Press ABC.indd - Robinson+Cole

ABC girls leap for a chance,
and graduate to opportunity
In 20 years, 32 graduates have all gone to college
by Nyanza Rothman
Press Intern
G
rowing up in the environment I did, itʼs easy to
get stuck there, accept the
way life has been tossed at you,
and never hope for more,” said
Sarah “Daniele” Dickerson said.
“My mother did not want that for
me, so she sent me here to see
and receive possibilities.”
This year marks the 20th
graduation for Ridgefieldʼs A
Better Chance or “ABC” program
and Ms. Dickerson and Karin
Edwards are its 2007 Ridgefield
High School graduates. Their
gains can be counted in knowledge, opportunity and self-confidence.
“What I learned about myself
is that Iʼm a very nice, brave, caring person,” Ms. Edwards said.
“Most important, Iʼm a leader ... I
can deal with anything you throw
at me. Why? Because Iʼve been
through it.”
“Iʼve learned to never give up
on what you believe no matter
how much it would please others,” Ms. Dickerson said. “And
Iʼve learned that it is better to be
aware and concerned than blissfully ignorant.”
Each year Ridgefield ABC
receives applications from 300
talented minority students around
the country, bright hard-working kids from communities with
schools that would not provide
them with the same opportunities
theyʼll have as RHS graduates.
“Itʼs important to realize that
these students come from families
where education is the primary
goal,” said Robin Keller, president
of the Ridgefield ABC Board of
Directors. “These girls are academically gifted. They come from
strong families, strong support.”
Itʼs a leap into the unknown. It
isnʼt easy. But the students have
qualities — brains, drive, family
support — that carry them through
in pursuit of their goal: a strong
education.
“The parentsʼ mindset is that
they are willing to send their girls
across the country on behalf of
their education,” Ms. Keller said.
Coming to Ridgefield means
living at the Ridgefield ABC
House, where Natasha McNeal is
the resident director, and Elaine
Kelemen is the assistant resident
director.
“I am like the mother of the
house,” Ms. McNeal said.
Still, the girls leave home at 14
or 15 years old.
“It is like they had to experience
the college situation four years
earlier,” Ms. McNeal said. “They
had to fend for themselves at an
early age.”
Ms. Edwards — who came her
sophomore year from Long Island
— said it was a little easier for her
than for housemates who came as
freshmen, from farther away.
“Being away from my family
wasnʼt that hard for me, because I
knew that I would get to go home
on the holidays,” she said.
Each girl spends one weekend
and two Sundays each month
with a volunteer host family in
Ridgefield. Ms. Dickersonʼs host
parents are Jan and Michael
Jackman. Ms. Edwardsʼ are Jami
and Tom Mitchell.
Ten volunteer academic advisers
monitor the studentsʼ progress.
Top colleges
Both graduates excelled at
RHS and headed to top colleges.
Ms. Dickerson will attend the
University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill on a full four-year
academic scholarship. She plans
to major in communications with
minors in Afro-American studies
and womenʼs studies.
“I either want to be a writer,
lawyer, or professor,” she said.
“My upbringing and education
at Ridgefield High School have
fostered these interests, and the
English teachers at RHS are amazing and have inspired me to go
after knowledge and understanding.”
Ms. Dickerson also credits her
family.
“My mom and my sister taught
me to be proud of who and what I
am, and thatʼs also why I want to
study these things,” she said.
Ms. Edwards is going to Temple
University with the idea of studying business.
“I am a highly motivated,
responsible young woman who
has demonstrated the academic
leadership and communication
skills necessary for success in
business,” she said.
The two girls join 32 other
Ridgefield ABC graduates since
1987, all of whom have either
graduated from or are enrolled in
major colleges or universities.
’98 grad
Monica Gibson graduated from
RHS through the ABC program in
1998. In August she will receive
a masterʼs in public policy from
Vanderbilt University in Nashville,
Tenn. She recently returned from
France, where she interned with
the U.S. Mission to the United
Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization.
As a minority student from
Cleveland, Ohio, she had to adjust
to Ridgefield — wealthy, and
nearly all white.
“Money and race cannot dictate
your humanity, or humility,” she
said. “I was lucky to have peers,
who I feel embraced me for who
I was as an individual ... I really
feel the people I interacted with
were kind and enlightened enough
to know that my being there was
for the purpose of me attaining a
quality education.
“My host family, the Chapmans
–– Jim, Elise, Sarah, and David
–– really made me feel a part of
their family,” she said. “They also
provided me with a church family
and exposed me to other social
RIDGEFIELD PRESS
THE
Nyanza Rothman
Graduating senior Sarah “Daniele” Dickerson, ABC Resident Director Natasha McNeal, and graduating
senior Karin Edwards (left to right) at ABC House. Ms. Dickerson is entering the University of North
Carolina and Ms. Edwards, Temple University, in the fall.
outlets within the Ridgefield community.”
And the ABC house itself is a
community, a family.
“It all depended on the characters –– I express this with warm
affection –– in the house during that given time,” Ms. Gibson
said. “...We had all of the typical
episodes that most families experience.”
Returning to one of ABCʼs
annual fund-raisers recently, Ms.
Gibson met other ABC graduates
and noticed that many work with
others from disadvantaged backgrounds.
“It was interesting to learn
about the number of young ladies
that were going into policy-related fields,” she said. “I think this
speaks to the idea that the opportunities that were afforded us in
Ridgefield should be made available to all. I feel very blessed for
having this opportunity.”
Rough beginnings
Ridgefield ABC began with
organizing in the early 1980s. A
RHS teacher, Steve Blumenthal,
was the resident director of New
Canaanʼs ABC House, and the
boys there had suggested the idea.
A student club formed at RHS
and people in the community got
behind the idea.
Others were opposed. Issues
from school tuition waivers to the
effect of an ABC house on neighborhood property values were
raised as obstacles.
“People have a basic fear of the
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unknown,” said Philip Lodewick,
a past vice-chairman of the
Ridgefield ABC board.
“There was closet racism,” he
added. “Ridgefield was a very
white, homogeneous community.
It was afraid of change.”
Eventually, the town got comfortable with the program.
“The students were wonderful,”
said Christine Lodewick, a former
ABC board president. “People
changed their minds ... The first
girls were real pioneers.”
Volunteers
At the heart of the ABC program
are 70 “passionate” community
volunteers, Ms. Keller said. They
handle everything from the admissions process to arranging cultural
experiences for the students.
“I wish that all people understood that Ridgefield ABC is a
point of pride for the community,”
Ms. Keller said.
Individual donations from townspeople make up 80% of Ridgefield
ABCʼs $135,000-a-year operating
budget. Funding also comes from
corporations such as Boehringer
Ingelheim, General Electric, IBM,
the Tradewell Corporation and the
law firm Robinson & Cole.
“Corporations are encouraged
to sponsor a particular scholar for
four years,” Ms. Keller said. The
cost is $12,500 a year.
Paid staff includes the resident
director, assistant resident director, a house chef and two part-time
drivers. Fund raising also supports
social events for the girls, from
bowling to get-togethers with
ABC scholars in nearby towns
— Wilton, New Canaan, Darien.
Ridgefield ABC has three major
fund-raisers a year: a winter gala,
an annual golf outing, and a jazz
dinner in September that, this
year, will be a 20th anniversary
celebration.
Bright eighth graders from disadvantaged backgrounds typically
learn about the national ABC program from guidance counselors.
They may apply to ABC programs
at boarding schools or “community programs” like Ridgefieldʼs,
where the scholars live in a house
and go to a well-regarded public
high school.
From the 300 initial applicants
each year ABCʼs board narrows
the field to six who visit Ridgefield
in April or May. Theyʼre interviewed, stay overnight, tour RHS.
Ridgefield ABC selects two who
become the next yearʼs freshmen,
replacing graduating seniors.
Ms. Keller hopes that, with community support, the Ridgefield
ABC program will eventually
expand to include more than just
eight scholars. “The diversity is
great for the town,” she said.
The ABC scholars gain an education, and leave having contributed in countless untold ways to
the school and town.
“We never thought about
how much they helped us,” Ms.
Lodewick said. “It is mutually
beneficial.”
Thursday, June 28, 2007
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