College program expands to Aldine
Their grades and SAT scores could earn them spots and scholarships at some of the nation’s most prestigious universities. Many of the highest performing students in the Aldine and Klein independent school districts, however, opt to attend nearby Lone Star College instead. That soon could change. Both Klein and Aldine ISDs announced this summer they would partner with the Emerge Fellowship program with the goal of pushing high-achieving students from predominately low-income families to apply to some of the best schools in the state and country. The program served about 2,400 college and high school students last school year in Houston, Spring Branch and Spring ISDs, and since its inception in 2010, has boasted success rates that have generated attention from school districts and colleges across the country.
Trisha Cornwell, executive director of Emerge, and officials in Aldine and Klein ISDs said they
want to show others that their students are just as capable of graduating from the best schools as their wealthy peers in local private schools. This fall, Emerge students will start their freshmen years at such schools as Yale, Harvard, Brown, Rice and the University of Chicago, among others.
“We want to be a proof point for what’s possible in this space for high-achieving, low-income students at selective colleges,” Cornwell said. “We think we’re best in class.”
Statistics support that claim. Of those in Emerge’s first cohort, 80 percent graduated from college within four years, a far higher rate than the 27.6 percent of students who graduate from Texas public colleges over the same time period, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
The backgrounds of students sought out by Emerge make the results more surprising: 90 percent are first-generation college students, and 90 percent are lower income, two groups that traditionally struggle to earn
bachelor degrees within four years. While students from families where one or more members already attended college can lean on their previous experiences and knowledge, first-generation college students have little information or experienced relatives on which to lean.
The program made national headlines in 2018 when Micheal Brown, a Houston ISD student and Emerge fellow, was accepted into all 20 of the prestigious universities to which he applied. He eventually opted to attend Stanford. This year, a formerly homeless student also in Houston ISD got into Harvard, thanks, in part, to Emerge.
Like other Emerge students, they already were among the top students in their classes before being accepted to the program. It only considers applications from students who are in the top 5 or 10 percent of their class, or those in the top 25 percent who have an SAT score above 1150.
Once students are accepted, the program pays for them to fly
to selective colleges across the country, schools that seem out of reach until students learn of their scholarship opportunities and, sometimes, schools the teens did not even know existed, said Katy Roede, chief of schools in Aldine ISD. Instead, she said, they look at local options they think will be less expensive.
“I think a lot of barriers are the same, not just for Aldine, but a
“I think a lot of barriers are the same, not just for Aldine, but a lot of kids in the Houston area. Number one is exposure, knowing what is possible beyond our community.”
Katy Roede, chief of schools in Aldine ISD
lot of kids in the Houston area. Number one is exposure, knowing what is possible beyond our community,” Roede said. “Many of our students are right there by Lone Star College, so they see that all the time.”
During the school year, Emerge students meet afterschool every other week, and sometimes on the weekends, for intensive SAT and ACT test prep, essay-writing workshops and financial aid presentations. During summer break, Emerge sends students on enrichment trips or mini-semesters at top colleges, anything that can help them gain an edge in the application process.
Cornwell said they sent some students on study-abroad trips to Brazil and China this summer to improve their resumes, and others go on outdoor leadership training trips. Once a student is accepted to college, an Emerge counselor is tasked with helping them overcome hurdles to graduate on time. They check up on students and their families periodically, help students connect with resources at their new schools, introduce them to alumni groups and provide webinars and workshops on a variety of topics, including registration and time management.
Those efforts are not cheap. Cornwell said Aldine and Klein will pay $200,000 for Emerge to serve about 60 students in each district. Klein will use federal dollars it receives through Title IV, which are awarded to improve academic outcomes and increase access to a “well-rounded education.”
It is not just the students who benefit from the Emerge program, Klein ISD Superintendent Jenny McGown said. About 98 percent of the Emerge students told the organization they passed tips and advice to classmates to complete applications, write better admissions essays and apply for financial aide.
“They have already been in our district to talk to our counselors, to work with our college and career pathway team,” McGown said. “Of course, there will be Emerge students selected specifically, but it will have an impact on every student we serve as we build the capacity of our counselors, of our teachers and of our college team.”
Still, Roede said, the program’s benefits are felt far beyond high schools’ hallways.
“I don’t know if you can put a monetary value on the lives that can be changed, families’ lives that can be changed with this,” Roede said. “Emerge isn’t just about getting kids to highly selective colleges, it’s also about supporting them through it.”