PROJECT SUMMARY and NARRATIVE REPORT

   

 

Planning Committee Members:

Dr. Rogers Onick, MMABSE President

Ms. Vel Wiley, MATA Media 

Dr. Hillary Wynn, MMABSE

Ms. Rhonda Kelsey, Milwaukee Mayor’s Office 

Ms. Pat Kline, MMABSE 

Mr. Dashal Young, County Executive’s Office 

Ms. Stacey Orr, MMABSE

 

On Wednesday May 10, 2006, MMABSE’s District Administration Commission’s Post Cosby Planning Committee hosted its first Excel to Fly Student Summit. The summit was held on the campus of Marquette University.   The event was initially planned as a follow-up to the two visits that Bill Cosby had made to Milwaukee on the behalf of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Alliance of Black School Educators.  The commission felt that the Cosby Forums should be a catalyst for our ongoing work with ‘at risk’ and transitional foster high school students in our community.

Faced with the negative realities surrounding Milwaukee Public School’s problems with high school truancy, low graduation rates, student apathy and low achievement; the committee felt that we needed to work harder to give these students a sense of relevancy with relation to high school education. The plan was to reconnect with the students who had attended the Cosby forums and provide them with information that would empower them to go on to higher heights. The committee wanted to give the students an opportunity to connect with community agencies, institutions of higher education, and vocational programs, which would support the overall goal of academic excellence.   We wanted to instill a can do spirit that would inspire the students as they attempted navigate the rocky terrain. 

Forty ‘at risk’ students from Milwaukee Technical High and forty students from various community agencies serving foster and transitional students were invited to attend the summit. Each student attended two workshops conducted by local entrepreneurial professionals, clergy, counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists and community activists. The workshops focused on professional development and personal preparation.  Student and chaperone feedback forms indicated that the students felt that the summit was a success, and that the workshops were inspirational and that the presenters provided valuable information.    

Next Steps:

The commission plans to remain in contact with the community agencies that participated in the forums and the student summit.  It will host two more student summits next school year.  At which time, we will invite students from a different MPS high school.

Funding: