Native Students Reach for Tomorrow
By Debra Jenkins

Students sail with their mentors.

At the end of the summer of 2004, 13 Native American middle-school students from the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes and the Crow Nation traveled from their homes in Montana to spend a week in the radically different world of Washington, D.C. and Annapolis, Maryland. The students were the first Native Americans to participate in the Reach for Tomorrow Summer Science Academy, which boasts 3,500 alums. Their challenge: to redefine themselves and test their physical and mental limits.
The Montana group was the first wave of a new Reach for Tomorrow initiative designed to encourage Native American students to pursue careers in science and technology. This inaugural program was the result of a collaboration with the American Indian Business Leaders (AIBL) organization. Tina Begay, Navajo, executive director of AIBL, has devoted her life to preparing students in her sphere of influence for higher education and professional careers. She asserts, “The American Indian Business Leaders (AIBL) Program and the Reach For Tomorrow program partnered to provide early intervention and prevention services through a mentoring relationship to American Indian youth in grades eight through 12 who are at risk of poor academic performance, absenteeism, and dropping out of school. This project is designed to improve students’ overall academic performance and enable them to assemble the requirements and qualifications for admission to a top college. To reach these goals, AIBL and RFT will employ a plan that emphasizes mentor-student relationships over a threeyear period. This relationship begins with a one-week summer trip and is followed by continuous contact during the school year. While working with their mentors, students are exposed to available opportunities and tools such as SAT preparatory courses and online curricula that include tutoring services and diagnostic testing.”

Visiting NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

“I want to be a leader and I would like to explore different careers and educational opportunities. I want to succeed.” —Alicia Talamantes, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes

Begay, who participated in the first AIBL/RFT program as group leader for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai teenage participants, held extensive meetings with the parents and tribal Elders to inspire their trust in sending their children away from the reservation, many for the first time. Begay reflects, “I would like to thank parents and grandparents of the students for trusting us to take their children across the country. We are very proud of the students; they represented the Flathead and Crow Nations with honor and respect. AIBL and Reach For Tomorrow have applied for a grant and, if we are successful, it is our hope to send more students from local reservation schools next year.”

Transformation through Role Modeling
Prior to attending the Reach for Tomorrow Summer Science Academy, Alicia Talamantes, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, had a clear motive for participating: “I want to be a leader and I would like to explore different careers and education opportunities. I want to succeed.” Khan Little Light, Crow, had an equally focused purpose for wanting to be part of the Montana group: “I want to do something different away from the reservation, and I am willing to learn something new.”
Talamantes, Little Light and 11 others were joined by students from the Washington Math Science Technology Public Charter High School in Washington, D.C. and the Patriots Technology Training Center in Maryland at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. In this part of the program, the Montana students were immersed in college life. They lived with midshipmen and engaged in activities designed to build self-confidence and teamwork. They were exposed to impeccable yet approachable role models, and gained a personal appreciation of the opportunities and rewards made possible by education.
The midshipmen and ensigns at the Naval Academy were close enough in age to the Montana group to make the immediate rewards of dedication and perseverance realistic and tangible to the students. Not only were the students given the opportunity to see individuals they could relate to in interesting, challenging, and exciting positions, they were able to see these individuals—proudly and without pretense —practice and aspire to values such as integrity, public service and personal excellence.

Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe students flying at Lee Air Field

“There are three categories of people in the world: those who watch things happen, those who let things happen to them, and those who make things happen.” —Don Montgomery

Opening Doors
In the educational phase of the project, the Montana students were given the opportunity to pilot a plane, command a ship, participate in college-level chemistry, satellite imaging, oceanography, and systems engineering labs; attend a presentation on the Gates Millennium Scholarship Fund that provides financial resources for Native American college students; tour the nation’s capital with a special escort from their local congressman’s office; and explore the new National Museum of the American Indian prior to its official opening.
Visiting NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) was another highlight of the trip. Wanda David, Native American program manager at NASA Goddard, observes: “It is extremely important for Native American students to visit GSFC because of our focus on earth science. Earth science utilizes technologies like remote sensing, Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) and others to study the earth and discover how the effects of climate and other natural and man-made interventions are affecting it. Many of the Native American interns who come here for a summer work experience do research in the area of earth science so they can take the information and technology they have learned back to their reservation or community. It is an important aspect of Native American culture to share with the community one’s knowledge and experience so that all might benefit from it. Also NASA’s goal to inspire the next generation has at its focus that all students consider choosing careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Native American students who visit GSFC see firsthand the joy of working in science and engineering and are inspired to make a contribution to their communities and the nation.”

Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe student in systems engineering laboratory

Mentoring
In Annapolis, the students were divided into teams, with each team assigned an adult leader/mentor (an experienced or trained RFT volunteer) from the Montana community in which the students lived. The team leaders supervised and interacted with the students to see that they took full advantage of the academic opportunities offered and to develop ongoing personal relationships to support the students in subsequent phases of the RFT program. Team leaders/mentors are committed to continuing to guide and assist their students throughout their high-school careers by following their progress and helping them prepare a résumé to enhance the college application process. The mentors for the Flathead Reservation/ Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes students are Tina Begay, Sharon Haynes and Donald Sam; for the Crow Nation, Nora Bird, and Ruben and Paulette Falls Down. All of the mentors will track school attendance, intervene and offer assistance if students’ grades drop below a ‘B’, and ensure that students sign up for and take PSAT and SAT preparatory classes provided by RFT.
Donald Sam, Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribal mentor and environmental scientist, reflects on the impact RFT has had so far on the students he works with: “I have been telling people about the great things that happened; there is so much potential in this program for the students. The kids had an experience that may very well shape their young lives. RFT founder Peter Underwood has an amazing dream. “I see myself fortunate for having the opportunity to play a part. We all have the opportunity to focus on the positive.”
Other mentors for the 2004 group also had positive memories of the program. Nora Bird, Crow, education director for the Apsalooka Nation education department and group leader for the students from the Crow Nation, describes the young people from her

Reach for Tomorrow The mission of Reach for Tomorrow is to improve the three As of education—attitude, attendance, and achievement—in rising high-school youth, in order to increase the applicant pool for institutions of higher education and professional careers in science and technology. Founded in 1993 as a nonprofit organization, RFT has developed a unique and effective multidimensional approach to motivating high-school students from underserved and underfunded schools. The RFT program assists incoming high-school freshmen who have the aptitude to excel academically, yet whose current scholastic measurements, such as grade point average and national test scores, do not reflect this potential. The RFT strategy is based on the observation that academic performance in the early high school years is vitally important to future success. Peter Underwood, founder of the program, a pilot for American Airlines and a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, explains: “Reach For Tomorrow targets students who are neither at the top nor at the bottom of their class. These students are just entering the ninth grade, so they have not earned their first A or F that counts towards graduation). They have four years to develop a résumé, prepare for the SAT, and work towards an attainable goal of college or a profession. They are by far the largest and yet the most forgotten group––those who have the innate ability but who have not performed consistently. By matching a small group of five students with an adult ‘team leader/mentor,’ RFT is able to complement the efforts of parents and teachers whose voices of encouragement may have become dulled through repetition. The mentors are teachers, parents, and concerned individuals who are looking for a strategy to improve their communities and have a positive impact on lives of the students.” Students in the oceanography science lab RFT does not, however, focus solely on improving grade performance. Students experience the relevance and rewards of core values such as integrity, personal excellence, and service to community and country. To maximize the program’s impact, a set of criteria has been developed to ensure that the students who are most likely to benefit are selected for participation in the program. These criteria include grades and/or standardized test results, teacher and counselor recommendations, volunteer or community service, and being interviewed by trained RFT volunteers. Since 1993, more than 3,500 students have participated in RFT representing various metro areas such as: Washington, D.C.; Clovis, New Mexico; Prince George’s County, Maryland; Prince William County, Virginia; East Chicago, Indiana, and Chicago, Illinois. Developing Concepts RFT has recently added an online K-12 academic curricula component, developed under a Ford Foundation grant, to complement what is being taught in the local school system. Each participant of the program will be paired with his or her own tutor (through Tutor.com) to explain concepts missed or not understood in class. Students with Native American midshipmen Additionally, RFT has a low-cost, classroom-based program to identify weak areas in reading, writing, math, and grammar. Local teachers will be trained in interactive classes by the Thomson-Peterson company in an effort to help their students improve in these skill areas. Once their unique academic challenges are identified by an online assessment tool, students can use the curricula developed to achieve grade-level performance in the areas identified, while supported by tutoring to assist with conceptual problems that require deeper explanation. For more information about Reach For Tomorrow, see www.reachfortomorrow.org

Above: Students at the U.S. Naval Academy Right: Students in the Naval Academy oceanography laboratory

group still talking about their extraordinary experiences. Tina Begay adds, “The trip promoted pro-social norms and behaviors through an atmosphere of diversity. An eclectic group of peers and mentors from different racial, ethnic, and geographic backgrounds interacted and were monitored with a preset code of conduct agreed upon by all participants. In addition, exposure to life beyond their neighborhood revealed unknown opportunities available to them and inherent skills they did not know they possessed, which will allow them to become contributing members of American society and their reservation communities.”

Looking Ahead
The 2004 summer experience at Annapolis is just the first element of Reach for Tomorrow’s longer-term strategy for the Montana students. The activities in the Summer Science Academy were designed to correlate high school core subjects with real world applications, thus revealing to the students the necessity of school attendance and academic achievement for future success.
A complete monitoring cycle which lasts through high school is planned, encompassing things such as college SAT prep courses, online and live tutoring, internships, scholarship identification, and career opportunities supplied or supplemented through the Internet. The Internet’s powerful information delivery system offers an unparalleled capability for delivering or enhancing many of the elements of the RFT program.

Through its own interactive website, Reach For Tomorrow and the team leaders will continue to track, communicate with, and assist students throughout their high school years. They will call students’ attention to the availability of additional programs and educational opportunities available through the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) and other supportive institutions. In addition, through a website being developed, RFT will continue to collect and disseminate information on the performance and achievements of the Montana students to their parents, teachers, and mentors.
Don Montgomery, admissions outreach coordinator of the Naval Academy and the point person for the RFT program there, summed up the experience of hosting the Montana group with these observations: “There are three categories of people in the world: those who watch things happen, those who let things happen to them, and those who make things happen. Their [the RFT students’ mission in life is to make things happen. Hopefully, as a result of the Reach for Tomorrow Naval Academy experience, 13 Native American students from Montana will be change agents for the nation.”

Debra Jenkins is vice president of operations for Reach for Tomorrow. She can be reached at djenkins@reachfortomorrow.org or (703) 600-5810.