THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 8, 1996 TAG: 9606080272
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: 67 lines
John E. Andrews, a computer specialist from San Diego, made a promise last fall.
So on Friday he flew across the country to keep that promise to a Portsmouth teenager, Leslie Barker.
Leslie, 14, is a freshman at Wilson High School in Portsmouth and has maintained honor-roll grades since the beginning of the school year. Andrews, a field applications engineer for Microchip Technology Inc., made a special trip to Portsmouth to present Leslie with a new, framed $100 bill - his recognition of her academic achievement.
Andrews, a Portsmouth native who graduated from Manor High School (now Wilson High School) in 1977, visited Leslie's Algebra I class last October to talk about his career. He was there at the invitation of Wilson math teacher, Elizabeth Andrews, John's mother.
``I think it is beneficial to expose kids to someone who is out in the real world actually doing the thing they are training to do here,'' John Andrews said.
While he talked to Elizabeth Andrews' Algebra I class, John Andrews struck a bargain with them. Anyone in the class who maintained A's and B's in all their classes would receive $100 from him. It was a bargain that potentially could have cost Andrews $2,800.
``I had heard Mom talk about the problems in keeping kids focused, and this offer that had been in the back of my mind just popped out while I was talking to them,'' he said. ``It was the best money I could have spent.''
As proud as John Andrews was of Leslie's efforts, he was disappointed that he could give away only $100.
``I had hoped that at least half the class would make it,'' he said.
With monies left over, Andrews conferred with his mother and decided to award a graphing calculator to any student who had maintained grades of A or B in her math classes. Twelve of approximately 100 students in Andrews' class qualified for the award.
By coincidence, the room in which Andrews met with the students had been his old high school homeroom and brought back memories.
``I was not challenged in high school,'' Andrews admitted. After graduating from Manor High School, he worked for almost a year as a shipfitter at a shipyard, attended Tidewater Community College for two years, then went on to complete an engineering degree at Virginia Tech.
When he spoke to the Wilson students, Andrews tried to share some of the realities of the working world with them.
``I wanted to make them aware that in the real world you have to work and meet your goals to get ahead,'' he said. ``This whole concept was to introduce them to an incentive compensation plan similar to what they might get in business.''
Leslie grasped the concept as well as the $100. She plans to spend at least part of her reward during a family vacation.
``The money will go with me to Disney World and to the biggest shopping mall in the state of Florida,'' she said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARK MITCHELL/The Virginian-Pilot
John Andrews, right, an electronics engineer in California,
challenged students in his mother's Algebra I class at Wilson High
School to maintain A's and B's through the school year, promising a
$100 reward to those who succeeded. Leslie Barker, left, was the
only student to meet the standard.
Andrews flew in from California to present the framed $100 bill to
Leslie, who says she will spend part of her reward on a family
vacation. by CNB