A three-part series on the fate of 59 fifth-graders who were given an extraordinary gift: the promise of a college education paid for by two wealthy businessmen.
Video: Wondering what happened to the rest of the class? Meet all the students and find out who made it through high school, trade school and college with our interactive database. Watch video interviews with Jeffery Norris, Ponloeu Le, Tiffany Alston and other students to hear first-hand how the program impacted lives.
Darone Robinson and Rudolph Norris were driving home after playing basketball one afternoon, reminiscing about their school years together, about that kid who made them laugh, the kid with the colorful shirts and infectious cackle.
What happened to William Smith, the prankster standing at the center of their class picture?
Meet the characters
Darone Robinson
An indifferent student and enthusiastic brawler for many years. Pushed constantly by his mother.
William Smith
The adored class prankster whose life was defined by a burst of violence that left him in a wheelchair.
Jeffery Norris
Witnessed his uncle being beaten to death with a baseball bat at 8 and swore he would never be a victim.
Tiffany Alston
A strong student whose mother vowed to scrub floors so her daughter could become a lawyer.
Terrell Jackson
Survived two shootings by age 15. Fantasized about playing basketball for the Bullets.
Monica McIntyre
Gifted cellist who was chosen to thank Abe Pollin and Melvin Cohen when the scholarships were announced.
Rose Johnson
Struggled to support two children as a receptionist and worried constantly about her son Darone Robinson’s safety.
Rudolph Norris
Cousin to Jeffery Norris who, at 8, witnessed his stepfather being beaten to death with a baseball bat.
Abe Pollin
Owner of the Washington Bullets who promised college scholarships to the Seat Pleasant 59.
Back in the spring of 1988, they’d all been friends at Seat Pleasant Elementary, part of a class of fifth-graders from some of Prince George’s County’s poorest neighborhoods.
Then, on a May afternoon, they received an unexpected gift that would alter their lives: the promise of a college education, paid for by two wealthy businessmen. Suddenly, the 11-year-olds were part of an ambitious social experiment being tried across the country, one that brought together rich benefactors and needy kids in a largely untested but intimate style of philanthropy aimed at lifting entire families out of poverty.
At Seat Pleasant, the promise generated a wave of publicity and excitement, transforming the fifth-graders into symbols of hope in their own neighborhoods and well beyond. The scholarships gave them a chance to achieve a kind of success that had eluded most of their parents. Yet their good fortune also became a burden that would endure long after they reached adulthood. The questions followed them: What would become of William Smith, Darone Robinson and the rest of the Seat Pleasant 59?
Would they graduate from high school?
Would they make it to college?
What would they make of their gift?
More than 20 years later, the answers are sometimes surprising, sometimes satisfying and sometimes heart-rending. One would become a doctor. One would become a cellist. One would become a UPS driver. One would kill herself. One would kill his father. One would become a politician. One would become a cop. One would become a drug dealer.
On that afternoon in 2010 when they shot hoops, Darone Robinson and Rudolph Norris were long past their school days. Long past the time when they were skinny, restless fifth-graders who counted the minutes to recess and hurled themselves around the Seat Pleasant playground with ferocious glee.
They were grown men now, 33-year-old fathers with all kinds of responsibilities. Darone was working as a Pepco customer service rep, Rudolph as an electrician. Yet they loved sifting through their memories: the girls they admired, the teachers who scared them, the fights they won and lost.
William Smith had been there through all of it. Darone hadn’t seen him in years, but Rudolph had. He knew how to find William, who came to be defined not by his big smile and exuberant laugh, but by a devastating burst of violence.
A few weeks later, Rudolph and Darone drove downtown, to a housing project on a hill near Howard University. They knocked on a glass sliding door overlooking a vacant lot. Moments later, William Smith swept aside a dark blanket that covered the glass and unlocked the door, reaching up from his wheelchair to hug his two old classmates.
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