DATE: Friday, November 14, 1997             TAG: 9711130522

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Education 

SOURCE: BY NANCY YOUNG, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   50 lines

NAVY LEADER GIVES KIDS A LOOK AT POSSIBILITIES

Jamie wants be a lawyer; Jerquita, a doctor. Alicia and Sharnece want to be teachers. Shuntia's not sure, but right now her favorite thing is art class.

Joshua and Travis plan to be the next Michael Jordan and Emmitt Smith, respectively - but, after spending Monday morning at Norfolk Naval Air Station, the fourth-graders decided it might be wise to have a backup. Joshua thinks he might be a pilot, Travis a Navy captain like Capt. Ron Keys, the commanding officer of the air station.

All of that would be music to Keys' ears, who invited the fourth-graders at Thurgood Marshall Elementary to tour the air station in an effort to show them the possibilities that await them if they work hard in school and stay out of trouble.

Many of the school's students are growing up under conditions of financial hardship - more than three-fourths of the students qualify for free or reduced lunches, the highest rate in the city. Standardized tests scores are some of the lowest in the city - a situation that is often the norm in schools in poor communities.

``We targeted the elementary level because by the time they get to middle school it's too late. . . . My biggest thing is these kids need to understand they do have options,'' said Keys, who is a member of a regional group called 200-Plus Men, which meets monthly to discuss ways to help minority youth. More than 85 percent of the students at Thurgood Marshall are black.

To drive his point home, Keys spoke to the students before the tour, asking them how many of them thought they would be professional athletes like Jordan.

``Half of the hands went up,'' he said. He then went over the children's odds of actually becoming a professional athlete, comparing those numbers to what they could achieve by concentrating on their school work.

``In education, you make your own odds,'' Keys told the children.

The importance of education was reinforced again in the darkened radar control room in the air traffic control tower, when a student asked air traffic controller Richard Parks about something she saw on the radar screen.

Parks started to give the answer, going into a review of what a compass is.

``But I'm sure you've heard about that in science class,'' Parks said. ``When teachers are teaching you things, do your best to pay attention, because somewhere down the road you may need it.''

A highlight of the trip for many of the students was learning about airplanes, but Principal Beryl Rooks said the outing went beyond just a fun morning at the air station. Hearing someone like Keys speak about how he succeeded can give her students hope for success themselves.

``They need to be able to know that this is something they can do,'' Rooks said. ``Especially all my children.''

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