THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 23, 1995 TAG: 9506220206
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Over Easy
SOURCE: Jo-Ann Clegg
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
Ann Sye, guidance counselor at College Park Elementary School, had something important on her mind when she called me a couple of weeks ago.
``I just feel so bad about these high school kids who do so much good in the community,'' she said. ``It seems like nobody ever hears about that, but they certainly do hear when bad things happen.''
Unfortunately, she's right. Why the public seems to have an insatiable appetite for every shred of information concerning guns, gangs and guts while they have little interest at all in hearing that 95 percent of all high school students were in class, awake and turning in their homework on any given day is beyond me.
Why those of us who supply the public with the news feel that we have to cater to everyone's taste for the negative is also beyond me.
But, unfortunately, that's the way it is. While just about everybody pays attention to the gory stuff, good news appeals almost exclusively to those about whom it is written and their families.
Getting back to Sye, her particular concern was for the students at Salem High School. ``They've had a really rough year,'' she said.
Indeed they have. Several unfortunate incidents in or near Salem early in the school year led to just about everything negative that happened in the southern part of Kempsville being linked to the school and its students, even when the connection was strictly geographic.
Then Ramona Stenzhorn, their principal, died suddenly at Thanksgiving. Stenzhorn was a popular leader who was also a source of strength to students and staff, especially when the school had problems.
Her death hit the school hard.
Despite the problems, or maybe, in part, because of the them, those 95 percent who qualify as good kids seemed to make an extra effort to do their best in everything from academics to sports and community service.
It was the community service part that Sye wanted to talk to me about.
``We have a program here at College Park called Brothers Helping Brothers, Sisters Helping Sisters,'' she told me. Each high school student who's involved comes at least once a week, sometimes more, to work one-on-one with our students. They are just so dedicated, and what they do means so much to the little brothers and sisters.
``I'd just like to see them recognized for what they do,'' Sye concluded, ``especially the graduating seniors.''
Then she filled me in on a few more facts. The program had been in existence for several years at College Park. Originally it had been intended to provide positive role models for the school's young African American males at the same time that it gave the children a chance to get help with their school work.
``Then we realized that girls needed the same thing,'' Sye said.
So did a lot of kids who weren't African American. Kids who were a little slower or had more problems or just needed someone close enough to their age to understand how they felt but old enough to teach them how to hit the brakes when they were headed for trouble.
``Some of our older brothers and sisters come from Tallwood and Green Run,'' she said. ``But most of them come from Salem and I'd especially like to see them recognized.''
Sye invited me to College Park for the program's awards ceremony, a handshake and plaque passing event with a little something extra. ``We'll have pizza and root beer, too,'' she promised.
So on a Wednesday afternoon a week or so before school ended, I went over to College Park to see what the fuss was all about.
On the surface it was all about a six pack of Big Foot pizzas, an equal number of root beer and ginger ale bottles and a moderate size stack of plaques waiting to be presented to a fresh-faced bunch of soon-to-be-graduates.
On a deeper level it was about 17- and 18-year-olds exchanging high fives with kids in hair bows, big tennis shoes and hip-hop outfits.
It was about reminders to read during the summer and watch their mouths and their attitudes when school starts up again in the fall.
It was about big brothers and sisters telling little ones about colleges with names like Howard and Hampton, Morgan State and JMU.
It was about usually loud little kids shyly expressing thanks to those who had taken them under their wings for the past year.
It was about big kids promising to keep in touch and little kids promising never to forget their older friends.
It was about words of thanks from the handful of parents who were in attendance and looks full of pride from Sye and College Park Principal Cletus Griffin.
Most of all, though, it was about something so unnewsworthy that we rarely think to mention it.
It was about fine young high school students, representative of that 95 percent who manage to do the right thing most of the time, giving of themselves so that younger kids will have a shot at better grades, better relationships and a better life. by CNB