Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 27, 1990                   TAG: 9003270129
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TAP'S DISCOVERY ONE SOCIAL PROGRAM THAT WORKS

It's not a bold new innovation. There's not a steamy scandal hidden behind a facade of altruism. It's simply a program born of necessity that has helped a lot of disadvantaged young people. For more than a decade, it's been doing good work that deserves recognition.

Founded in 1979 by Cabell Brand, Project Discovery tries to steer minority and low-income students toward college. It is aimed particularly at kids who would be the first in their families to attend college. Roanoke College and the Roanoke schools work with TAP, after school hours and on weekends, to supplement traditional guidance programs.

In the middle schools, Project Discovery helps students interested in college choose the courses they'll need to take and the goals they'll need to set for themselves. In the high schools, the advice is more practical. How do you apply to a college? Which colleges should they consider? Where is financial aid available? What will college be like?

For many students, learning about the day-to-day realities of a college campus may be the most important part of the program. Illusions about life after high school are not limited to any particular group,. But the change in social pressures and self-responsibility can be particularly difficult for kids who are the first from their families to experience higher education.

Working with a relatively modest budget, Project Discovery has been remarkably successful. In 1988, 65 percent of its students went on to college. Last year that figure rose to 70 percent. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it is also the most accurate gauge of success. In Virginia, 37 school districts have adopted the program and several other states have similar efforts.

Project Discovery identified an immediate problem and set out to solve it in a realistic way. No, it's not a perfect program: A college education is still beyond the reach of many kids who could benefit from it. But this program offers a real chance for some of the children of low-income families to break out of a vicious, generations-old cycle of poverty.