all my friends and teachers here are gonna be proud of.”
MATCH is having extraordinary success in taking students like Luis to the next level: every member of its first four graduating classes has been accepted to four-year colleges. And the Massachusetts State Board of Education has rewarded that success by approving the school’s plan to double in size and to open a new middle school.
Showing posts with label Dartmouth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dartmouth. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
The Big Green Bus
Who: 11 Students from Dartmouth College: Hayley Kennedy, Whitney MacFadyen, Esther Perman, Colleen Wearn, Lucas Schulz, Nate Raines, Kate Parizeau, Brent Butler, Frances Vernon, Merritt Jenkins, Chris Barth
Age: 19-23
What: 11 Dartmouth students, 1 veggie oil powered bus, 12,000 sustainable miles, all for a greener tomorrow
15 ultimate frisbee players made history in 2005 by starting The Big Green Bus. This summer, the third group of Dartmouth students made its way across the country in a vegetable oil powered bus. The mission of The Big Green Bus is: We are promoting the use of sustainable energy though education and example. As we travel around the country on a school bus converted to run on used vegetable oil, we seek to discuss environmental responsibility, the viability of alternative fuels, and tangible solutions to local and global energy issues. Our target audience is tomorrow’s leaders: college students, young politicians, young corporate leaders, young families, and others who are most likely to be affected by future energy issues.
Read the story from the Boston Herald below, and check out The Big Green Bus website:
“Change Your Fuel, Change the World”
By Erin McDonald
Boston Herald In Education
April 16, 2007
That’s the slogan of a group of Dartmouth College students who have crossed the country each summer since 2005 on an old school bus converted to run on used vegetable oil. A new crew is already gearing up to ride the bus out of the college town of Hanover, New Hampshire on June 11th and return to campus on August 30th after making over 40 stops across the United States to educate people about alternative energy sources.
The vision for the project began in 2005, when 15 ultimate Frisbee players from Dartmouth decided to take a cross-country trek to reach out to the Frisbee community at tournaments and raise awareness about the negative effects that burning fossil fuels has on the environment. They wanted to show people that alternative fuels were not a far-fetched idea of the future; they were available here and now. Instead of stopping at gas stations along the way, the Big Green Bus pulled up behind restaurants and (with permission, of course) filled up the tank with used cooking grease that would have otherwise been wasted. They also wanted to prove to the world that even though they were a small group, they could make a great impact on the environment and the way that people think of alternative sources of energy.
With the help of some handy engineering majors and professors, the students were able to create a bus that could run on waste vegetable oil, known as WVO for short. This “grease” is thicker than regular diesel that most school buses run on, so the bus needed two fuel tanks. The bus would begin by running on regular diesel until it warmed up enough to make the WVO thinner. Once the WVO was the same consistency as diesel, the entire engine switched over to run on nothing but the WVO—a fuel that doesn’t pollute our air!
In 2006, a new crew of bus members (with a few returning crew members) set off on another tour, but this time, on a new bus. During this second cross-country trip, they stopped at concerts, environmental fairs, camps, Dartmouth Alumni meetings, and other busy venues to reach out to the youth of America in a variety of settings and teach them about the benefits of alternative energy sources.
The summer of 2007 will be another busy season for the new team of Big Green Bus members, as they travel from New Hampshire to Tennessee, Georgia, Texas, California, Chicago, Ohio, and just about every state in between. They will make a stop in Boson on May 28th before heading back home to Dartmouth College. It’s not too often that one can see a giant green school bus rolling through town, so the students hope that the bus leads to plenty of media attention to better spread their message of going green to help the environment.
The Big Green Bus is a great example of the incredible impact that a small group of young people can have on the way citizens of America think about our environment. What do YOU think about the Big Green Bus and the message the students on the bus are trying to spread? How long will it be before all cars are running on waste vegetable oil instead of gasoline? Let your voice be heard! Check out our message board www.bostonheraldineducation.com
You can read blogs written by the bus members and see updated photos as the Big Green Bus crew makes its cross-country trip this summer at www.thebiggreenbus.org!
Age: 19-23
What: 11 Dartmouth students, 1 veggie oil powered bus, 12,000 sustainable miles, all for a greener tomorrow
15 ultimate frisbee players made history in 2005 by starting The Big Green Bus. This summer, the third group of Dartmouth students made its way across the country in a vegetable oil powered bus. The mission of The Big Green Bus is: We are promoting the use of sustainable energy though education and example. As we travel around the country on a school bus converted to run on used vegetable oil, we seek to discuss environmental responsibility, the viability of alternative fuels, and tangible solutions to local and global energy issues. Our target audience is tomorrow’s leaders: college students, young politicians, young corporate leaders, young families, and others who are most likely to be affected by future energy issues.
Read the story from the Boston Herald below, and check out The Big Green Bus website:
“Change Your Fuel, Change the World”
By Erin McDonald
Boston Herald In Education
April 16, 2007
That’s the slogan of a group of Dartmouth College students who have crossed the country each summer since 2005 on an old school bus converted to run on used vegetable oil. A new crew is already gearing up to ride the bus out of the college town of Hanover, New Hampshire on June 11th and return to campus on August 30th after making over 40 stops across the United States to educate people about alternative energy sources.
The vision for the project began in 2005, when 15 ultimate Frisbee players from Dartmouth decided to take a cross-country trek to reach out to the Frisbee community at tournaments and raise awareness about the negative effects that burning fossil fuels has on the environment. They wanted to show people that alternative fuels were not a far-fetched idea of the future; they were available here and now. Instead of stopping at gas stations along the way, the Big Green Bus pulled up behind restaurants and (with permission, of course) filled up the tank with used cooking grease that would have otherwise been wasted. They also wanted to prove to the world that even though they were a small group, they could make a great impact on the environment and the way that people think of alternative sources of energy.
With the help of some handy engineering majors and professors, the students were able to create a bus that could run on waste vegetable oil, known as WVO for short. This “grease” is thicker than regular diesel that most school buses run on, so the bus needed two fuel tanks. The bus would begin by running on regular diesel until it warmed up enough to make the WVO thinner. Once the WVO was the same consistency as diesel, the entire engine switched over to run on nothing but the WVO—a fuel that doesn’t pollute our air!
In 2006, a new crew of bus members (with a few returning crew members) set off on another tour, but this time, on a new bus. During this second cross-country trip, they stopped at concerts, environmental fairs, camps, Dartmouth Alumni meetings, and other busy venues to reach out to the youth of America in a variety of settings and teach them about the benefits of alternative energy sources.
The summer of 2007 will be another busy season for the new team of Big Green Bus members, as they travel from New Hampshire to Tennessee, Georgia, Texas, California, Chicago, Ohio, and just about every state in between. They will make a stop in Boson on May 28th before heading back home to Dartmouth College. It’s not too often that one can see a giant green school bus rolling through town, so the students hope that the bus leads to plenty of media attention to better spread their message of going green to help the environment.
The Big Green Bus is a great example of the incredible impact that a small group of young people can have on the way citizens of America think about our environment. What do YOU think about the Big Green Bus and the message the students on the bus are trying to spread? How long will it be before all cars are running on waste vegetable oil instead of gasoline? Let your voice be heard! Check out our message board www.bostonheraldineducation.com
You can read blogs written by the bus members and see updated photos as the Big Green Bus crew makes its cross-country trip this summer at www.thebiggreenbus.org!
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