Historic Year For HEOP

HEOP class in path to first-ever 100% graduation rate.

By Tom Donahue

For the first time in St. Bonaventure University’s 37-year involvement in the state’s Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program, an entire HEOP class will graduate four years after arriving on campus together as freshmen.

Twenty students in the HEOP program, which provides access to higher education to students who are economically disadvantaged and academically underprepared, are members of the Class of 2018. One graduated in December of 2017, a semester early; 18 walked across the stage at the university’s 158th annual Commencement Exercises in May; another is on track to complete degree requirements in the fall.

“We’re really excited, not only for our HEOP Class of 2018’s expected 100 percent graduation rate, but for what it says about the university’s commitment to the HEOP program,” said Bridget Kehrer, HEOP director for the past seven years.* “This is a great group of students, but our program and our students would not be as successful as we are without the support of the administration, faculty and staff.”

To say that this graduating HEOP class has overachieved is an understatement. College is a steady uphill climb for most HEOP students, and while St. Bonaventure’s HEOP graduation rate has been as high as 82 percent in recent years, it is not unusual for that rate to hover at or under 60 percent.

It’s a disturbing national trend among students from the nation’s lowest wealth group, writes New York Times Op-Ed columnist David Leonhardt in a March 2018 opinion piece. The college attendance rate for poorer students has steadily climbed in recent decades, but the graduation rate remains “abysmal,” said  Leonhardt, “even though many (of these students) are talented teenagers capable of graduating.” He cited data from the journal Demography showing the college graduation rate for students in this lowest wealth group is under 12 percent.

“They often attend colleges with few resources or colleges that simply do a bad job of shepherding students through a course of study,” said Leonhardt.

The HEOP program, a partnership between New York state and participating independent colleges and universities, addresses both big roadblocks. It provides a generous financial aid package to students who desperately need it, and one that does not saddle them with a mountain of debt, as well as a rigorous academic intervention program aimed at bringing these underprepared students up to speed.

Kehrer is always careful to explain “underprepared,” mindful of the myths and misconceptions that swirl around the term.

“When we say ‘underprepared,’ typically their SAT scores and grade point averages fall below regular admission requirements at the university,” she said. “A lot of people get hung up on that. They think, here are these students who typically don’t do well in high school and then they get to go to a HEOP school and get a full-need financial aid package. What people don’t know about is everything HEOP students have to keep up with and manage in terms of program requirements in order to maintain their scholarship. It definitely isn’t easy.”

Funded by the state and participating schools, the HEOP program pays for a student’s tuition, room, meals and books. Students are responsible for a small loan each year and typically leave St. Bonaventure after four years with about $18,500 in federal loans.

“Obviously, this isn’t even close to the national average,” said Kehrer, but noted the reality is that without this level of aid, college would be out of reach for HEOP students.

There are myriad reasons for HEOP students being underprepared for college work, she said. Most of St. Bonaventure’s HEOP students are from New York City, many from environments in which academic performance, by necessity, gets pushed down a teen’s list of priorities.

“They might live in a toxic environment or a dangerous neighborhood. A lot of them take care of younger siblings and are never able to fully invest themselves in their academics. And then there are a number of students who had to work throughout high school in order to help contribute financially to the household,” said Kehrer. “We have a number of students who work while they are on campus and send money back home.”

They are familiar stories for two members of this year’s graduating class, Nairee Taveras and Darlyne Vasquez, HEOP students from New York City.

Taveras, whose struggling family was always on the move, landed in “a really bad area” when she was in high school. “I had a lot of bad influences and was hanging out with the wrong people, kids who weren’t going to school, who were selling drugs and were completely lost,” she said. “I literally did not care about anything.”

Vasquez’s family emigrated from the Dominican Republic when she was 5. Her father worked long hours to make ends meet and her mother relied on her to help with her siblings. “I’m the oldest of four, so basically it was me and my mom raising my siblings while my dad worked. It was a lot of responsibility,” she said. The first in her family to go to college, Vasquez said it would not have been an option without HEOP.

“College was something I always wanted to do, but I couldn’t put that financial burden on my family because of the struggles they were going through,” she said. “HEOP opened the door for me, it’s a blessing. Without it, I’d probably still be in the city working a job, helping Mom and Dad pay the bills.”

Taveras echoed that sentiment with conviction. “I absolutely would not have been able to go away to college without HEOP,” she said. Were it not for this opportunity, Taveras said she’d likely have gone to beauty school and still be in New York, “stuck in the same cycle I was in.”

Both students said they had an awakening of sorts in their junior year of high school, a realization that going to college was an opportunity to break their cycles of hopelessness and despair. They went from students who were just getting by to students earning grades in the 90s, making them good HEOP candidates.

HEOP is no hand-out. “It’s really competitive,” said Kehrer. “We have only 20 to 24 spots available each year and we get around 400 applications for those few spots.”

St. Bonaventure networks with CollegeBound Initiative, a nonprofit organization in New York City that works to help under-represented inner-city students from low-income families break the cycle of need and achieve the dream of a college education. “They’re well versed on HEOP, and their counselors, who are placed in the schools, know these students pretty well and can recommend them,” said Kehrer.

For HEOP students, the workload is demanding and expectations are high. As freshmen, they arrive on campus a month before classes begin for HEOP’s Pre-freshman Summer Challenge, a “bridge” program designed to prepare them for college-level work. “They take five different classes, and they’re in class from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday,” said Kehrer. They’re also required to attend a structured study hall from 6 to 9 p.m. every Sunday through Thursday, where tutors are provided for every subject they’re enrolled in.

“A lot of HEOP students were able to get through high school without putting in a ton of effort because they didn’t have the time to give that effort,” said Kehrer. “They have to relearn a lot of skills, like reading comprehension, how to take good notes in a lecture-style class, things like that.”

The HEOP staff spends a lot of time working with students on life skills, such as classroom etiquette and developing relationships with their professors. It starts with getting to class on time.

Kehrer’s predecessor, Margaret Bryner, who retired in 2014 after directing St. Bonaventure’s HEOP program for more than 30 years, had a saying: If you show up on time, you’re late. If you show up five minutes early, you’re on time.

“We’re really big on respect and manners,” said Kehrer. “If you’re in a classroom you should be in the first row and sitting straight up, making sure the professor knows you are interested and engaged. We teach our students how to develop relationships with professors, reminding them that they are the ones recommending students for things and helping them network with other people on campus.”

Things like good manners might seem like inconsequential matters, but they have a real impact. “Faculty often tell me that HEOP students are some of their favorites in their classes, maybe because they always sit up front, they’re attentive and respectful,” Kehrer said

HEOP students are expected to immerse themselves in campus life by joining a club or organization. Most belong to one, many are involved with several, said Kehrer. It can be a difficult balancing act, so there are weekly or biweekly meetings throughout HEOP students’ academic careers to help ensure that they are successfully managing their responsibilities.

The HEOP program at St. Bonaventure is ripe with success stories. Three times in the past seven years a HEOP student was named the Ideal Bonaventure Student, while three other HEOP students received honorable mention for the honor in that time. The annual award, one of the university’s most prestigious and coveted honors, is presented to a male and female senior who exemplify the spirit of St. Bonaventure and the ideals of St. Francis through community service and academic excellence.

Additionally, three HEOP students were selected to give the student address at May or December graduation ceremonies over the past four years.

But the biggest feather in the program’s cap may be the 100 percent graduation rate for the HEOP Class of 2018.

“Obviously, we’re really excited for these students,” said Kehrer. “Their success speaks to the university’s commitment to HEOP, to provide resources, in partnership with New York state, and to stand behind the program. We have great collaboration with other departments on campus that help us provide resources and academic support to our students — faculty and staff who have as much buy-in with the program as I and the students do. We have a lot of support.

Taveras and Vasquez beam when talking about their class’s accomplishment.

“I’m really proud of our class and the fact that we’re making history,” said Taveras, a strategic communication major. “I think we set a good example: If you want something, don’t let anything stop you, even yourself. HEOP nurtures what you already have within you. It’s a pusher and a reminder of who you are. Bridget always says, ‘I didn’t give you your scholarship, you earned it.’”

The classmates are typical of most HEOP students, said Kehrer. “They 100 percent understand this opportunity and they don’t take it for granted.”

Taveras was “kind of steady” her entire academic career, said Kehrer. “She’s always been kind of a free spirit who picked things up pretty naturally. She busted her butt when she got here and was solid all the way through. She studied abroad in Prague and maintained a grade point average of well over 3.0.”

Vasquez, a double-major in psychology and philosophy, was “very quiet and reserved” when she arrived on campus four years ago, said Kehrer. “In the last few years she really came out of her shell and started dominating academically. She just found her niche and went with it. In terms of growth, she’s been exceptional over the four years.”

Both women applied for and received two-year assignments with Teach for America after graduation. Each was influenced and inspired by good teachers along the way and feels a commitment to give back by inspiring a new generation, especially students of color.

“I fell in love with teaching last semester when I was an intern at Head Start and decided teaching is for me,” said Vasquez. “Growing up, I had good role models and I think it’s important for young people to have someone to look up to.” She will teach pre-K in the Bronx.

Taveras, originally assigned to teach in Memphis, asked to be reassigned to New York as well so she can be back with her family.