By Big Picture Co-director Elliot Washor

The current rage is for everyone to go to a four-year college, the most prestigious one possible. Yet with recent developments in our federal, state and college policies, it looks as though we may be reverting back to our 19th century counterparts - many families can really only afford to send one child to college. Aid to students who need college loans the most have been cut drastically.

By Big Picture Co-director Dennis Littky

It was a momentous occasion to see the number of Big Picture alumni jump from 275 to 476 this June; remarkably, 81% of them are either in college, enrolled for the fall or have graduated. These high college-going rates are no accident. Big Picture Schools make post-secondary planning a core part of each student’s curriculum because we know it is the most reliable way to help our kids have successful careers and free themselves of poverty. But despite our efforts, college remains a struggle...

To survive in the labor markets of tomorrow, Big Picture kids are going to need to do things that are hard to outsource, hard to automate, and that deliver significance as well as utility. That means that all those left-brain, logical, linear, analytical, SAT, spreadsheet skills that we’ve been hectored into worshiping are still necessary. But they’re woefully insufficient.

By Celeste Kibe, Met '06

When I came to The Met, I came with heavy baggage, as I’m sure many of us did. I attended a middle school in Western Cranston which housed more than 1,000 students, the vast majority of whom were white. There was one black kid in the whole school, and he was expelled sometime in the eighth grade. Although my skin is white, my heritage is not Caucasian, and for this I was ostracized.

When MetWest senior Alyante Brinkley learned from her foster care agency that she could no longer live with her grandmother, she was visiting her former advisor, Deidra Simone de Godinez, who immediately offered to let the girl stay with her. A year and a half later, the 17 year-old is still living with Deidra, but for only a few more months before she heads to Arizona State University in the fall, where she will study pre-law courses and sign language.

When Jessica Fischer entered Shenandoah High School in the 9th grade, she still had another 30-40 days left of her sentence in juvenile hall. Her advisor, Mike Arburn remembers painstakingly removing the staples from the Big Picture red books, so he could take them to her in jail. That was four years ago. Now, as she gives her valedictorian speech, she announces with pride that she will be going to Feather River Community College in the fall, where she will double major in the two passions that have been driving her learning since 9th grade - business and equine studies.

In the spring of 2003, Arthur Baraf was finishing up his Master’s degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, when he stumbled upon The Met through one of Ted Sizer’s classes. He joined Sizer’s annual class pilgrimage to The Met and caught a morning Pick Me Up at The Met’s Peace Street School, where an army recruiter held the stage. Baraf recalls, “Met Principals Charlie [Plant] and Wayne [Woods] were asking some pretty pointed questions about the specifics of college scholarship money. It was refreshing to see school leaders really advocating for their students, especially low income kids who are often targeted [by the army].” The event stuck in his mind, and after meeting with Met School Director Dennis Littky and taking an independent study with Sizer, Baraf was determined to become an advisor.

When Mario De Anda, the son of Mexican immigrants, enrolled at the elite Notre Dame University in the 1980’s, he got a heavy dose of culture shock. Unlike his middle class roommate, he worked two jobs, totaling nearly 40 hours a week. Still, it wasn’t enough to cover the cost of tuition, so during his senior year, Mario was forced to take a semester off. That fall, he thought it appropriate to work at the school’s Financial Aid Office - where he spent much of his time anyway - and when he graduated a few months later, they offered him a full-time job. Mario had a very keen understanding of the obstacles low income, first-generation college-goers faced, and he was determined to change them.

By Don Fraser, Met College Transition Director

Last year, The Met graduated 46 seniors. This year, that number tripled and next year, it’s expected to quadruple (to 180 students). To keep up with this rapid growth, The Met’s College Transition Team has begun reaching out to a wider range of colleges and universities and challenging them to provide the necessary support to increase graduation rates.

For the first time ever, Big Picture's much-loved annual conference - The Big Bang - will be split between two cities during consecutive weeks in August. Why? With over 350 attendees last year, the Big Bangs are just keeping up with Big Picture's rapid growth.
The first of the two conferences - for West Coasters - will be held in San Diego at SD State University from Thursday to Saturday, August 3rd-5th. Workshop presenters will be trained on Wednesday, August 2nd.
The next week, tried and true Bryant College in Providence, RI, will host Big Bang for East Coasters, from Thursday to Saturday, August 10th-12th. Training for workshop presenters will take place on Wednesday, August 9th.
For more information, contact Big Picture Conference Director Jill Olson-Crowley.

Big Picture Online – the website designed to help Big Picture students and staff share resources and knowledge across our network – is being revamped this summer. The updated BPO will offer several exciting new features to enhance communication and usefulness, including:
- GOOGLE SEARCH ENGINE, allowing users to easily search BPO’s extensive bank of materials and resources
- LEARNING PLAN: upgraded and updated
- FORUMS: enhanced with the powerful Fusetalk software
- POLLS: new polling tools for network-wide surveys
- BLOGs! For network-wide communication on timely topics
- ALUMNI MANAGER: a database, survey and tracking tool to support our students as they transition to college.

Happy surfing!

If you do not work at a Big Picture school, but would like to purchase a BPO membership, please contact Joe Battaglia for more information.