The Capital, Annapolis, Md., Eric Hartley column: Eric Hartley: Helping kids 'see that light' at the tunnel's end

Abstract

Bartz said some public school guidance counselors he approaches about the summer camp immediately offer their best students. In Strickland's class, Tayonna's essay on her plan for a dog grooming business was among the best.\n

July 11--One day last week, Anne Chambers asked the dozen or so middle-schoolers in her human development class what kinds of things get kids their age in trouble.

"Gangs," one boy said.

"Assault," another offered. A third said, "robbing people."

Then, finally, came suggestions like "disrespecting your teacher" and "bad grades."

It was the kind of conversation not often heard on the upper school campus of the private Indian Creek School, which sits at the end of a winding, wooded lane near the Renaissance Festival grounds in Crownsville.

The students were attending a free three-week day camp called Students Taking Academic Responsibility, or STARs. There were 56 campers this year, nearly all African American. Some live in Annapolis' public housing communities; others have troubled family situations or busy parents working multiple jobs.

Will Bartz, the 29-year-old director of the STARs program, said the middle school years are key. It's when kids find their identity -- good or bad -- and start making choices that can affect their futures. They're at a fork in the road.

"I have probably 15 kids I could show you right now that could go either way," Bartz said.

Chambers, who co-founded Indian Creek in 1973 and started the camp in 2001 with about 20 kids, said many STARs kids assume college is not an option. Either they figure it's too expensive or it never entered their mind.

"There's no hope from the very beginning," Bartz said.

When these kids think about growing up, some have very different things in mind. This summer, one boy told Chambers he wants to get a gun to protect himself as soon as he's older and gets some money.

"It's frightening to think that's what they're growing up with, it really is," Chambers said. "And if we don't change that as a culture, I don't know what's going to happen to us."

Bartz said some public school guidance counselors he approaches about the summer camp immediately offer their best students. But that's not the point. The camp isn't for kids who are already excelling or for troubled ones, but for those Chambers calls "the woodwork kids" -- ones who are smart, but can blend into the background.

Chambers, who has retired as head of Indian Creek but still teaches, said STARs fits the school's mission of educating "all kinds of minds" and giving back to the community.

Bartz said he realizes how lucky he was to grow up in the wealthy Downs on the Severn neighborhood and attend Indian Creek and the private Gilman School in Baltimore.

After college, Bartz had a job as a financial adviser and was probably headed toward making millions. But he hated it and quit one day. He showed up in Chambers' office, unsure what to do.

He started subbing at Indian Creek and took over STARs in 2005. Now Bartz, also the boys' basketball coach and a math teacher, picks up kids himself, along with Emily Swartz, another Indian Creek teacher.

At a potluck lunch to celebrate the camp's closing Friday, Linda Carr, who has two granddaughters in STARs, told me she said to the friend who recommended it to her, "You're an angel."

STARs was a stand-alone camp for a few years, but is expanding in size and scope as fast as funding will allow.

Now some campers are offered scholarships to Indian Creek, either as middle-schoolers or for high school at the Upper School. Tuition is normally $21,000 a year.

"You're showing them the light at the end of the tunnel," said Erika Strickland, who teaches writing at the camp. "A lot of kids ... they can't see that light."

Chambers said STARs is at a "tipping point." The school covered the costs for years, but this year, for the first time, anonymous donors paid for the program.

Bartz said he hopes people who hear about the program will be willing to donate so it can offer more scholarships and expand the camp to four weeks.

Even for those who stay in public school, STARs can make a difference. Nikia Thomas said it has made her son, Aaron Jones, more confident and a harder worker. Aaron, a rising 11th-grader at Annapolis High School, came to the camp for two years and is now an honor roll student at Annapolis and a volunteer counselor at STARs.

Aaron is into computer graphics, and skipping college is "not an option," his mom said.

One camper whose future is already different is Tayonna Bosley, 12, a bright Bates Middle School student whom more than one teacher pointed out to me. In Strickland's class, Tayonna's essay on her plan for a dog grooming business was among the best.

Tayonna said she doesn't get much attention at Bates because the classes are large and kids who act up take up the teachers' time. She said she has a scholarship for high school at Indian Creek and hopes to find a way to come for seventh and eighth grades, too.

Indian Creek staff are careful to say they know their school's job is in some ways easier than that of the public schools, who have to educate every child.

"What saddens me is that all kids should be able to have this form of education," Strickland said.

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To find out about donating to the STARs program, contact Will Bartz at [email protected] or 410-849-5151, Ext. 1215.

Credit: The Capital, Annapolis, Md.