Bao Khang is a student at MPS Patrick Henry High and plays an essential role in her family – in the Hmong culture, family is valued above all else. But she’s planning on leaving for college, and with the new-found independence so too comes the longing for home. This news story also features a video companion piece.
Last week, two principals from schools that are beating the odds by coaxing higher-than-average test scores out of their low-income and non-white students spoke at AchieveMpls’s Our City, Our Schools event, a new monthly forum meant to engage community members in conversations around public schools.
South High, which draws many middle class students to its open and liberal arts programs, led the city in 2010 figures with 70 percent of students entering college the fall after graduation. It also had help from an award-winning counseling staff, including AchieveMpls Career & College Coordinator Anne Erickson.
Thousands of miles separate the White House from the Ethiopian and Kenyan refugee camps where Hashim Yonis once lived. He was in Washington to help promote Minneapolis' jobs and mentoring program, called STEP-UP, which operates in partnership with AchieveMpls.
