Juana Arias/THE WASHINGTON POST - HYATTSVILLE, MD - JUNE 5: FILE, Students (L-R) Michael Cohen, Hasani Chapman, Duana Rainey, Suziann Reid, Ponloeu Le, Jairo Chaparro, David Carter, with Tracy Proctor, who graduated a week ago, under the "I have a Dream" foundation, to talk to The Post, at Northwestern High School in Hyattsville, Maryland on June 5, 1995. (Photo by Juana Arias/The Washington Post)
Some are gifted and talented, others just average, and some are from families usually described as disadvantaged. But when they were in grade school together in 1988, they all got lucky.
Fifty-nine fifth-graders at Seat Pleasant Elementary School -- where just growing to adulthood sometimes is an achievement -- become the privileged few, the elite, the chosen.
Finish school, these 34 girls and 25 boys were told, and a college education is yours -- free.
“We were too young to know what it was,” said 18-year-old Ponloeu Le, of Lanham, who has been accepted at Prince George’s Community College.
But this month, most of them received their high school diplomas, and all of these newly minted graduates are college-bound.
They are the recipients of grants from local businessmen Abe Pollin and Melvin S. Cohen under the “I Have a Dream Foundation” begun in the 1980s by Manhattan industrialist Eugene Lang. Each student will receive what it costs for in-state tuition at the University of Maryland: $3,800. If they need more, the program also helps them apply for other scholarships and grants.
The program now encompasses more than 8,000 students in 25 cities where Lang has recruited millionaires to pick up the tab. In the Washington area, children in Anacostia and far Southeast also have been anointed.
Collectively, the boys and girls are known as “the Dreamers.” Their motto: “Once a Dreamer, always a Dreamer.”
The largest single group of Dreamers in Prince George’s, 22, graduated the other week from Northwestern High School in Hyattsville. The graduation was held at Pollin’s USAir Arena in Landover.
“To have them graduate in my building was an especially gratifying emotional feeling for me,” said Pollin, who teamed up with Cohen, chairman of District Photo, to help the Dreamers through their middle and high school years. Cohen gave them free film and developing; Pollin offered free tickets to sports events at his arena.
The Dreamers reciprocated, with birthday presents: for Pollin, a basketball they all autographed, and for Cohen, a big “Happy Birthday” sign with all their handprints and signatures.
The two men personally involved themselves in many cases. “We used to have the kids in small groups come to my office,” Pollin said. “We’d give them hot dogs and have lunch with them.” They also provided extra funds for special needs, such as school clothes for one student whose family couldn’t afford them, and rent money in an emergency. “What we gave we received in seeing those kids mature and grow into being successful people,” Pollin said.
A key factor in that success has been Tracy Proctor, 31, a Howard University graduate hired to work intensively with the students.
Over the seven years, Proctor has been mentor, cheerleader, coach and trouble-shooter. For those in need, he arranged special tutoring and transportation, at a cost of $18,000 or so to Pollin and Cohen, who also are helping him gain a master’s degree in sports marketing.
Suziann Reid, 18, an Eleanor Roosevelt High School student, was sent to Colorado for Olympic track training, at the sponsors’ expense. She hopes to become a physician or physical therapist.
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