York City Scholars Program
Many students at William Penn High School profess the desire to continue with post-secondary education after graduation, but make uninformed decisions regarding academic preparation. Most of these students are economically disadvantaged and have non-college educated parents who are not able to give their children the same kind of educational support and cultural opportunities many middle-class students enjoy.

Our Program Objective
In May of 2003, York City Dollars for Scholars started an innovative intensive counseling program, called York City Scholars, which aims to provide a supplementary support structure and educational and cultural enrichment activities for a small group of selected William Penn students, with a goal of preparing students for a successful post-high school career. A professional part-time counselor is coordinating and implementing the program. To increase student success, we will establish communications with the students’ families and involve families in college / career preparation discussions, bus trips, cultural events and annual dinners.

We have initially selected 12 William Penn tenth-graders to start the 3-year pilot program in the fall of 2003. Our plan is to gradually increase the number of participants to a maximum of 20 students. Our goal is to enroll students with a "spark" and a sincere desire to better themselves, students for whom enrichment activities and individual attention might open up a world of possibilities for their futures.

Program highlights

• Assistance with course selection and career exploration
• Counselor available to provide extensive one on one attention to students and to meet with families
• Exposure to enrichment activities: museums, theaters, symphony performances, etc.
• Visits to post-secondary schools, job sites, and companies
• Network building, internships, and shadowing opportunities in the York community
• Access to magazine subscription and career related literature
• Instruction on professional and social etiquette
• Assistance and support through the college/trade school application process
• Summer reading and discussion group
• Goal setting, SAT preparation, self esteem building

Student Eligibility Criteria
The following are some qualifications a student may possess to be eligible and therefore benefit from our program:

• Grade level in reading, language arts, and math. (So they are able to take advantage of academic and college preparatory courses.)
• Exceptional ability in a subject, for example math, science, art, language arts, writing, etc.
• Preferably, come from non-college educated families
• May have expressed desire to attend post-secondary education
• "Spark", potential, and/or desire to better themselves
• Efficient verbal skills or ability to improve them
• May have done well in elementary or middle school but has faltered in high school
• Ability or potential to be engaged if provided means, support, and attention

A student may or may not meet each of these criteria. When referring a student, please keep in mind that we are not looking for top students. We prefer students who have demonstrated appropriate or average performance and who may have potential or desire to succeed given the support we provide.

Thank You to our donors
To the York Foundation, thank you for supporting our ideas. This project was made possible by a generous donations from The Beatrice and Henry Blatner Fund of the York Foundation. Mr. Bud Blatner and Ms. Nan Blatner Miller have not only contributed major funding, but also invested time and care during the planning stages.

We also want to thank additional contributors: the York Foundation’s Dallmeyer Fund, the Harriet Campbell Jr. Fund, and the Rehmeyer Trust. York City Dollars for Scholars also contributes program funding.

We have sufficient funds to provide all basic program components for the next three years. However, we do have a wish list which is still unfunded. We would like to provide each family with a computer and email services to enhance communication between our counselor and the student and family and to provide the family with an important research tool.