Education

Athletic Recruiters Steer toward Rural Schools

editor — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:45:59 -0700

From the small town of Washington, Indiana, Tyler Zeller played in the McDonald's All American Game; University of North Carolina recruited him to join the Tarheels this year.
Photo: maxpreps.com

Tyler Zeller is a 6-foot-11, 215 pound center from Washington, IN, population 11,380. Rivals.com, a highly respected online recruiting service, ranks Tyler the 33rd best men's high school basketball prospect in the country. Tyler has committed to play basketball at the University of North Carolina.

Darius Miller is a 6-foot-6, 215 pound forward from Maysville, KY, population 8,993. Rivals ranks Darius the 43rd best basketball prospect in the US. Darius will play at the University of Kentucky for second-year head coach Billy Gillispie -- himself from Graford, TX, population 578.

Frankie Sullivan is a 6-foot-1, 185 pound guard from Uniontown, AL, population 1,636. Frankie is the 105th best basketball prospect in the country, according to Rivals, and will play for the Tigers of Auburn University this year.

These young men have two things in common—they are all top nationally ranked basketball recruits and they all hail from smaller communities, as do growing numbers of recruits in major college sports.

Five years ago in 2003, 16 of the top 150 college basketball prospects according to Rivals.com were from counties that could be considered rural (according to the Index of Relative Rurality). In 2008, that number has nearly doubled: 30 of the top 150 Rivals.com basketball prospects are from smaller towns. This trend seems to suggest that more and more recruiters are finding quality players away from the city.

Speak Your Piece: Rural Students Pull and Push for AP

editor — Wed, 2 Jul 2008 13:09:44 -0700

Students in AP Chemistry work in the analysis lab, Westside High School
Clear Fork, West Virginia
Photo: Robert Lyons

As a graduate of a small high school in Clear Fork, West Virginia -- and now Robertson Scholar at Duke University -- I don't find many students who share my educational background.

When I was filling out applications to colleges across the country, both big state universities and private institutions, one section of the application stood out to me: “List the Advanced Placement (AP) courses you have taken in high school and those you will be taking this year.”

Achieving success, in my mind, was getting into Duke or another great university. I knew that to achieve that goal I had to take AP classes, but I was facing that same problem many students in rural America face - my small West Virginia school had no APs.

I decided to take the road less traveled and enter into the world of virtual learning. The summer prior to my sophomore year of high school, I took AP United States History through Apex Learning - a learning center begun by Microsoft Co-founder Paul Allen that provides AP classes to students via online instruction.

Higher Gas Prices Are Changing Community College Plans

editor — Wed, 2 Jul 2008 11:10:31 -0700

The high price of gas is making it tough for rural community college students to continue their studies, according to an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education. "Food and shelter — that

Teenage Photographers: Migration of the Minds

editor — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 11:16:11 -0700

Teenagers, many of them children of migrant farmers, frame up photos at Fender's Farm in Washington County, TN, as part of a multicultural education project -- "Growing Tennessee."
Photo: Katie Connors

Rural America has a reputation as the land of Anglo-only residents, of folks who lack culture in part because they've never known people of different ethnic backgrounds. That assumption's wrong, and Telamon’s Youth Initiative in rural Tennessee is proving it.

"Growing Tennessee: Rural Youth Cultivate Common Ground" ("Growing Tennessee" for short) is helping unite the Appalachian and Latino cultures. The project involves fifty students, junior high and high school ages. Half are from rural Appalachian families and half are children of migrant parents. Working with top-notch photographers, the students learn camera basics; then they photograph whatever is important to them and explore their photography -- and their cultures -- with one another.

Some students are migrant workers themselves, others are Latinos who are now native to the area, and others are white farmers’ children whose families have lived in Appalachia for generations. Students are able to share their heritage and background, and break past the "uncultured" stereotypes of Appalachia. Diversity is apparent in the mountains, and "Growing Tennessee" highlights that.

The Class of '08: Less Pomp, More Circumstance

editor — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:46:18 -0700

The author receiving her Middlesboro (KY) High School diploma from school board chairman Jimmy Jackson, 1974
Photo: Courtesy of Judy Owens

If I could get past "Arches of Roses," I knew I could make it through my nephew Jon’s high school graduation last month without choking up.

"Arches of Roses" was a slow, sentimental farewell sung as Middlesboro High School seniors marched into the auditorium at the beginning of their graduation ceremony. Junior girls in long formal dresses and white gloves held arches wrapped with gold and white ribbon and covered with roses. This was our ritual when I graduated in 1974 and at my mother’s ceremony in 1952.

As it turns out, my hankie was safe in my purse. "Arches of Roses" had been cast off; now Middlesboro students march in to "Pomp and Circumstance" like everybody else. The discarded processional was just the first change I noticed that day, and in some ways, the differences say a great deal about how rural towns across America have changed.

The number of Middlesboro graduates had visibly declined since my graduation. In 1970 the U.S. Census counted 12,169 people within the city limits; by 2000, Middlesboro had lost more than 15 percent of its citizens. Jon’s high school class was even smaller than would be accounted for by the drop in population. Middlesboro Class of 2008 had about 110 students. The Class of 1974 had 173.