Texas A&M University-Commerce and the Woodrow Wilson High School Community Foundation are partnering to promote academic success for high school students and bring awareness to the university with the assistance of the Honors College.
Dean of the Honors College Dr. Raymond Green was in the initial meeting with A&M-Commerce president Dr. Dan Jones, Dallas ISD Trustee Mike Morath, and president of the Woodrow Wilson High School Community Foundation Richard Vitale to discuss how the program would be beneficial to the university.
The cooperation program is focused to reach out to high school freshmen and sophomores.
“We have specific needs for students that have been recommended for tutoring,” Program Development Specialist for Woodrow Wilson HS and International Baccalaureate (IB) coordinator Dr. Kathy Scherler said. “Teachers have assigned students that are at risk.”
Green said he believes the program will be very beneficial for A&M-Commerce and the three honors students participating – sophomores Jesse Jackson, Mayra Ramirez, and Meredith Shaw. He said it will give them real world experience in teaching kids on an urban campus while helping them fulfill their required 32 hours of community service.
He also said that sending college students to Woodrow Wilson High School is the best way of bringing high school students to A&M-Commerce.
“I think the best sales people for college are the college students,” he said. “I firmly believe it will bring high quality students to our campus.”
Scherler said she is confident the experience for the high school students will go a long way toward convincing them that attending college is an achievable and rewarding goal.
“(The high school students) will have contact with bright college students,” Scherler, an A&M-Commerce alumna who recently sat down and met with the volunteers, said. “We hope to prove to them college is very worthwhile.”
The alumni association will cover the cost of gas for the three individuals to transport to Dallas every other weekend for the tutoring sessions.
Green hopes this will broaden the name of A&M-Commerce and encourage similar agreements with other area high schools.
Scherler and Green both said that the program will begin as soon as complete approval is made from the Dallas Independent School District. Scherler said when that happens they hope to have around 45 high school students attending every other Saturday when the tutoring sessions are held.
“It speaks highly of the university that they’re willing to help students’ academic achievement at the high school level,” Scherler said.