Posts Tagged ‘blueprints’

Creating a college-positive culture

Monday, August 9th, 2010

By 2018, nearly two-thirds of available jobs will require some form of higher education. But Alabama lags behind the nation in getting our young people to college.

Alabama’s median household income is $9,443 less than the national average. According to the Southern Education Foundation, 60 percent of that gap is due to Alabamians’ low educational attainment. For every dollar earned by individuals with a bachelor’s degree, high school dropouts only earn 32 cents and high school graduates only earn 51 cents. College graduates elevate their personal earning capacity and bring nearly $1 million in spending power back to their local communities. (The Big Payoff, US Census Bureau – PDF)

A college-going culture includes the environment, attitudes, and practices in schools and communities that encourage students and their families to obtain the information, tools, and perspective to enhance access to and success in post-secondary education.

How can you create a college-going culture in your community?

1. Have high expectations. Young people will follow your lead and work to meet your expectations.
2. Share your passion/vocation. Teens are often conflicted about the career path they wish to pursue. Share your story about why you picked the career you did, how you got there, and what you hope to see in the future. This simple act can serve as an invaluable resource to a teenager struggling to choose a career path.
3. Utilize your business or occupation. Invite local teens to shadow you or your colleagues for a day. Giving young people the opportunity to experience a career they may have not have ever considered could be one of the biggest gifts you can give.
4. Mentor a young person. Children that come from homes without a college-educated parent often do not see the value of a college education. By sharing your educational experience and encouraging a young person to pursue post-secondary education, you will dramatically increase her chances of being exposed to new opportunities.
5. Answer questions. Young people can be timid and may not always ask the questions they need to. Answering what seems like simple questions may turn into a larger conversation and guide young people to a more successful future.
6. Participate in or produce a college or career fair. Hosting a fair could be one of the most beneficial activities that you can provide for your community.
7. Contribute to initiatives already underway. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel, and by financially supporting organizations already undertaking initiatives, you allow them to increase their impact.

Check out our page on the Blueprints college access initiative for more information on why increasing college access for all Alabama students matters.

Posted by Kristina Scott

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Posted in Making A Difference, education | No Comments »

“I can afford to go to college when I thought I couldn’t!”

Friday, May 7th, 2010

Above: Montevallo High School freshmen visit the University of Montevallo with mentors from UM and APP.

“I learned today that I can afford to go to college when I thought I couldn’t!” -Francis-Marion High School Blueprints Student

Last week, we wrapped up our first semester of Blueprints, which matched college student mentors from Montevallo, Birmingham-Southern, and Judson College with high school students in Montevallo, Hueytown, and Marion. The goal of Blueprints is to show Alabama high schoolers that they can go to college, while getting college students out of the classroom and into a rewarding service-learning experience. We received consistently positive responses to our 8-week pilot program.

Your donations made this program possible! Thank you to all of our donors for helping improve higher educational attainment in Alabama. We rely on your continuing support to ensure that Blueprints thrives into next semester and beyond. In order to sustain the relationships we have built with students, teachers, and counselors at our Blueprints sites around the state, we need your help.

Thank you also to all our Blueprints mentors and partner schools. Your hard work and dedication showed us that through relationships and a servant-based approach to leadership, change is possible.

Posted by Robyn Hyden

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Posted in Making A Difference, education | 1 Comment »

We Have a Winner!

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

We are proud to unveil the winning logo for our Blueprints college access program:

It is the design of Christopher Murphy, a senior in UAB’s graphic design department. Chris is a 27-year-old from Birmingham, and his design was chosen out of over 15 entries from his design classmates.

Over a coffee meeting to choose a bright blue color for the logo, Chris talked about his design process. His enthusiasm for the project and his commitment to Blueprint’s mission led me to ask how he personally connected to the project:

“I have to connect with my design,” he said. “I could personally relate to what Blueprints is trying to do. Graduating from High School, I didn’t know what to do, where to go, how to get to college. I could really have used help from a program like Blueprints.”

Chris is not a first generation college student, but he is the first in his family to pursue a career in design – and he “gets” how kids must feel when they are the first in their family to enroll in college. “All the other men in my family are engineers, and all the women are nurses. They don’t really ‘get’ what I’m studying!”

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Above: Chris and Kristina sort through Pantone color samples for inspiration.

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Chris incorporated the color blue into his design from the very beginning, and not just because the program is titled “Blueprints.”

“My nickname is actually ‘True Blue’ – Christopher ‘True Blue’ Murphy. To me the color blue represents faithfulness and loyalty” – two traits that Chris values highly. The Blueprints program is also built on loyalty, commitment and enduring relationships between mentors from Alabama colleges and local high school students. To Chris, the color blue is just another layer of meaning in his design.

After hearing details about the Blueprints mission to equip students for college, Chris was inspired and immediately started sketching. The apple with a fingerprint was his very first idea.

The fingerprint design, aside from playing with the idea of “Blueprints,” also reflects a personal touch from the designer. Chris used his own fingerprint for the logo, inking his right index finger and scanning it into the computer.

This personal touch is something that Chris strives to add to all of his projects. “People need to know you’re reaching out to them in your design,” Chris said. “People need something to connect to.”

One of Chris’s design inspirations is artist Frank Chimero, whom Chris admires because “He talks about design with heart…and says you have to make sure your work has heart, because it is made for the people. It is very important to me that my own designs have meaning and heart.”

After graduating, Chris hopes to find a job in the Southeast working in design. His dream job would be designing packaging for Nike.

Posted by Robyn Hyden

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Posted in Uncategorized, education | 1 Comment »

Colin Powell: College readiness crisis hurts our economic prosperity

Monday, March 1st, 2010

This morning, President Obama, General Powell, and U.S. Secretary of Education Anne Duncan addressed the nation about one of the leading determinants of economic prosperity: educational attainment. Powell’s America’s Promise Alliance launched a new campaign, Grad Nation. Their goal: to make the U.S. a world leader in college graduation rates by 2020.

How does Alabama fare in the national trend towards more educational attainment? Not so well. In the year 2005, only 23 percent of Alabama adults had attained a bachelor’s degree or higher. This is much lower than the national average and places us 43rd in a national index of college education attainment. We also ranked 45th in a national index of high school graduation rates, with just 84.1 percent of adults boasting a high school diploma.

In 2008, Alabama’s median household income was $9,443 less than the national median household income.  The Southern Education Foundation reports that 60% of Alabama’s low earnings potential is due to low educational attainment. Many studies have confirmed that lack of a college degree leads to significantly lower earnings potential over a person’s lifetime. On average, people with college degrees earn 45 percent more than those without a bachelor’s degree, and 64 percent more than those without a high school diploma.

On his blog, Powell writes

“The simple proposition is this—improving graduation rates is not just an education issue; it’s a community issue.”

We agree.  What to do about it?

  • Mentor youth. Students whose parents did not complete college enrolled at rates of only 56 percent, and students of parents with no high school diploma enrolled at even lower rates; these first-generation college students need the most encouragement.
  • Support college access programs (such as our Blueprints College Access Initiative) in our efforts to connect students to the resources they need.
  • Be the change you wish to see: urge local high schools to institute more college readiness programs, or volunteer to strengthen existing initiatives.

Posted by Robyn Hyden

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Posted in education | 1 Comment »