Wyman takes first steps in developing scholarship program for teens

Wyman Trustee Dave Morley and Wyman President Dave Hilliard are working to further the Wyman vision of helping our teens succeed in life – beyond high school. This year marked the first steps in developing a scholarship program that will support continuing education for Wyman teens by providing them with full college scholarships.

Unfortunately, college tuition is a large financial burden for many of our teens. The goal of this program is to help them succeed by removing some of these restraints.

“The key to me is, how can we break the cycle of poverty?” Morley said. “The Camp Coca-Cola Leadership Program at Wyman is an exceptional step, but data shows that to truly break that cycle, they need to have a college education. This to me seems like a natural extension of what Wyman is already doing.”

Morley and his wife Cheryl Morley devised a concept to connect students with the already existing resources in a college’s various departments, organizations and scholarship funds. To cover any remaining expenses, Wyman would then raise scholarships with the help of corporate and individual donations.

The first appeal was to Indiana University, where Morley is a board member for the College of Arts and Sciences. He and Hilliard presented the concept to members of Admissions and various programs with scholarships to offer. The group was intrigued, and Hilliard and Morley expect similar reactions from other universities as they move forward.

“The first thing that grabs their attention is the caliber of young person that we are presenting to them,” said Hilliard. “Many of these students are the first generation in their families going to college. They have proven over a five-year period that they are very disciplined, very capable and very bright. This is what schools are looking for.

“Secondly, it’s an attractive win-win strategy. Typically families must run the traps to find the pots of money universities already have for scholarships, but even when secured there is usually a funding gap our families cannot afford. The Morley plan is attractive to families and universities because it funds the gap.”

The result from the Indiana University meeting was very positive – up to four scholarship packages a year for qualified candidates. Wyman Youth Relations Directors Annie Philipps and Náeem Slaise worked closely with students through the application process, and Morley and Hilliard tracked the progress of the applications. As of now, Robert Bryant, a senior at Fox High School, has officially been accepted to Indiana University for the fall of 2007.

Many corporations, individuals and people already involved with Wyman have shown an interest in helping to fund Wyman’s share of the scholarships, Morley said. For one, the St. Louis chapter of the Indiana University Alumni Association has already agreed to raise the cost gap to send one student to a four-year college starting in 2008.

The next step is to develop more partnerships with colleges and universities, starting with schools in Missouri and Illinois. This relationship-building is already underway, and the hope is that Wyman will be able to offer more options and opportunities each year.

Another vital aspect of making this program a success is ensuring that Wyman teens are prepared academically.

“Part of what we’ve learned in this process is that competition at the university level is keen –and becoming more so all the time,” said Hilliard. “Preparation for these teens, as far as standardized testing and GPAs, vary from school to school. In order for all the teens to be as competitive as possible, we’re going to have to step in and fill some gaps.”

Hilliard and Morley hope to achieve this by connecting students with resources already available in the community, such as tutoring and standardized testing preparation courses.

“What we will start to do immediately,” said Hilliard, “is emphasize to these students the importance of preparing themselves academically – making this expectation very clear from the point we recruit them forward.”