Access is a Blue Chipper

I remember from my youth a Saturday Night Live skit based on the notion of being able to buy and sell words as stocks. Each year, there are a number of words that rise to the top of everyone’s vocabulary list. In recent years, access has become one of those words. Locally and nationally, and here at Park, access is used to talk about having the opportunity to get a quality education, investing in education, and being able to afford an education.

At the Upper School Martin Luther King Jr. assembly, we were fortunate to have three alumni speak about their roles in education. Greg White ’81, is the President and CEO of the LEARN Charter School Network in Chicago. He is a terrific guy who has dedicated his life to providing access to a high quality learning environment for students, who without these charter opportunities, would be far less likely to be in a good school. The results of his labors thus far are a stellar 99% graduation rate from the LEARN Charter Schools and an impressive college graduate rate from LEARN alumni. To read more about Learn go to www.learncharter.org

Corey Gaber ’03 is in a master’s program at Harvard’s School of Education. His concern about the disparity of a Park education and what is typically offered in Baltimore City public schools was palpable. After finishing this program, it is Corey’s intention to teach in Baltimore City.

Adria Johnson ’05 is teaching at a Baltimore City public school. She conveyed to our kids how much her students shared their same eagerness for education and how they also possessed similar potential as scholars.

All three speakers were so complimentary of each other and had great respect for what the others were doing to expand access to quality education. In the context of the assembly, Greg likened the access to education as the civil rights issue of our time. As this challenge plays out in Baltimore and the rest of the nation, there are also struggles for access at Park.

The good news is that our community continues to support financial assistance in both small and large ways. Fundraising to provide more students with the opportunity to attend Park has become our central purpose, along with supporting faculty salaries. Thankfully, our donors find that providing access to a Park education is a compelling reason to give.

For those of you who did not witness or hear about our live auction in 2009, in just 15 seconds we sold six lots priced at $4,000 to provide a full tuition to a Park student in need of financial assistance. Many people commented afterwards that they wished we had done more. Well, Saturday night at our annual Bull and Oyster Roast we’re hoping to sell 25-$1,000 lots to provide tuition support for varsity athletes in need of financial assistance. We hope that this too will be compelling. If you will not be attending the Bull Roast but would like to buy one lot or more, please just let me know.

So to this bring this thing full circle, go long on access.