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WEBVTT SOLUTIONMANY IN THIS SELECT GROUP OFBALTIMORE CITY HIGH SCHOOLSTUDENTS COULD BE FIRST IN THEIRFAMILY TO RISE OUT OF POVERTYAND GRADUATE FROM COLLEGE.>> MY GPA IS AROUND A 4.5, INTHAT AREA.>> I GOT STRAIGHT A'S.>> HOW ARE YOUR SCIENCE GRADESRIGHT NOW?>> THEY'RE PERFECT.>> REALLY?>> YEAH.ADAM THEY'RE ALL PART OF A: PROGRAM CALLED BUILDING STEPSA NON-PROFIT THAT SEEKS OUT THEHIGHEST ACHIEVING STUDENTS FROMSCHOOLS IN THE ROUGHEST PARTS OFTHE CITY.ALEEM PRINCE LIVES OFFGREENMOUNT AVENUE.THERE WERE HOMICIDES IN HERTHREE NEIGBOROOD LAST YEAR.>> THERE'S A LOT OF BUILDINGSTHAT ARE UNOCCUPIED.I'M NOT THE OUTDOOR TYPE OFPERSON, SO I AM ALWAYS INSIDE.ADAM BUILDING STEPS HAS HER ON: THE PATH TO A BRIGHTER FUTURE.>> RIGHT NOW WE'RE DOING SATPREPS, AND WE EVEN VISITCOLLEGES, SO I GET WILL HELP US.>> SCHOOLS ARE BECOMINGINCREASING CHALLENGED.ADAM THE PROGRAM'S CEO SAYS: BUILDING STEPS STARTS BYTAKING HIGH SCHOOLERS ON MONTHLYFIELD TRIPS EXPOSING THEM TODIFFERENT CAREER PATHS INSCIENCE AND MATH THEN THEY HELPTHESE STUDENTS GET INTO COLLEGE.>> 80% OF OUR STUDENTS GET ACOLLEGE DEGREE SO THESE ARE NOW,IF WE DON'T TALK ABOUT INCOME,THESE ARE STUDENTS WHO HAVEBROKEN THE CYCLE OFUNDEREDUCATION.ADAM THEIR SUCCESS RATE IS MUCH: HIGHER THAN THE AVERAGE OF 60%OF MARYLAND STUDENTS WHOGRADUATED SIX YEARS.EXPONENTIALLY HIGHER WHEN YOULOOK AT SCHOOLS THAT SERVEMOSTLY LOWER INCOME STUDENTS,LIKE MORGAN STATE AT 33% ANDCOPPIN STATE WITH A GRADUATIONRATE OF JUST UNDER 14%.>> THEY COME OUT ON THE OTHERSIDE BECAUSE WE STICK WITH THEMALL THROUGH COLLEGE.YOU HAVE TO BUY YOUR TEXT BOOKS,YOU HAVE TO GO TO CLASS, YOUHAVE TO BUILD A RELATIONSHIPWITH YOUR PROFESSOR IF YOU HAVETROUBLE, YOU HAVE TO GO TO ANACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT CENTER, BUTIF NOBODY TELLS YOU THOSETHINGS, AND NO ONE AT HOME HASDONE, WHY WOULD YOU KNOW THAT?>> MY MOM AND DAD DIDN'T GO TOCOLLEGE, SO THEY MUST -- BOTHJUST GRADUATED FROM HIGH SCHOOL.SO I AM THE FIRST GENERATION INMY FAMILY TO ATTEND COLLEGE.ADAM DEON AVERY WHO'S NOW A: SPANISH TEACHER WITH A MASTERSDEGREE WENT THROUGH THE PROGRAMWHEN IT STARTED 17 YEARS AGOAND SHE'S HOPING TO GET HERSTUDENTS INVOLVED NEXT YEAR WHENTHE PROGRAM EXPANDS TO BENJAMINFRANKLIN HIGH IN CURTIS BAY.>> YOU HAVE TO IMAGINE IF ACHILD HAS NEVER LEFT A COMMUNITYFILLED WITH POVERTY, DRUGS ANDVIOLENCE, THEY WOULDN'TUNDERSTAND HOW MANOPPORTUNITIES LIE OUTSIDE OFTHOSE COMMUNITIES.ADAM: BUILDING STEPS CURRENTLYIN NINE HIGH SCHOOLS PLANS TO BECITYWIDE IN TWO YEARS.>> WHEN YOU GET OPPORTUNITIESLIKE THIS YOU TAKE IT AND YOUTAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT AND JUST DOIT.ADAM: PREPPING THE NEXTGENERATION.>> I WANT TO BE A PRIVATECRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY IN MYOWN LAW FIRM.>> I WANT TO COLLEGE AND STUDYSCIENCE AND THEN GO TO MEDICALSCHOOL, AND I WANT TO BE ANEUROSURGEON.>> I WANT TO DO COMPUTER SCIENCEAND I ALWAYS WANT TO TRAVEL THEWORLD AND BUILD INSTITUTIONS FORCHILDREN THAT ARE HOMELESS.ADAM PAYING IT FORWARD, GUIDED: BY THOSE WHO RECOGNIZE HERPOTENTIAL.

Advertisement Program helps Baltimore students take steps toward college degree Building Steps in nine city high schools in 2017 Share Shares Copy Link Copy

As Baltimore struggles with violent crime and poverty, there is a desperate search for solutions. Many point toward education as a way to break the cycle. But some universities serving some of Baltimore's most disadvantaged students have the worst college graduation rates in the state. Download the WBAL app. However, there is reason for hope. Many in a select group of Baltimore City high school students could be first in their family to rise out of poverty and graduate from college. “My GPA is around a 4.5, in that area,” junior Shyquis Moore said. “I got straight A's,” Alejandro Jimenz said. The student are all part of a program called Building Steps, a nonprofit that seeks out the highest achieving students from schools in the roughest parts of the city. Aleem Prince lives off of Greenmount Avenue, which was the home to three homicides in 2016. “There's a lot of buildings unoccupied,” Prince said. "I'm not the outdoor type of person, so I am always inside." Building Steps has Prince on the path to a brighter future. “Right now we're doing SAT preps, and we even visit colleges,” Prince said. “I think it will help.” Building Steps CEO Debra Hettleman said schools are becoming increasingly challenged. Hettleman added that Building Steps starts by taking high schoolers on monthly field trips to expose them to different career paths in science and math. Then, they help these students get into college. “Eighty percent of our students get a college degree,” Hettleman said. “If we don't talk about income, these are students who have broken the cycle of under education.” Their success rate is much higher than the average of 60 percent of Maryland students who graduate in six years. The rate is exponentially higher when you look at schools that serve mostly lower income students like Morgan State at 33 percent and Coppin State, which has a graduation rate of just under 14 percent, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. “They come out on the other side because we stick with them all through college,” Hettleman said. “You have to buy your text books, you have to go to class. You have to build a relationship with your professor. If you have trouble, you have to go to an academic achievement center, but if nobody tells you those things, and no one at home has done that, why would you know that?" “My mom and dad didn't go to college, so I am the first generation in my family to attend college,” Deon Avery said. Avery, who is now a Spanish teacher with a master’s degree, went through the program when it started 17 years ago. She is hoping to get her students involved next year, when the program expands to Benjamin Franklin High School in Curtis Bay. “You have to imagine if a child has never left a community filled with poverty, drugs and violence, they wouldn't understand how many opportunities lie outside of those communities,” Avery said. Building Steps is currently in nine Baltimore high schools with plans to be citywide in two years. "When you get opportunities like this you take it and you take advantage of it and just do it,” Moore said. “I want to be a private criminal defense attorney in my own law firm. “I want to go to college and study science and then go to medical school, and i want to be a neurosurgeon,” Jimenz said. “I want to do computer science and I always want to travel the world and build institutions for children that are homeless,” Prince said.