THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 20, 1995 TAG: 9502200074
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VANEE VINES, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Long : 101 lines
His grandmother didn't expect it. Neither did his cousins Larry and Latonya.
``Little Robert'' was always the family clown, cracking jokes and having fun. He never seemed to take anything too seriously, they said.
That included school. At the rate he was going, he would have been 22 or 23 when he finished high school. So, not wanting to wait that long, he dropped out last year.
Last week, ``Little Robert'' A. Ford took a big step in a different direction.
He was among the 53 graduates of the Commonwealth Challenge Program, a quasimilitary school for high school dropouts. The Camp Pendleton-based program is intended to steer teens to a high school equivalency certificate, and then further education or job training.
Of the 11 Portsmouth teenagers Swanson Homes community activist Dorita Epps persuaded to try the program, Ford was the only one who made it to graduation. One of her recruits was turned away last September when officials learned he had once carried a gun to school, a felony. One of the girls was kicked out for fighting. The others changed their minds or just quit, Epps said.
Ford, 17, said quitting was something he had had enough of.
``I'm not a bad kid. I'm a good kid,'' he said in an interview nearly two weeks before graduation. ``I just want to do something better with myself. I want to get a job where I can sit behind a desk and do paperwork like normal people. I'm going to grow up now. It's time to make some decisions. . . . I was just hardheaded before.''
He tried hard Wednesday to maintain a cool exterior, to fight back the smile that, every now and then, still managed to creep across his face when he realized what he had accomplished.
In five months, he went from seeing himself as a corner dropout to someone who might attend Tidewater Community College this fall to study welding. He's even considering military service.
``I'm just so proud of him,'' said Clara Ford, 63, Robert's grandmother. She recalled how he always pitched in to help with housework and other chores whenever he visited her. ``I want him to just keep on getting as much as he can. Ain't nothing out there in the streets but trouble.''
Robert Ford, who lives in the Ida Barbour public housing complex, is in some ways unchanged.
He said he was eager to go home and relax ``for a few months.'' He misses the guys he used to hang out with, not doing much of anything most days.
Still, he insists that this is his year to take control of his life.
``Yeah, I guess you could say I'm happy about it,'' he said Wednesday after the graduation ceremony. ``I'm glad I did it because I don't want to just be like all the other guys hanging on the corner for the rest of their lives.''
Epps, a woman he met late last summer, is now a trusted friend. ``I'm just glad I met her,'' he said.
Ford was recognized five times during the ceremony - for initiative, academic diligence, regularly showing up for class prepared and on time, being a team player, and outstanding performance in health and physical education.
The program, he said, was a place where he wasn't made to feel ``like a dummy.'' He says he learned to work as part of a team and to follow through on assignments. He even got a taste of power and responsibility, having served as a group leader. ``I got the men in order. You know, I made sure the formation was right and stuff.''
He's still waiting to find out whether he scored high enough on a recent exam to earn the equivalent of a high school diploma. If he didn't, he said, he would crack open the books and prepare anew.
Meanwhile, Epps, Ford's designated community mentor for the next year, is helping him map out his next steps, including plans to spend a $2,200 stipend he earned for completing the program. The money must be used to further his education or land a job.
``Even if just one of them made it that time, that's still positive,'' Epps said, referring to the original 11 teens she recruited for the program. ``He could have still been out there without any kind of goals.''
And if he thinks he's going to cruise now, he better think again, she said. ``I told him I'm going to keep him moving. I'm not going to let him just slide back. Everybody in the community must reach out to children who are trying to do something for themselves.''
Epps has recruited seven more neighborhood youths for the program's next session, which begins Thursday. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Dorita Epps encouraged Robert Ford to try the Challenge program.
Color photo by Christopher Reddick, Staff
Robert A. Ford
KEYWORDS: HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT by CNB