Fridays at Wellstone International High School are highly anticipated – but not because they signify a coming weekend. Students there are excited about a recent addition to the day of classes: a special session with volunteers from Deloitte’s Consulting and Audit departments.
Building on its longstanding effort to expand participation in the arts, the Wallace Foundation has announced a grant to the Minneapolis Public Schools Comprehensive Arts Office to underwrite a year-long planning process to strengthen coordinated arts learning efforts and to bring high-quality arts experiences to more young people in Minneapolis.
As a 2008 graduate of North High, Sirmark Gentry has faced more than his fair share challenges in his 18 years. Having bounced from parent to parent and then foster parent to foster parent when younger, Sirmark found himself homeless for the end of his high school career. Sleeping on a different couch every night, he struggled to let go of family problems and start planning for his future. With the help of “Ms. Arnise,” the Career & College Center coordinator at North, Sirmark eventually found a more permanent home and got in to the STEP-UP Summer Jobs Program. He was excelling in school and in the two high-profile STEP-UP jobs at the University of Minnesota. At the end of last June, Sirmark was slated to speak to a group of business leaders at the Career & College Initiative year end celebration. Sirmark finished his speech with a bit of news – he had just learned that he was the recipient of a full scholarship, room and board included, to the University of Minnesota, beginning in Fall of 2008.