Graduates Honored For Drive, Degrees

Nonprofit Kept Students On Track and in School

About 100 recent college graduates who attended District public schools were honored last night in a ceremony hosted by D.C. College Access Program, a nonprofit group that supported the students through high school and college. Former secretary of state Colin L. Powell gave the featured address.

The organization, backed by companies and foundations in the Washington area, has counselors in 25 traditional public and charter high schools, and offers individual counseling, parent workshops on financial aid and college tours.

After helping students get into college, the program works to keep them there by tracking and monitoring academic progress, and providing counseling and mentoring from students who completed the program.

"We get authorization from parents and students to monitor student records," said Argelia Rodriguez, the organization's president and chief executive. "This allows us to access college records and financial aid and step in if we need to."

The program also provides an annual need-based scholarship of $2,000 to qualifying students. Nearly 7,000 students have received the award since the organization's first year in 1999, and more than 1,800 students in the program have graduated from college. Most are the first in their families to attend college, and many come from low-income, single-parent minority households.

At the ceremony last night at the JW Marriott Hotel in Northwest Washington, members of the audience cheered as Powell walked to the podium and addressed the students. He spoke of his own struggles as a student in New York's South Bronx neighborhood, barely gaining acceptance into college and then making C's throughout, only to become the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff decades later.

"Never give up," Powell said. "Never let anyone hold you back because of where you came from or because of the color of your skin. This is America."

Robert Harris, 23, did not give up. He recently graduated from North Carolina State University with a bachelor's degree in computer information systems. He plans to return to school in the fall to pursue a master's degree.

Harris, who had no financial support from his parents, credited the program with pushing him to apply to college. "I knew I would end up doing something, but I hadn't thought about going college until I talked to the counselor," he said.

During his freshman year, Harris's grade-point average was less than 2.7. His D.C. College Access Program counselor called him, and the two reviewed time-management tips and they came up with a study plan.

"I finished my last semester in school with a 3.6," Harris said.

When Shukurat Adamoh-Faniyan, 22, another graduate, was trapped in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, her counselor stepped in and helped her transfer from the University of New Orleans to Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, and then to the University of Maryland, until the University of New Orleans reopened.

"She called me and my parents when it happened," said Adamoh-Faniyan, a daughter of Nigerian immigrants. "The fact that they cared about me meant a great deal,"

Adamoh-Faniyan attended Woodrow Wilson High School and graduated this spring from the New Orleans University with a degree in political science. She will work this fall as a fifth-grade teacher in Prince George's County through the Teach for America program.

"Life is not about what others can do for you," she said from the podium. "Rather, life is about the unexpected pushing you to do for your fellow men."

Harris, who received an award for community service, hopes to someday start an information technology business. "I don't know yet for sure, but I want to start something like the Geek Squad, and be an outsourcing outfit that can serve all of your IT needs," he said.

D.C. College Access Program exists to fulfill these dreams, Rodriguez said, adding: "You break the cycle of poverty, and it improves the entire family."