Chosen Children Go Off To College

With the school year almost over, many high school graduates are getting ready for college. It's an expensive prospect for most families, especially those with limited means. But for more than 200 seniors from inner city areas across the country, tuition is not a concern because of a special investment made in their future 12 years ago.

In 1988 executives from Merrill Lynch asked the National Urban League to select some first graders to be part of a unique program.

Two hundred fifty children from 10 inner city school systems were randomly selected.

The one qualification was that they had to come from low-income families.

"The idea was to choose inner city schools where it didn't look like the vast majority of these young children would be able to get to college without some intervention," said Milton Little of the National Urban League.

They were too young to understand it at the time, but these kids were getting a free ride to the college of their choice -- Merrill Lynch guaranteed it.

The company spent $16 million on the program, and employees have contributed another million. The results have been astounding. As of this month, the program has seen 90% of the students graduate in areas where half usually drop out before they finish school.

The program provided mentors and community volunteers to help the kids stay in school. They also attended summer camp in Boston.

There were bumpy times: homes burned down, divorces, poverty, the pressures of life. But the program always provided support. Funds from employees paid for coats, food and other things.

Most of the children's parents had never been to college, so people from the program had to work with the parents as well, to help them understand the significance of the scholarship.

"I don't think you can look at the educational system to do it completely on its own," said Matthews-Shatteen. "We have resources…that can be brought to bear on this problem that go far beyond the educational system."

It is only recently that many of these lucky members of the class of 2000 are realizing their good fortunes. Two of those scholarship winners, Ashley Lightbourne and Starrene Rhett, who are graduating in New York City, spoke with CBS News Early Show Co-Anchor Jane Clayson. They were joined by the woman who started the program, Westina Matthews-Shatteen from Merrill Lynch.
The girls didn't understand what the scholarships meant back in 1988.

"I didn't know what to expect because I was just like, they're picking me? You know, out of a whole bunch of first graders?" recalled Ashley.

She didn't really understand what it meant until her freshman year in high school.

Starrene says it didn't hit her until her sophomore year.

"People would come up to me and say, 'Congratulations on the scholarship' and I would be like, 'Thanks, can I play with my dolls now?' I didn't know how big this thing was," said Starrne.

The program and scholarship encouraged them to stay "focused in schoolwork, academics, just everything," said Ashley.

"It was kind of like another family, an extended family, so, like, if we didn't feel like turning to our family, they were there for us and took us on trips," Starrene said.

Westina Matthews-Shatteen hoped and prayed that the program would be successful. "But we weren't quite sure, so it's been exciting to see these young ladies getting ready to graduate today."

It's an unprecedented experiment.

"No one started as early as we did," said Matthews-Shatteen. "We started at the first grade. Everything we found out was that you had to start early…We asked that the students be selected randomly. That meant different things for different places. Some put it in a hat and some in a computer. In New York, it happened to be a class and that was the class selected."

Matthews-Shatteen says the lesson learned from this experiment is that it takes more than the public schools to educate children. "We've known that all along and we have to be student-focused and child-centered. It wasn't company-centered but a child-centered program."

Starrene says the scholarship makes her want to "give back as an adult, because I see how my friends struggle and they have to go to school in the city and don't have enough money. I'm thinking, maybe I can do something like this when I'm older."

Ashely says some of her friends are jealous and some are not.

"They're kind of happy that I have this scholarship. They're just like, well, you better do good and keep in touch."

Matthews-Shatteen said as she watched the children grow over the years, she felt hopeful. "They are our tomorrow and our future, so I think an early investment, a long-term investment will pay off."

Ashley and Starrene are invited back to the Early Show after their first year of college and when they graduate, to let everyone know how they're doing.