When the Syracuse chapter of Say Yes to Education told David Minney he would have the chance to go to Syracuse University or a number of other public and private institutions for free, he thought the organization couldn’t be serious.

‘They just said, ‘Yeah, you can go to these schools for free,” he said. ‘And I was just like, ‘This is a joke, right?”

Minney, a Syracuse native and sophomore social work and psychology major, is part of the Class of 2013 and a member of the first group of Syracuse’s Say Yes high school graduates who is attending SU.

Say Yes, the national nonprofit program that helps guide students through high school and pay for college, is expanding its student base at SU. Last year, the university had 39 students enroll from the first Say Yes high school graduating class, according to Syracuse’s Say Yes. This year, that number is at 42.

Students are granted financial aid either through the university they attend or through Say Yes tuition grants. Should a Say Yes student not receive the needed funding from his or her school, Say Yes will make up the difference. The nonprofit aims to get more students in college in regions where there is a low high school graduation rate and an even lower college attendance rate.

Nearly 1,000 Say Yes students who graduated in 2009 and 2010 from the Syracuse City School District were enrolled at college as of Sept. 24, said Lavet Lorenz, assistant director for the Syracuse Say Yes Higher Education Compact. Last year, approximately 500 Syracuse City School District 2009 graduates enrolled in college.

The male to female ratio of those accepted to SU is about 50-to-50.

The Say Yes students in college now have only been in the program between one and two years, but students as young as kindergarteners are participating and will be part of the program until their high school graduation.

When he was younger, Minney said he never thought about going to college. As a member of the National Honor Society and wrestling team at G.W. Fowler High School, Minney started thinking about college later in high school, but restricted his college search because he did not think he could afford many of the schools.

He said he expected the significance of the Say Yes program to impact the kindergarteners who grow up in the program more than his peers.

‘The program starts with younger children, like kindergarten and third graders, so when they reach upper high school levels and then they go to college, that’s the class that Say Yes is going to have the most impact on,’ Minney said.

SU expects the number of Say Yes students at SU to increase in the future, said Don Saleh, vice president for enrollment management.

‘We’re interested in any good student who wants to be looking at Syracuse, and these are some of the top students coming out of the Syracuse City School District,’ Saleh said.

When Say Yes students apply to SU, it is like any other application process, Saleh said. The students are expected to meet the same academic requirements. SU does not track mean GPA or SAT scores for Say Yes students, Saleh said.

Saleh said the university is pleased with the group of Say Yes students currently on campus because they are well prepared and meeting academic goals. He said he considered having students from the general community on campus to be an advantage.

‘I think it helps to keep the institution rooted in the community,’ Saleh said.

The university has an interest in the success of the Syracuse City School District and of the success of the city, as the university is part of the overall community, Saleh said.

Rachael Gazdick, Syracuse’s Say Yes executive director, said Say Yes provides students with the resources to access higher education and recognize their potential. She said there were many eligible students in the city school district and she was pleased to be able to offer them the opportunity.

‘What we’re doing is just providing kids who are prepared to go to college the opportunity,’ Gazdick said. ‘Finance shouldn’t be the barrier.’

She said there was one student in the Class of 2013 who was faced with the possibility of not going to college because a parent lost his or her job. Say Yes allowed that student to attend Hobart and William Smith Colleges, where the student is maintaining a 3.9 GPA.

There are over 100 colleges and universities Say Yes students can apply to, including the public State University of New York and City University of New York schools and private institutions.

‘From Clarkson to Colgate to Columbia, Fordham to Goodman College to Le Moyne — there’s a whole list,’ Gazdick said.

The new year has also been an opportunity to see how Say Yes students are doing. Gazdick said Say Yes hired a number of those who had completed the program and are now in college to help run its summer program. She said it was a gift to watch the college students interact with the youngest in the Say Yes program.

‘They come back with the purpose of giving back, recognizing that this opportunity is tremendous, and it’s helping them reach their life goals,’ Gazdick said.

For Minney, helping his community is his ultimate goal. He worked with Say Yes last year at Farzer Elementary School and over the summer at Elmwood Elementary School. He said he plans to stay in Syracuse after graduation and work either as a social worker or for the Say Yes program.

‘It’s just home. Syracuse has a lot of faults, but I love them,’ Minney said. ‘I love Syracuse. It’s where I was raised, where I was brought up. It made me who I am.’

dkmcbird@syr.edu

 

Published on October 6, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Dara: dkmcbrid@syr.edu | @daramcbride