Some young children who attend one of Milwaukee’s central city schools could get a break on their college tuition. It’s still about a dozen years away, but Mayor Tom Barrett announced a program Monday that would pay for first and second graders at Clarke Street School to go to college if they simply graduate from MPS. WUWM’s Marti Mikkelson has more.
The mayor spoke to first and second graders in the gymnasium at Clarke Street School. He says they’ve been chosen to participate in the program because Clarke Street students have done well in their studies.
“We want you to know that we love you, that we want you to succeed, that we want you to stay in school, we want you to work hard and we want you to be nice to each other,” Barrett says.
Barrett says under the program, Clarke Street first and second graders who graduate from MPS will get their tuition paid to attend a school in the UW system. Several private donors have offered to pay for the costs. One is the Brady Corporation. Chief Executive Officer Frank Jaehnert, a native of Germany, says his family struggled financially, yet he stayed in school and it paid off.
“I had this dream to live and work in the United States of America, and I pursued the dream, so 30 years ago I came to the U.S., I worked for Brady, I worked my way up and now I’m the CEO of this company. And, the company has about $1.5 billion in sales. We have over 100 locations worldwide. We have about 8,000 employees and 1,000 of those employees are here in Milwaukee. And, I’m very grateful and blessed that this company is financially strong enough to invest in the future of our children here in Milwaukee,” Jaehnert says.
The program is part of a national effort known as the “I Have a Dream” initiative. The Foundation’s Program Director Lori Donoho says the Clarke Street students will have to meet the academic requirements necessary to graduate from MPS. She says the community will make sure those students succeed.
“We work to help them get A averages, B averages, to maintain the highest GPAs that they can, so that they can take advantage of the college opportunity,” Donoho says.
Donoho says community organizations such as the Boys & Girls Clubs will help students meet graduation requirements, by assisting with homework and helping some deal with stressful family situations.
Several MPS parents attended the announcement, and a reception afterward. One was Regina Scott. She has a first grader at Clarke Street who is eligible for the program. Scott says she’s already thinking about the high cost of college, because her child already has big dreams.
“She wanted to be a masseuse to a veterinarian, now she wants to be a judge, and then she went from a judge to a lawyer to president, so now she’s back to wanting to be a judge, so she’s working on being a judge now,” Scott says.
The city is also sweetening the pot for parents like Scott. Mayor Tom Barrett says families of the Clarke Street students will be eligible for a home ownership program, as a further incentive to get their kids to stay in school.
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