EDUCATION

Low-income students get college experience at St. Andrew's School

Jessica Bies
The News Journal

In a setting as idyllic as it is prestigious, a small group of Delaware students is submerging itself in a new world this summer, living three weeks at the private boarding school St. Andrew's while preparing to apply for and go to college.  

The Delaware College Scholars program takes up to 40 promising juniors from low-income households with preference given to first-generation students who wish to pursue a higher education. The students learn and live on the campus of St. Andrew's School in Middletown, participating in a tuition-free program for three weeks.

Many of the teens have never had the opportunity to attend classes at a private school, let alone St. Andrew's, which costs $57,000 a year before financial aid. The program, called Delaware College Scholars, is specifically targeted at low-income 10th-, 11th- and 12th-graders who are eligible for free- or reduced-price lunch, said Executive Director Tony Alleyne. 

The students begin after their sophomore year and attend the program for three consecutive summers. 

Preference is given to students who would be the first in their families to attend college. They are selected based on their SAT scores and academic performance, and they take classes and live at St. Andrew's for free, as well as go on tours of area colleges. 

The Delaware College Scholars program takes up to 40 promising juniors from low-income households with preference given to first-generation, college-bound students. The students learn and live on the campus of St. Andrew's School in Middletown participating in a tuition-free program for three weeks.

"This is at no cost to these students," said Paul Harrell Jr., president of the program's board of directors and a member of St. Andrew's Board of Trustees. "Not a penny. We even provide bus services for students that don't have private vehicles to get to the program." 

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The school is located just south of Middletown and is a collection of stone buildings and romantic vistas. It is nestled among 300 acres of trees and grass, making it feel separate from the outside world. 

Once there, the college scholars spend their days either studying or visiting colleges. Days start at 7:30 a.m. with breakfast. Then they have classes until 4:15 p.m., with short breaks and lunch in between. 

The Delaware College Scholars program takes up to 40 promising juniors from low-income households with preference given to first-generation college-bound students who wish to pursue a higher education. The students learn and live on the campus of St. Andrew's School in Middletown participating in a tuition-free program for three consecutive summers.

At night, they study from 7:30 to 9:30, writing essays and reading as many as 60 to 100 pages in preparation for the next day. In their spare time, the teens get to participate in activities on campus, which has a large pond where they can go swimming. 

Alleyne, who works at St. Andrew's, is the driving force behind the program, Harrell said. 

From a low-income family himself, Alleyne was attending public school in New York City when he was accepted into the Prep for Prep program and was given the opportunity to go to St. Andrew's tuition-free. 

Tony Alleyne is the founder and executive director of the Delaware College Scholars program on the campus of St. Andrew's School near Middletown.

Prep for Prep is a leadership development program that offers promising students of color access to a private school education, according to its website. Alleyne graduated from St. Andrew's in 2001 and went on to Wesleyan University. He got a master's from Columbia University in 2010 and has a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. 

The Delaware College Scholars program takes up to 40 promising juniors from low-income households with preference given to first-generation, college-bound students who wish to pursue a higher education.

In 2011, he returned to St. Andrew's, and in 2013, he started Delaware College Scholars. 

"We're just trying to take the luck out of the equation," he said of the program.

Some of the Delaware Scholars students might have been fine on their own — it's possible they would have successfully gotten into college, applied for financial aid and earned a degree without any help. 

The Delaware College Scholars program takes up to 40 promising juniors from low-income households with preference given to first-generation students who wish to pursue a higher education. The students learn and live for three weeks on the campus of St. Andrew's School in Middletown.

"But they're not as prepared as they can be," Alleyne said. 

And statistics show low-income students don't always perform as well as their peers, even if they do well in high school. 

In fact, in 2016 about 75 percent of low-income students in Delaware graduated high school in four years, according to the Department of Education. More than 25 percent of highly qualified low-income students — those with SAT scores of 1550 or higher — skipped college, and just over half went to selective four-year colleges, according to a 2013 report. 

In comparison, 100 percent of Delaware College Scholars have graduated high school on time, 100 percent have gone to college, 92 percent of the first-year's cohort have gone to four-year colleges and 97 percent have persisted to their second semester, according to data collected by the program's organizers.  

One of those students is Aliyah Bennett, 18, who graduated from Smyrna High School on June 3. 

She plans on attending the University of Delaware this fall, where she wants to study biological sciences. One day, she hopes to go to medical school and become an OB-GYN. 

Bennett said the first time she heard about Delaware College Scholars, she was a freshman or sophomore in high school. She got a letter about the program in the mail and initially thought it was spam. 

The Delaware College Scholars program takes up to 40 promising juniors from low-income households with preference given to first-generation college-bound students who wish to pursue a higher education.

But then she looked closer. 

"Opening that letter really started opening doors for me," she said. Her first year in the program was overwhelming because it was so rigorous, Bennett said. "But I quickly realized why I was here, and I had a sense of belonging that I sometimes didn't even feel in my own public school." 

Bennett, who has always been a good student, felt that at St. Andrew's she was finally among like-minded individuals. Suddenly, she wasn't afraid to speak her mind or voice her own opinions. 

Part of that is because many of the teachers in the program are also from St. Andrew's, which uses the Socratic seminar format and challenges students to solve problems by asking questions and engaging in active discussion. 

"I definitely got to grow my public speaking," Bennett said. 

Destiny Cheeks, 15, studies in class.

Bennett, as it turns out, is not one of those students who would have been able to depend on "luck" to get into college. Recently, she said, her family has been struggling financially, and going into her senior year of high school, the teen had to get a part-time job at Gold Medal Gymnastics to help support them. 

It has been stressful because she knew she'd soon have to start filling out college applications, writing essays and applying for financial aid. She worried she wouldn't be able to balance work and school.

But because College Scholars program is augmented with workshops on SAT test prep, financial aid and the college application process, Bennett was able to not only apply to her top colleges but get financial aid. 

She had already been writing essays and had her applications ready to go. And when it came to financial she knew exactly how to fill out the application. 

"I don't think I'd be here today without this program and without Dr. Alleyne," she said. 

Contact Jessica Bies at (302) 324-2881 or jbies@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @jessicajbies.

More about Delaware College Scholars 

Currently, 18 out of Delaware's 19 school districts participate in Delaware College Scholars. Each year's cohort is between 40 and 47 students and classes have between 10 and 12 students, which engage in active, in-depth discussions.

The program is intended to help develop critical thinking, reading and writing skills, as well as non-cognitive and social skills. 

"Those opportunities are something that cannot be mimicked in a class of 25 to 20," Executive Director Tony Alleyne said, emphasizing the importance of the small class sizes and how the experience differs from those at typical public high schools. 

Tony Alleyne (left), founder and executive director of the Delaware College Scholars program, meets with Paul Harrell Jr., president of the program's board of directors and also on St. Andrew's Board of Trustees.

Students are chosen for being academically advanced. The program is designed to be residential so students can learn how to be more independent and balance their social and academic lives. 

Students who have already graduated from the program serve as advisers and live in the dorms with the high schoolers, much like community advisers in college residence halls. They offer advice on selecting and applying for colleges. 

Harrell said 300 students applied to be in the program this year. Those accepted are tracked through college and continue to receive advice after they leave, either in person or via video chat. 

Recently accepted students include: 

  • Kevin Adams, Smyrna High School
  • Hadiatou Bah, Brandywine High School
  • Brena Barron, Milford High School
  • Jaylyn Biven, Sussex Central High School
  • Alicia Bland, Caesar Rodney High School
  • Mya Burrell, Appoquinimink High School
  • Miranda Burton, A.I. duPont High School
  • Alyjah Callahan, St. Georges Technical High School
  • Destiny Cheeks, Mount Pleasant High School
  • Clauje’ Cole, Smyrna High School
  • Meisha Coles, Christiana High School
  • Cierra DePrisco, Lake Forest High School
  • Youssouf Drame, William Penn High School
  • Lyncie Etienne, Laurel High School
  • A’Deja Farlow, Sussex Central High School
  • Silya Filo, Concord High School
  • Diana Flores, Hodgson Vo-tech High School
  • Jianna Fluellen, St. Georges Technical High School
  • Iesha Green, Cape Henlopen High School
  • Amani Griffin, Dover High School
  • Marsha Hardin, Howard High School
  • Abbrielle Henry, Concord High School
  • Nathaya Ingram, William Penn High School
  • Cindy Lin, Milford High School
  • Kira Lyons, William Penn High School
  • Daniel Maldonado, Delcastle Technical High School
  • Josue Martinez Moret, Howard High School
  • Connor McNamire, Lake Forest High School
  • Krista Monaghan, Thomas McKean High School
  • Abena Nimako, Christiana High School
  • Jason Nolasco-Menchaca, William Penn High School
  • Charles Nyakundi, Christiana High School
  • Francia Olliver, Christiana High School
  • Sara Parker, Laurel High School
  • Tiara Parker, Polytech High School
  • Elvis Perez-Mazariegos, Seaford High School
  • Giovanna Reilly, A.I. duPont High School
  • Talley Ridgeway, Polytech High School
  • Kayla Rutherford, Indian River High School
  • Leomarie Sanchez, Cape Henlopen High School
  • Katysha Serrano-rosa, Thomas McKean High School
  • Brenna Shaw, Hodgson Vo-tech High School
  • Alyssa Staley, Woodbridge High School
  • Shyliah Washington, Seaford High School
  • Savannah Willard, Caesar Rodney High School
  • Aaliyah Wilson, Middletown High School
  • Justin Yeung, Dover High School
  • Tommy Zheng, Brandywine High School

The students moved onto campus on June 12. Once this summer’s program is complete, the students will continue for the next two summers. They will apply to college with the help of one-on-one advising, learn about financial aid and scholarships, explore strategies for a college major and course selection and formulate a plan to complete a successful freshman year of college.