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Sarah Hemminger is out to save Baltimore the hard way–with the love and care of strangers. <\/p>\n
Since founding Thread in 2004 with her husband, Ryan, the program has been surrounding failing students with mentors to support them through their high school and college years. <\/p>\n
Selecting their students from the bottom 25 percent of their freshman class, few would expect these students to succeed. But they do. <\/p>\n
Thread reports that 91 percent of the students in Thread for over five years graduated from high school, and 90 percent were accepted to college.<\/p>\n
In a district where 30 percent of students fail to graduate, this success with students at the bottom quarter of their freshman class isn\u2019t surprising. It\u2019s astounding.<\/strong> <\/p>\n How do they create this success?<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s practicing change,\u201d Hemminger states.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have found that the key to our young people turning into resilient self-motivated and responsible citizens is that the adults have to model that change. Success is not just defined as your student succeeding–it\u2019s as your own growth. If we say we are going to take them to school, we have to show up and take them to school and be responsible ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf we want our students to not give up on themselves, we have to not give up on them. And when we show up it\u2019s not just about showing up. It\u2019s how we show up. Are we vulnerable, do we actually share our challenges and our burdens with them?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRelationships are really hard,\u201d Hemminger intones. \u201cThey are not a quick fix, they\u2019re messy, they take time, you have to pay attention to them and they don\u2019t always feel great.\u201d<\/p>\n But they work.<\/p>\n Edward Blackstone, a Thread student, said \u201cWhen you walk in you have certain expectations. The sooner you let go of those expectations and accept that person for what they are, and what they define as success, then you can walk out with a better relationship for both of you.\u201d said Blackstone.<\/p>\n By the time his first mentor, a white straight A student, met him, Blackstone said he had dropped out of high school and then dropped out of college. Blackstone challenged his mentor, wondering if her definition of success was more important than her love for him. It wasn’t.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest thing that (she) did for me to grow as a person is that she said, \u201cI will not force you to go to college. If this is something that you want to do, I will help you along the way, but I will not do it for you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat was the biggest motivating factor for me, because it made me get myself back in college.\u201d Blackstone said.<\/p>\n The power of Thread, isn\u2019t just academic success, but the personal and relational growth between the students and mentors as they redefine their own understandings and expectations through their care for each other.<\/p>\n We must remember, Hemminger says, \u201cIt is not just children living in poverty who need these deep interpersonal bonds. We all do.\u201d <\/p>\n Can these supportive relationships bring together a city so long divided by race, religion and class?<\/p>\n We may soon find out. With a goal of mentoring five percent of the students in Baltimore High Schools, Thread is putting their audacious success onto a fast track for more. <\/p>\n Interested in joining? <\/p>\n