OK. You’re a 14-year-old. Your world consists of your family, your middle school and your hometown. Now, think about willfully giving that up to attend an unfamiliar school in a strange city. And your family isn’t moving with you. That’s got to take courage.
More than 100 teenagers turned Edina High School graduates were brave enough to do it.
With the help of A Better Chance, they left behind everything they’ve known—including their sub-par urban schools—for the opportunity to live and learn in Edina. Their courage and the assistance provided by the non-profit organization opened opportunities to study at prestigious universities and become respected professionals.
Forty years ago, A Better Chance set out on its mission of providing quality education to talented youth who were mired in economically disadvantaged schools and communities. In 2005, Edina bested its fellow 230 ABC chapters in becoming the first to reach the 100-graduate benchmark.
To enroll, students must apply, test and interview their way into the program. ABC’s national office in New York vets the youth, and the individual chapters relay available openings. Edina has 12 students at one time split by gender between two homes.
“The idea is to get the kids away from their current environment,” says A Better Chance executive director Sherry Nuness. “These are very bright kids, and they are unfortunately enrolled in schools that are not very conducive to quality learning.”
Arlene Santiago grew up in housing projects in Bronx, N.Y. Her Puerto Rican grandparents stressed the importance of good grades to earn a respected job. “That was the goal,” Santiago says.
Based on a suggestion from a school guidance counselor, Santiago was somewhat interested in ABC, but the program’s paperwork remained blank at her home for a while.
“My grandma said, ‘You are going to do this,’” Santiago says. “She pushed me forward.”
Santiago was accepted in the late 1990s, but had a rough ninth-grade year at Valley View Middle School.
“Starting over at 15 or 16 can be the worst thing for a high school girl,” she says. “I did bad on purpose. I wanted to be kicked out. They saw right through my plan.”
Resident directors and surrogate parents strive to keep kids on track at ABC. They mandate nightly study sessions and weekends with supportive host families. At student homes, assigned chores accompany homework.
“We teach them life skills as well as academic skills,” Nuness says.
Santiago picked up those skills. Following an improved sophomore year, she graduated from Edina in 2000, Marquette University in Milwaukee in 2004 and from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul in 2007. After a stint as a public defender in criminal court, she is now a human services judge for the state of Minnesota.
“I feel strongly that I still would have done well [without ABC] … but there is more of a network and academic [requirements],” she says. “I didn’t struggle in college.”
Students in the ABC program in Edina are not only on the receiving ends of the lessons.
Angelica Ukaigwe grew up near Chicago. Her family emigrated from Nigeria and she is part of the first generation to be born in the U.S. When she enrolled as a ninth-grader in Edina, students thought she was in a gang.
“I was very thrown back and mad,” Ukaigwe says. “I was like, ‘What?’”
The conflict helped Ukaigwe learn about how to approach conflict situations.
“A lot of the students that I went to school with are unfamiliar with other cultures and ethnicities of people,” Ukaigwe says. “You have to take the opportunity to educate them.”
After graduating from Edina in 2011, she says being a person of color in a predominately Caucasian community has helped her as a freshman at the University of Illinois.
Ukaigwe, who is studying molecular and cellular biology with hopes of becoming a pediatric oncologist, says her experience at Edina allowed for advance placement classes as well as informal lessons in personal growth.
“It allowed me to learn so much more about myself,” she says, “and how to handle certain situations.”
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A Better Chance will celebrate its 40th anniversary gala on May 4 at Edina Country Club.
The event, which is open to the public, will have a live and silent auction to help raise money for the non-profit organization as it enters a new decade of assisting bright students from economically challenged situations.
To learn more or to contribute, contact executive director Sherry Nuness at 952.848.3101.
