THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 21, 1994 TAG: 9407200179
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOAN C. STANUS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 47 lines
Clarence Ross knows what it is to overcome overwhelming odds.
As a young man growing up in Lamberts Point during the 1940s, Ross studied hard, made good grades, and set his sights on going to college.
But his family had no money to pay for a college education; they struggled just to survive.
Finally, when Ross was in his mid-30s, his dream of going to college came true. Help came from his church. Members of the First Baptist Church on Bute Street pooled their resources and paid for his tuition. And in 1969, Ross graduated from North Carolina State University with a bachelor's degree in chemistry.
Now a retired engineer, the 60-year-old Norfolk man and 10 other church members are working to make sure that other children don't have to wait like Ross did.
For the last three years, these church members have spent hours each week helping dozens of students from Young Park Elementary School with their studies. During the school year, these kids come to the church for two hours of tutoring each Thursday evening. On Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, the church members go to the school to provide the children with more individual attention.
For Ross, who tutors fifth-graders in science, it's a repayment of sorts.
``My church helped me when I had no money. I wanted to give back what had been given me,'' he said.
While working on science projects and math problems with the students, Ross interjects words of encouragement.
``Some of these kids had in their minds they couldn't go to college because their parents didn't have the money to pay for it,'' he said. ``I tell them to stay on the honor roll and get good grades. Colleges are looking for kids with A's and B's. There are ways to get scholarships.
I also tell them about people from the projects who made made it. With work, they can make it, too.'' ILLUSTRATION: Clarence Ross and honor students Sheena Ingram, Lisa Wilson,
Andrea Rouse, Sarah O'Bryant, Keysharra Mackey and Adrian Rouse.
by CNB