STUDENT COMMUNITY

Detroit’s Great Hope became real again this year for our Seniors.  By having a summit in November, we were able to reignite the flame under the lofty – yet attainable – goal to graduate high school at 100%, go on to a post-secondary institution, and share our knowledge with Detroit as we come back after we graduate from college to replenish our city.  When we made the pledge four years ago, we’d never have thought that we would be where we are today –  applying and being accepted to universities, receiving scholarships – all things that contribute subtly to our goal.  Being able to do those things just lets us know that it’s all worthwhile and that if we work together, we can reach our goal.

Stopping, at UPREP,  just isn’t an option. We would like to inspire the rest of Detroit, and maybe even other places to follow this trend.  We recently took a day to host a camera crew that followed students and interviewing them with questions such as “Who motivated you to stay in school?” and “Why are you choosing to continue high school and go to college?”  Our plan is to use this video to go on a tour to select middle schools and inspire those students to do what we are doing.  Stay tuned for more details.

- Terria Williams

On Tuesday December 15th, 2009 the Juniors had a summit about what we can do to change the city of Detroit. Before we had the summit, we were broken up into four groups: Power in the Community, Building Bridges, Crime in the Community, and Raise Your Voice. Each group had mini discussions about what we could do to change Detroit and make a difference. Within each group, students were broken into smaller groups and created poster boards based on how they see Detroit. Therefore, on Tuesday each group rotated around and heard for different speakers. Each speaker spoke the truth and really wanted our input. They got us to think about change and how our age group affects the way Detroit is. Caroline Clifford from Channel 7 news even came to talk to us. The summit was very informational and made us think about what we can do to help.

-Ariel Coleman