ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, June 6, 1996 TAG: 9606060029
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: N-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
Patrick Henry High senior Taharee Webb was admitted to Yale, Princeton, Duke and the University of Virginia, but they were never really in the running.
As a sixth-grader, Webb decided she wanted to go to Harvard. She never wavered, had second thoughts, or stopped working toward that goal.
"I would have been devastated if I had not been accepted at Harvard," she said. "As soon as I got the word that I'd been admitted, I told all the other schools that I wouldn't be going there."
Webb, 17, will go to Cambridge, Mass., this fall to attend one of the most selective universities in the country - only 15 percent of its applicants are accepted.
Webb's years of hard work paid off. She spent six and seven hours a night on homework in middle school and high school. She took tough classes. She made straight A's.
She attended three schools this year to take advanced courses - Patrick Henry, CITY School and the Roanoke Valley Governor's School for Science and Technology.
"I've always been goal-directed," she said. "I like a challenge."
Although only a handful of graduates in the Roanoke Valley will be going to Ivy League schools next year, Webb's story highlights several trends in the Class of 1996.
Academics and good grades are in style.
More graduates are taking tougher courses such as chemistry and calculus. Nearly half of the Roanoke Valley seniors this year will earn advanced studies diplomas, which reflects a national trend toward more rigorous academic classes.
About a quarter of the graduates have taken at least one advanced placement or college-level course while in high school.
"Students are definitely taking more difficult classes. It's a trend we've seen here, as well as nationally, in recent years," said Buddy Ward, guidance coordinator at Salem High School.
In Roanoke, there has been a 33 percent increase in the number of graduates earning advanced diplomas during the past five years. About 70 percent of the city's seniors now go to college, said Lou Talbutt, guidance supervisor for city schools.
"It's become so competitive to get into the top schools that students are doing everything they can to get admitted," said Gary Kelly, director of guidance and staff development for Roanoke County schools.
"They are taking more advanced placement courses, more foreign languages and doing anything that will help them get in the school they want to attend," he said. Nationally, scores on the Scholastic Assessment Test have increased in recent years after declining during the 1980s and early 1990s. Scores on standardized math and science tests are up.
Kelly said many seniors also participate in extracurricular activities to help strengthen their college applications. Many schools look for diversity in applicants - not just academics.-mfk-
Webb is a cheerleader, senior class president, tutor at the West End Center and active in several school clubs as well as her church.
Besides taking more advanced courses, this year's graduates have more computer skills. Many have taken at least one computer science class; some have taken several computer courses.
Many seniors have e-mail addresses on their resumes. Webb is already using a computer to communicate with some Harvard students she met when she visited the school last winter.
"I'm a daily e-mail sender and receiver. I communicate with about 19 students I've gotten to know at Harvard, mostly sophomores and juniors," Webb said. "I'll already have a circle of friends when I get there because of the computer."
"All of our graduates have to be computer-literate - they have either taken a computer science course or must demonstrate a basic proficiency in keyboarding and computers," Talbutt said.
Not all school systems have been requiring graduates to have computer skills, but Virginia's new academic standards will have technology requirements for all students.
Some colleges now require students to have personal computers for their courses. Several former graduates of Roanoke's high schools said at a recent forum that students need to know how to use computers to succeed in college.
College is becoming more expensive, forcing many students to search for scholarships, seek larger loans and work while in school.
Tuition and other expenses at some private schools such as Harvard now top $30,000 a year.
Webb has received an $18,000-a-year scholarship from Harvard. But she is scrambling to come up with the additional $12,000. She has received a total of $5,000 in small scholarships from several organizations, and she's still looking for money. She said she'll probably have to work part time when she gets to Cambridge.
More graduates are turning to two-year community colleges because of the rising cost for four-year schools.
About a third of Roanoke County's graduates will attend Virginia Western or other community colleges.
"We see many excellent students who have been admitted to four-year schools deciding to go to community college for a couple of years because of the rising costs for college," Kelly said. "They can live at home and go to school cheaper for two years before going to a four-year school for the final two years."
The same trend is apparent in Salem, Ward said.
Although students are finding it tougher to finance college, Talbutt said, many are managing to pay for their education with loans, scholarships, part-time jobs or attending community college, or a combination of them.
"Costs are a problem, but we have not seen a decrease in the percentage of students going to college. In fact, we have seen a slight increase," she said.
Many seniors who have taken a vocational and trade curriculum will go to work when they graduate. But they will be better equipped to enter the job market with more computer skills than the graduates a few years ago.
Courses in computers and technology have replaced many traditional vocational courses in such subjects as woodworking and auto body repair.
Garland Kidd, vocational education director for Roanoke County schools, said more students are taking courses in new fields such as computer-aided design, computer repair and health-related occupations.
"There is a shift to technology in vocational courses. We still have some graduates in traditional fields such as automotive and building trades, but more students are taking technical courses," he said.
Kidd said an increasing number of graduates have completed a "tech prep" curriculum, which is a combination of academic and technical courses that provide skills needed in business and industry as well as the academic background for higher education.
"Some of these students might choose to go to college after they have worked for a year or two," he said.
Talbutt said more students are taking courses in computer applications, graphics, desktop publishing, aeronautical science technology and metalworking technology. Graduates are leaving with skills that wouldn't have been taught in public schools five years ago, she said.
Some schools also have specialized vocational curricula that prepare graduates for particular jobs. William Fleming High in Roanoke, for example, has a travel and tourism program that trains students to work in the travel industry.
Many graduates who have taken academic programs and will enroll in an arts and science curriculum in college already have particular vocational goals in mind. Guidance counselors said this has been a trend in recent years: more students focusing earlier on a vocation as the job market tightens for college graduates.
Webb hopes to become a child psychologist or neurosurgeon. If she pursues medicine, she wants to attend Harvard Medical School.
Talbutt said that more graduates who are not going to college are taking vocational courses. "Everyone seems to be more aware of the need to either prepare for a college or a job now," she said.
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