Take Stock makes a difference


  • January 29, 2016
  • /   Reggie Dogan
  • /   education

West Florida senior Raleigh Nesbitt delivering her speech during the 2015 graduation ceremony.

It seems everybody everywhere is talking about improving high school graduation rates.

In Escambia County, there’s more than just talk. The county’s graduation rate for the Class of 2015 reached an all-time high at nearly 73 percent.

Studies show that taxpayers save $10,500 every year for each student who stays in school and graduates instead of dropping out.

Helping students graduate and enter college is the main goal behind the efforts of Take Stock in Children.

Sally Lee, coordinator of Take Stock in Escambia County, said 97 percent of the local students in the program finish high school, compared to the overall district graduation rate of 72.7 percent and the state graduation rate of 76 percent.

The statewide graduation rate for at-risk students who aren’t in Take Stock is 57 percent.

Take Stock aims to break the cycle of poverty by mentoring at-risk students through high school.

January is the 15th annual National Mentoring Month, a campaign aimed at expanding quality mentoring opportunities to connect more of a community’s young people with caring adults.

To become a mentor, contact:

Sally Lee, Take Stock in Children Escambia County, 469-5458, [email protected].

Angi Brown, Take Stock in Children Santa Rosa County, 712-2264, [email protected].

Julia Brady, ECARE Escambia County, 433-6893, [email protected].

Kris Nelson, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ecsambia and Santa Rosa counties, 253-7627, [email protected].

Sally Bergosh, Youth Motivator Program Escambia County, 469-5676, [email protected].

Escambia’s Take Stock program recognized National Mentoring Month this week with an appreciation luncheon for its mentors.

Norm Ross, deputy superintendent for Escambia schools, thanked the mentors for their selfless service in make a difference.

“Never lose sight of how important it is to mentor,” Ross said.

Take Stock is among the few mentoring programs that have matched each student with a mentor. Other groups, like Escambia County Youth Motivators and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Escambia County, desperately need more adults to step up and fill the role as mentors.

With about 42,000, Escambia County School District has only 750 mentors, which is up about 250 mentors from the previous year.

Sally Bergosh, director of Escambia County Youth Motivators, said in the News Journal that the number of mentors is trending in the right direction, but believes in a perfect world there would be a mentor for every student.

In the article, "Mentors needed to make a difference," Bergosh said:

The School District is in search of adults – no matter their race or gender – willing to devote an hour a week to bettering the lives of children by simply spending quality time with them, whether by playing chess, eating lunch together or a slew of other possibilities. Bergosh says finding mentors for middle- and high-school students, in particular, is challenging.

Take Stock in Children in 1995 was established as a non-profit organization that offers an opportunity for deserving low-income students to escape the cycle of poverty through education.

How is Take Stock in Children funded?

Program Operations:

State funds:  $106,355.00 is the Escambia County Take Stock allocation from the $6.25 million Department of Education grant appropriated to the Take Stock in Children state program. Funds provide one-on-one mentoring and comprehensive wrap-around college readiness and support services to more than 8,500 middle and high school students statewide.

Private Funds: $9,500 comes from local business sponsorships, fundraisers, and unrestricted donations to cover our program events and expenses that cannot be paid from grant money.

Scholarships:

State funds: Local scholarship donations are matched by the Stanley G. Tate Florida Prepaid College Foundation. In 2015, it will be nearly, $130,000.

Local funds: Escambia County’s Take Stock in Children Program raised nearly $130,000 in local scholarship donations from businesses, foundations, organizations, and individuals for scholarships purchased in April 2015.

Students receive college scholarships, volunteer mentors and support to help reach their goals and improve their lives.

Students are selected through a needs-based application process in middle school and provided assistance and services through high school and into their transition to college.

Statistics bear out that the program continues to exceed its goals and ably meets it objectives. According to Take Stock in Children data statewide:

— The students involved in Take Stock have a 21 percent higher graduation rate than Florida’s average and 65 percent higher rate than their low-income peer group.

— The college enrollment rate is 55 percent higher than Florida’s average and it is 229 percent higher than those in their peer group.

— The college graduation rate is 23 percent higher than Florida’s average and is 136 percent higher than their peer group.

Part of the scholarship requires matching a volunteer mentor who meets with the student weekly at his or her school.

Andy Arnold has been a Take Stock mentor for nearly a decade. He’s working with his second student after seeing his first one off to the Marines reserve and to Pensacola State College.

Arnold became a mentor after reading about a local businessman who dedicated his time and talent with the Take Stock in Escambia County

Arnold said he had grown frustrated from listening to people about the problems of young people but doing nothing to help.

Arnold is among 116 men and women who are mentoring 122 middle and high school students to help them reach their goal of finishing high school and attending college with a free state-provided scholarship.

Arnold has advice to people who sit around and complain but offer no tangible solutions.

“Instead of talking about what to do to help others, just do it,” said Arnold, owner and president of Absolute Surgical. “If everybody would mentor at least one child, the world would be a better place.”

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