Making a Difference

Each day at Open Meadow, students experience success in overcoming barriers and reaching for their dreams.

November 2007
At age 25, my life is on a good track. I am a top salesman for a national company, own two homes in Vancouver, WA and am engaged to be married in February. I am ranked nationally in the top 10% of triathletes in the country and hope to turn professional in the next couple of years.

But things were not always this good for me. I was raised by a single mom in a broken home. At a young age I was pretty much left to fend for myself and was a regular defendant in the juvenile court system by my freshman year in high school. I was considered “gang affiliated” and had charges ranging from stolen cars to 2nd degree robbery. I was also expelled from all Portland Public Schools and was a run-away teen living on the streets. At that time in my life I thought this was the “cool” thing to do.

October 2007
Tyra is 16 and has completed her sophomore year at the Roosevelt campus. She exudes confidence. With a 3.8 grade point average, her sights are set on an academic scholarship to Howard or Columbia. She hopes to become a journalist and is excited that she has already had a letter to the editor published in the Oregonian.

She wasn’t always doing this well.

October 2007
After more than four years at Open Meadow, Barrett has solid plans for his future and the education and skills to launch a self-sufficient adult life. Open Meadow programs helped him make it happen.

Four years ago as an eighth grader in a large public middle school, Barrett was having serious academic and behavioral problems: “I was going to school every day, but I wasn’t learning and was becoming more and more frustrated.” He thinks at least part of the problem was the large classes; there were 45 students in his science class. “The only space I could find to sit was the back counter,” he says.

October 2006
A young mother of a two year old daughter, Cassiopeia came to Open Meadow in January 2006 two credits short of graduation. She had attended a public high school through the beginning of her senior year when she became pregnant and moved to California with the father of her baby. Although she had planned to finish high school, she didn’t know where to enroll and needed to work. “I was working for minimum wage and after awhile realized that I would never get anywhere that way,” said Cassiopeia.

October 2006
“My public school teachers knew I was smart, but they just couldn’t keep me from getting into trouble,” says Anthony, a student at Open Meadow Middle School. “I was talking to my friends too much and not doing very well in my classes.”

June 2006
Khino got very good grades in his first two years of public high school, but was still unsatisfied. He felt like his teachers had limited expectations for him and was looking for a more demanding atmosphere, one that would challenge him to reach toward his dreams. One day he was talking to a friend who attends Open Meadow. They were discussing school and Khino was intrigued by what he heard.

Spring 2006
Christie sought out Open Meadow after years of struggling in public school. Living in poverty with a single mom, she started skipping school in third grade and by fourth grade was getting into trouble. Her mom developed cancer when Christie was in the 7th grade, dying when Christie was 16. Living with her brother didn’t work out. Her best friend was killed in a car accident. Christie was changing residences at a dizzying pace and skipping school regularly by the time she found Open Meadow. 

Spring 2006
Michael attended a public high school for four years, and thought he was on track to graduate. At the last minute, a review of his credits found him short and unable to graduate, so he left.

Michael took time to do internships and became involved with the Native American Youth Association and Portland Opportunity Industrialization Center, where he finished his high school degree in November of 2004. He heard about Open Meadow’s Corporate Connections program through NAYA. “I wanted to be in this program to get a better idea of what I want to do in college,” said Michael.

Spring 2006
Erica dropped out of school during her senior year in high school, after struggling in class: “At my old school, the teachers were too busy to answer my questions when I didn’t understand something.” She was just short of the credits she needed to graduate.

After Erica had been out of school for three months, a friend told her about Open Meadow, where she received individual attention that helped her thrive: “My teachers at Open Meadow took the time to answer all my questions. They were available to meet with me before or after class. And not only that, they made sure that everyone else in class understood the answers to my questions, too. They really helped us learn.”