Published: May 08, 2008 10:43 pm            

Local students earn TurnAround awards

Andrea Fred wants a better life for her future children than the hand she was dealt.

Fred, a Kokomo High School senior, grew up on food stamps and remembers seeing her mother crying as she tried to figure out how to make ends meet. When she was 14, her mother died of cancer, and Fred moved in with her grandmother, who was ill.

Now 18, Fred lives on her own, pays her own bills and plans to study nursing, most likely at Ivy Tech Community College. Thursday, she was one of 15 Howard County students honored with a TurnAround award, presented by the mayor’s TurnAround Council.

Kokomo-Center Superintendent Thomas Little Jr. also shared his own personal turn-around story.

He was born to young parents who divorced when he was a toddler and left him in his grandparents’ care in Pennsylvania.

“I was a handful,” he said, noting that he was defiant, angry and did not like to follow the rules.

“I suppose that’s why I became a superintendent. Now I get to make the rules.”

His first turning point was in seventh grade, when his social studies teacher showed him his score on an achievement test, which was the highest in the class, even though his grades were poor because he didn’t do his work.

The teacher told him he had great potential, but was not living up to it.

“He made me face reality. He believed in me. He really cared.”

Then in high school he met a girl who inspired him to do better.

“She was an A student and I needed to impress her,” Little said.

He started earning As and talking about college. She was going to Taylor University, so he chose Butler University, to be nearby. He majored in education, in honor of the teachers who had cared about him as a child.

“I wanted to give to students what those people gave to me.”

Brian Davis, who received the award in 1997 as a Taylor High School student, also talked about the obstacles he’s overcome.

“I’m not proud of some of my early choices, but I’ve overcome it,” he said.

Davis said he’s married with three daughters, is a certified firefighter and EMT, and works at Delphi Safety & Electronics. He’s looking into starting his own business and will return to college to be a youth minister later this year.

He was told he would never amount to anything, he said, but, “I can tell you right now, they were wrong. I want to show you, those people who tried to put me down, they were wrong.”

Each TurnAround nominee was introduced by a teacher or principal, who told a little bit of each one’s history and why he or she was nominated.

The stories ranged from Cole Turner, who stopped hanging around with a group of mischievous boys who get in trouble, to Raven Brown, who became a leader instead of a follower, to Timothy Dehaan who went from failing all his classes at the beginning of the year to passing all but one by Christmas; to Dominic Wilson who went from being a disruptive student to the honor roll; and Kyle Gifford, who was boisterous, loud and verbal, and has taken responsibility for his actions and improvement.

There was Daniel Martin, who needed a trip to the Kinsey Youth Center to make him decide it was time for change, and Zaybreeon Smith, who was on the verge of having to leave McKinley School but wrote and signed her own behavior contract and has improved; April Williams, who used to sleep in class but now is at the top of her class at McKinley High School and works 30 hours a week; Cameron Bannon, who had poor grades but improved to get into college, where he will play football.

There was David Justice, who has become a leader and makes better decisions; Joe Hinson, who went from being a regular visitor in the principal’s office to making better choices; Michael McQueary, who has matured and improved; Cody Ryan, who overcame a lack of confidence and improved his grades to be accepted at Purdue.

Julie Salisbury, a sophomore at Taylor High School, was recognized for overcoming obstacles and returning to school. Marcia Marler, the school registrar, said Salisbury’s attendance was poor, and she had withdrawn from school and returned twice. She helps a lot at home because her younger brother has Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy and requires extra attention.

Her third return to school has been successful, Marler said.

“She simply wants to be somebody. She is the shining example of what a turnaround student is.”

Salisbury said she was “overwhelmed” by receiving the award. She was thankful to Marler and guidance counselor Heather Baltz.

“I decided to go back to school on my own, but they pushed me when I got there.”

Fred, from Kokomo High School, was proud of her accomplishments and said her success has been a choice.

“Life is full of choices. It doesn’t matter what you have and what you don’t have. It makes me feel like I am a somebody.”

Danielle Rush may be reached at (765) 454-8585 or via e-mail at danielle.rush@kokomotribune.com



TurnAround nominees:

These students were honored by the mayor’s TurnAround Council as the 2008 recipients of the TurnAround award:

• Raven Brown, Bon Air Middle School

• David Justice, Central Middle School

• Timothy Dehaan, Eastern Middle School

• Kyle Gifford, Eastern High School

• Andrea Fred, Kokomo High School

• Dominic Wilson, Lafayette Park Middle School

• Daniel Martin, Maple Crest Middle School

• Zaybreeon Smith, McKinley Middle School

• April Williams, McKinley High School

• Cole Turner, Northwestern Middle School

• Cameron Bannon, Northwestern High School

• Joe Hinson, Taylor Middle School

• Julie Salisbury, Taylor High School

• Michael McQueary, Western Middle School

• Cody Ryan, Western High School

        

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