Macfound. Org. Additional funding is provided by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. And by tfrontline journalism fund, supporting investigative reporting and enterprise journalism. Major funding for this program is provided by the bill and Melinda Gates foundation. And by the corporation for public broadcasting and its American Graduate Initiative for middle School Moment. Be good. I wont. Yeah, i know. My ninth grade year was probably the worst because i was constantly being beaten up and, you know, jumped and everything. I was pretty much an outcast. Constantly in the office, like, literally every day. There were jumpings. Somebody at the school got stabbed with a protractor and that was, like, the first two or three weeks of school. Tenth grade year, i was only at school for a month, and that was just an accumulated 30 days, not even a month straight because i had to babysit for my younger sister while my mom was at work. So, i missed a complete year of school. Truancy never knocked on our door, never gave us letters, never did anything. sirens its disgraceful what is going on in Public Education in philadelphia. In most large urban cities, 50 of the kids are dropping out. Almost every large urban district is dysfunctional. Philadelphia is at the highest level of dysfunction. There was a need to engage students. The normal curriculum is boring, and kids are disinterested. Today what we are going to do, the first thing is we are going to move the gt over here. All right . Ready one, two, three. So, the evx team is an afterSchool Program. We build and design hybrid and electric vehicles. We had success the very first year. The students won the local science fair which was a first for. For students from West Philadelphia high school. From there, it just organically grew. Here, put it over here. The mission of the evx team this year is to be serious competitors in the automotive x prize. The automotive x prize is a 10 million competition thats invited teams from around the world to develop viable vehicles that get over 100 miles per gallon. Were the only high school in the world that has thrown our hat in the ring. To all the other teams in the x prize competition, you are going to lose. You know, we tell kids you can do anything, and as adults we know that there are limits. But we started to feed into it yeah, we can do anything. Whats the purpose of the progressive automotive x prize . Yes . Justin . To cause people to go into competition so that they can create something new and better for the environment. Excellent. So, were building two cars. The significant points are they use alternative fuels, they get over 100 miles a gallon, and High School Students built them and theyre being entered in this huge competition. But, at the top of this, were building cars to demonstrate that. I was working in the lab at general electric, and i just kind of had an epiphany that this isnt what i wanted to do with my life. It was a series of events and i ended up feeling like i wanted to be a teacher in the city. And whats the mission of the team . I grew up a couple blocks from West Philadelphia high school, so yeah, the issues of the city are very near and dear to my heart. The team ranges from allstars in the classroom to students who really struggle. There is room for everyone, and we have all sorts of types of students, and thats one of the things im really proud about. Beginning of last school year, i cut every single class. Im not even gonna lie. I was just the guy that showed up when i wanted to show up. Say, all right, justin. My life wasnt going the way i expected it to, so if nobody was gonna care, why should i . I truly believe that without the evx team, i dont know if he wouldve been able to survive the 11th and 12th grade years in public school. Mom, youre gonna want to put some oil in the car. What about trans . The evx team was a saving grace for him. They basically blanketed him with attention, with understanding, and with affection, you know. They cared. My work with the evx team has made me want to come to school more. It gave me something to care about. This is the k1 attack, the pride and joy of west philly high. We plan to do it again with our next car, but this here. I mean, the first time i ever seen this car, it was my ninth grade year. I remember it was, like, my first day of school. I came walking through the shop, and i didnt expect to see a racecar here. And i fell in love with it then, and thats. Thats why i had to join the ev team. Like, who built this car . They said it was built here. As High School Students, we can be innovative. We can be just as innovative as the ceos of ford, gm, honda, nissan. We can be just as innovative as them. And we dont even have diplomas yet. Yo im home. You know, i dont want my children to do the job that im doing. I want them to have better because they are better than me. And i know theyre better than me. Therefore, my job is justjust to give them the umbrella, you know, to grow, to do whatever you want to do. Whats up, whats up, whats up, whats up, whats up . This is jacques as a little guy. And as youll see, quite a few of the awards that he has received. The ford motor company. Student auto skills. The West Philadelphia hybrid x team. Honor roll, mathlete. Hes student of the month. Jacques just started running, he started running with it. And it was, it was, it was like he became a leader without knowing he was a leader, which is a great thing. To be honest, the things that hes doing is making me. Actually inspires me in a lot of ways. Its taught me how not to give up, to be a fighter. Dont give up, no matter what happens. Dont give up. And i love him for that, love him for that. Uh, yeah, i love him for that. Yeah. Ill see you, dad. All rht, be good, man. Usually, it tends to be the oddballs and the smart ones who drift towards the team because the opportunities they offer, so thats why the evx team is filled with a bunch of odd guys and smart people. I went back to school. Essentially they put me in remedial classes because of my absences. One day, while getting bored of these, you know, multiplying fraction worksheets, cut class and i saw hauger in the hallway. And haugers like, what the hell are you doing in here . Its like, well, they put me in opp. He shook his head, and was like, you know what . Come to auto after school and, uh, i want to talk to you. Hauger, that day, changed my roster to put me back into auto and. On the conditions that, one, i pass my classes and, two, i join the ev team. You know, thats the crappiest tape job ive ever seen. Youre all fired. She was a student who was on the verge of literally failing. And we brought her over here, sort of adopted her into the family, and then, you know, we realized that samantha was a bright young lady who just needed support and a group of caring adults around her to really help her find her way. To see samantha go from failing grades to a student who made the honor roll is hard to really capture into words. Id say they believed in me, essentially. And thats changed my life because if i wouldve continued in west, i wouldve totally, completely dropped out because i wasnt learning in the classes they had me in. Thats this, right . You guys have got that part figured out. Intelligence is exhibited in so many different ways. Students need to be engaged in different ways. Were entering two vehicles in the x prize. We are under a really tight timeline. We have one year to get these cars built and trackready. Its a tall order. The gtm is just basically our fun car. You know, the cool car that people will love to drive, but its a hybrid, so thats, like, a double bonus. Basically, we put more of the young peoples point of view inside the car. The gtm, i mean, zero to 60 in under five seconds. You know, top speeds of about 180. 250 horsepower. I dont think theres any other hybrids with statistics like that. The focus, the family car that were entering in the competition, its probably the only ford focus with a motorcycle engine in it. Its a motor. Its a harley hybrid, as some people call it. We have a Harley Davidson engine in it, and an electric motor. Simon is. Hes completely crazy. There is nothing that he thinks we cant do. I mean, who the hell else wouldve thought of using a Harley Davidson engine and a magnetic clutch from a combine coupled to an electric motor . The answer to that question is no one. This is the original engine that ford put in this car. Were gonna get rid of all this weight, and all this spaghetti and everything else. And this is what were going to put back in. Were gonna use an electric motor. Were gonna hook up that gasoline engine, and the two of them together will give us unbelievable efficiency, and not only that, but the car will run extremely clean. This might even be more ghetto than usual. We found milk crates. I think were gonna build the, uh, the prototype battery box out of milk crates, so its a new low for us. So, we have to get everything in the car, the battery packs, make sure the motors are running, just to make sure that we can test it out before the competition. Theres a little mathematical formula that tells us how much current this is gonna put out. Its gonna put out as much as it can. Weve got to be very careful how we assemble this battery pack because once we put a few batteries together and hook them together, theres enough voltage there to actually kill somebody. We dont have Million Dollar computers that run cad software simulations. We dont have 70 engineers like cornell university, and you can assign 20 this and 20 that. We have chalkboards, we have pencils, paper. We have grinders. And whiteboards that dont work. We have pressers. We have grinders, we have torchers. How we doing, son . Good man. Im competitive, but im not that competitive. You know, theres some people that just are super competitive, and thats not what drives me. What drives me its going to sound really corny what drives me is i love kids. I love working with kids and i believe in them. Oh, is everything already connected . Oh and we can power that up. Today were connecting the batteries to the electric motor after working on it for weeks, which is just really exciting. Azeem is the emergency turn off switch. So if we have a problem, hes going to turn off the power. Ive got haugers life in my hands. humming its a really incomparable feeling. When i connect the battery pack to the motor, i feel like im giving our car life. Haugers one of those people, like, especially coming up from how i came up, dealing with the School System and dealing with just people trying to save, you know, us, you know, troubled people, i feel like. You know what im saying . Like people who treat, like, urban youth in these bad schools is like, these kids who need to be saved. Hauger would never, you know, treat me like that. Hed never treat anybody like that. Hed treat us like, youre. Like, i already know what you can do. So do it. See, heres the problem. We have to move this this many inches, and the bearing block for that one. Connecting the Harley Davidson to our electric motor is critical. Its actually a quite complicated engineering feat that were pulling off. Tuesday, we started to put this together. We ran into a problem mounting them exactly straight. They have to be a Perfect Match together. If theyre off just a little bit, the vibration will just selfdestruct the whole. The whole power train. Simon, how about the. Simon . Yeah . How about the inside . You know what, do you want to give it a shot to see if it will turn. Simon, just take a peek at it. And away she goes. Simon, look at that. Not as bad. Film that, fellas film that, fellas thats not bad we made really good progress. We got the electric motor and the Harley Davidson engine the whole hybrid drive train together. We got the shafts lined up better, we had made some adjustments. We still have a few more things to machine so that we can get them perfect, but it actually ran a little better than we had expected. The mayors coming today. Oh, thank you so much for coming. Were very, very excited about you being here. How do you build a car . This is how you build a car . So i should read this tonight . For all the accolades we have received around the technology, what we would really like to see this work be celebrated for is the power it has in education. And. And thats our dream. We hope that we get an opportunity to run a school like this, thats projectbased, thats not satisfied with 50 of the kids dropping out, but see Graduation Rates of 90plus percent. The students that have come through this program have gone on to do great things. Now to a group of High Schoolers are setting out to prove that it doesnt take an automotive giant to build a fuelefficient car. Its 10 million. You know, you throw that together with urban High School Students, and that put us in the national spotlight. Anyone can do anything if you put your mind to it. Are you worried about the competition at all, guys . No. It was one of those this is it moments the National Attention that we got from that was really, i think, humbling because it wasnt like were gonna win from getting that. Like, we gotta work even harder. So, like, now we have to prove ourself to the rest of the country that were gonna win. Both of these cars need to run today, both of these cars we have to get emission data today. It has to be turned in to the x prize foundation. And if we dont do. Get that done, we could very possibly be knocked out of the competition. Everybody is exhausted. The kids are exhausted, the staff is exhausted. Tensions are as high as they could get right now because this car hasnt. This car, weve seen the wheels turn, but weve never actually rolled the car down the street. Why do we have voltage here . Uh, time out. Right now, were having some electrical issues and some programming issues. Do it again. Are you guys clear . Nothing. I quite often feel like we cant do this. I feel like were in over our heads. Our batterys dead. Friggin crap. This one . Yeah. Ive had bad days where i wonder what i got this Team Involved in. All right. So, try the black one. Yeah,. 35. Yeah, thats the one. Sorry, we got them backwards. Dont stand in front of the car. engine roars to life applause there is a lot of stress and anxiety today, and then relief. We just got in under the wire. And its exciting. We have all this backup stuff just in case something goes wrong. We have lots of tires, lots of tool parts, lots of things that im not even used to looking at. Its exciting. All right everybody, all aboard. Im pretty excited. I am not looking forward to the tenhour car ride, i have to say, but i guess it will be pretty fun, jokes and what not in the van. Okay, so now were, like, 15 minutes past the leave time. A charleston chew. Baby ruths all the way woo hoo Tastykakes Tastykakes gimme my tastykakes i got a bunch of crazy kids that are gonna be riding with me, so i dont know what to expect. So, uh, question, how many other young, urban African American teens will be up there for us to socialize with . I can answer that question none. Jeez. Were in the semifinals of the competition. Its really exciting to be here. Theres only 22 teams left out of 111 original teams. And so this is the best of the best. brakes screeching if you had asked me going to this competition, do you think a High School Team, let alone an inner City High School team, could enter a viable car in the competition, let alone two cars in two different categories . The answer would have been no. I mean, in the dictionary where they define underdog, theyve got the evx team as an example. Hey, arent you guys that High School Team that built those cars . Justin, you can work with me on this. Okay, fuel, all right . So we gonna be aware that were soldering over fuel. One of the things that happens when you build something, create something new isis inevitably we use every last moment. And so theres always the lastminute rush to tie up loose ends. We gotta switch this over. Checkoff list, lets take a quick walkthrough. It was a very busy day. I mean, today was our first day actually been able to work on the cars in the garage. And, like, as soon as we got there, they put us straight to work. Hey, sam this is your job take off that cisco sticker. Were getting a different one. So tell us quickly, just tell us who you are. Im simon hauger. Im the director of the west philly hybrid x team. Where does your team kind of fit into all this and how did you end up here . Well, thats a long story. Weve been in other competitions, and this was. It was really eyeopening to see teams that have halfbilliondollar budgets up close. So, its this team here, aptera, they pulled up an 18 wheeler with their lawn chairs and their team of 50 engineers or whatever they had. Its a little overwhelming because you see cars that look better than ours. You see cars that, in my opinion, dont look as good as our cars. And it really starts to sink in how this is really a global competition. So, these are, like, global ideas coming, you know, together. It was pretty interesting to see, like, the different designs of all of the cars from around the world. I mean, and to just be competing against all these companies with great names, its like its an honor, really. Because you know, these guys are. Likelike. Geniuses with, like, engineering degrees. Excuse me, sir, about how much does this car weigh . Uh, it went through check at 711 pounds. 700 . Is this with or without the motor . With the engine. You can push this car with your thumb. And thats the really crazy thing. So, if i can push it with my thumb, it doesnt take a lot of power to move. So, the idea behind the car is make it really light and really aerodynamically efficient. Because thats really only way you can make a car efficient. Oliver stopped by. Hes the founder of the edison2 team. He had an automotive teacher in high school that changed his life. And. And so, the work that were doing. The real work that were doing around education really resonates with him. And after its done, he was right. As an immigrant child at age 14, not really knowing how to speak english, i started to spend my afternoons in the automotive shop of my high school. And thats where i learned a lot. I think the fact that this high school is competing is really great. They have an interesting approach, and im curious to see how they perform. And its. Its very commendable. Its very cool. cheering simon simon give me five. Weve decided in the design of the competition to have what we call a knockout stage, where were asking the teams to get to at least 67 miles per gallon equivalent. So, were, were narrowing the field. We havent had enough time to test our cars. Were going to be testing against their standards now. This is where we are; this is where were going. And were gonna ace it. cheering you feeling good . Im feeling exhausted, but yeah, im super excited. Were testing the range and the fuel economy of the vehicle. We have to do a hundred miles and get the 67 miles per gallon ratio in order for us to move to the next stage, so keep your fingers crossed. Its pretty cool to see them rolling around the track after youve spent hours putting on engines and all of that stuff, to actually see them go around as fast as theyre going. 2 15. All right, so hes right on that one. thunderclap it looks like a huge storm is rolling in, and i think even theres a Tornado Warning somebody said, so. You know, theres. Folks are a little bit nervous right now. Are you a little tense right now . Yeah, i am. And i also dont like lightning. I mean, did you see this . We have the silvertopped cars, and theyre carbon fiber, which is highly conductive. Its not an. Its not an impossibility that the thing gets nailed. I think they should call it off. I mean, there was two lightning strikes just there. I was on the track as the storm was rolling in, they called us off. Were still not sure what theyre gonna do today, and well just have to wait and see. They dont play around here. They move everybody very fast. West philly, you may drive drive it drive the vehicle no, you dont. So theyve taken all the cars off the track. Were just plugging in the cars to charge overnight and were gonna go back to the hotel room. Were exhausted. You know, hopefully the storm wont cause us any major problems. But well have to wait and see what happens tomorrow. thunderclap all right, turn the key on. And then. High voltage . It looks like the engines not turning over manually the way we want it to, so we gotta do some quick thinking here. How much. Going right now . Right now, the. The gts battery packs not working. We really dont know whats going on. I can start this one while im rolling there. We decided, hey, lets pop the clutch. Lets, lets push it as hard as we can to pop the clutch cause we gotta get it on to the track; we dont have a second chance. So, were gonna get to pushing. Right now, were not exactly sure whats going on, but the gtm just started its second run, the second urban efficiency run. And theres no voltage to the battery. So, right now were running on diesel power and were just trying to see how it works out. Here it comes around the track right now. Ill get ronnie. Hes not picking up his damn phone. Ronnie ron five laps, shut it off. Five laps. Five laps, shut it off. How is this gonna work out if the diesels only gonna push it five laps and then he got to turn that motor off . I dont know. I dont know. I mean, back at school, they said that black smoke could be grounds for disqualification. Well just have to see what they say. Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully, theyll let us deal with it, its a problem that theyll let us fix. Yeah. cheering looks like she switched over to electricity with no problem. So, thats a great sign. We either make it or we wont. Theres not. Theres nothing in between, so. So hopefully, by the end of the day, we still have two cars in the competition, but its a real possibility that we dont. Right now, everybodys nervous because were not exactly sure if the cars will pass, but were praying on it, though. Our charger is sucking more juice. We ran the last event without a full charge on our batteries, which meant that we ran less on electric and more on the harley, which meant that our efficiency would drop. Were starting to see this level of competition isis tough and were finding some flaws in our cars. I just did current times voltage times time step. And the storm exposed the weakness. We thought that the reason that we did not have a full charge was because a Tornado Warning. The truth is we had lost our power due to inefficiencies in our whole charging setup. Everybodys said that. The drive cycle is. Every team is saying that the drive cycle is way tougher than anything theyve ever done. Well, simon and ann just walked away with some of the officials from the progressive x prize, and im not sure if i should be happy about it oror worried about it. Im really on the edge. Were optimistic. Were here, were gonna do what we can. And thats all we can do. You realize how its always been win or lose, and you just stick to hope and prayers and you hope that youll get through. Were going to go right in here. laughter you guys have done an amazing job. Youre just absolutely so driven and passionate andand working to do the best that you possibly can and you did an amazing job. Unfortunately, the numbers that you achieved from the gt. Yeah. Yeah. You were required to hit a 67, and you got a 53. 5, which is great. This one, required to hit a 67 and you got 65. 1. From the technical standpoint, i just want to commend you for everything youve done documentationwise, preparation of everything. You wouldnt be here if you hadnt done and you did a much better job than the majority of the people in the competition on the way youve presented your documentation and presented yourselves and your vehicles, and you need to be commended for that as well. Its just outstanding. And its been a pleasure to deal with you on the technical side because of that. Thank you. Theres a lot of disappointment. We saw ourselves being contenders in the final. Final stage, and, unfortunately, were not going to be there. I feel like weve come this far, beat out multiMillion Dollar corporations and, so, if we can do this this far, i mean, we can do anything. It sucks. I really wanted us to win the x prize, you know. I wanted to make it to the finish line. People still know who we are. People know that West Philadelphia high school can be innovative as. You know, a group of students from West Philadelphia, so it really doesnt matter to me. We still won. As far as im concerned, were still victorious. Im not so happy. But either way we look at it, weve still come a long way. This has been really hard, and ii have built 23 cars in my life. And i have raced at the highest level you can go racing. And i have earned a lot of money. And its overwhelming to me, but it all started when i was like you. Actually, when i was you in ninth grade. And the shift happened in shop class. Thats where i spent my high school. Its true. I dont know why im crying, its overwhelming but i love what you do from my heart. So, we got our fuel economy data back and, as you guys know, every step of this competition is a knockout phase. Thats why its called knock out. And, unfortunately, we didnt make the fuel economy on either car. What we want to communicate to you guys is how proud we are of you. The adults are really proud of each other. Weve had a wonderful time working on this project. And really, really at the end of the day, this is an educational experience. And every single adult here has pulled ann and i aside and told us how impressed they are with you and what an incredible experience this is. You know, as a teenager, you might not realize everything that youve learned. But looking back on it, you will. And so for that, were really proud. Folks havent heard the last of west philly. You know, we still. We still got more to do. Just because we may not be in the x prize competition until the end doesnt mean we cant continue to the end to reach that 100 mile per gallon ratio and then put it in front of everybody and say, we still were able to accomplish what we set out to do. And i wanna tell you something, one little, quick little blurb. You all heard me say how respect isnt given away, its earned. Every person standing here has earned my respect, and i think thats something to be proud of, too. And i hope ive earned yours. Im proud. Im proud of everybody here. All right, all right, all right. The evx team west philly ride or die coming up next in this special edition frontline. I saw kids waving their hands saying, help. Help me stay on track. Another School Program getting it right. Our students face challenges, sometimes, that Young Children shouldnt have to face. I cant tell you how much i worry every time she leaves this building. When she leaveshis building, shes on her own. They told me, youre bright and youre special. I started to believe that i can do more for myself. Middle School Moment begs right now. siren wails horn honks narrator two and a half years ago, Omarina Cabrera, a student at middle school 244 in the bronx, was struggling. My first year here, me and my mom got evicted. I felt shattered. That was the home that i had for my whole life, and i grew up there. I didnt know what was going to happen next. That period of not knowing wasnt something that i felt comfortable with. I felt this inkling in me that i would never want my children or anyone else to experience this. Narrator shuffled between relatives apartments, some without even electricity, omarina suffered another loss. When i was really young and my father walked out for whatever reason, i finally got in touch with him. Just before we were about to talk and i was about to go see him he had gotten a stroke, and i had to leave to the dominican republic, see my father for the first time and it was in a casket. Narrator with her home life in chaos, omarinas school life began to suffer. She didnt know it, but she was starting down a path that so many other young people take. Every year over a Million Students fail to finish high school. Even kids in the most dire circumstances really want a future. They just need to have a path to it. Narrator for 15 years, robert balfanz, a leading education researcher, had been studying the population of children who drop out of high school. Then he realized that the key moment when kids begin to go down the wrong path was in middle school. whistle blows sixth grade what does that refer to . Stephanie . When a line divides the parabola into two equal parts. If in the middle grades you develop habits of not coming to school regularly, of getting in trouble or failing your courses, you bring that with you to high school, and the schools arent designed to help them succeed. Narrator but how do you identify those middleschool kids most at risk . What exactly are the warning signs . Balfanz and his team harvested data from dozens of highpoverty schools, schools where at least 40 of the students qualify for governmentsubsidized lunch. We looked at about 40 different variables, and we put that into a big Statistical Analysis and said we want factors that are highly reliable and also yield a large number of kids in trouble. Narrator and within this chaotic tangle of data, the team found something revealing. And basically out of this mix, four came out really strong. And that was our sort of eureka moment. I saw kids waving their hands, saying, help help me stay on track. Narrator the data showed that if a sixthgrade child in a highpoverty school attends school less than 80 of the time, or fails math or english, or receives an unsatisfactory behavior grade in a core course, that absent effective intervention, there is a 75 chance that they will drop out of high school. It may seem far less than rocket science, but its something that in fact schools by and large have not paid attention to. A 90, a 91. Narrator schools have long collected statistics on absences, behavior and of course grades, but many educators dont recognize the significance of those numbers. bell rings 701, line up. Narrator the principal of middle school 244, dolores peterson, is one who did. The balfanz research was so interesting to us, because we looked at it and we said, this is a great way to identify our students at a very early stage. Narrator students like Omarina Cabrera, who had been showing up late or not at all. At the beginning i felt alone and i felt ashamed, and i didnt want to speak to anyone about it. I just isolated myself from everything and everyone. Narrator but the data spoke for omarina. Every week at middle school 244, statistics are collected and reviewed by a team of counselors and teachers. Attendance. Everyones with me . Yes. Lets go to 802. Omarina. How is omarina doing . Narrator the students most in need are flagged. Currently her mothers not even in the United States right now. They were in a shelter not that long ago, then they were evicted, so shes having to go between relatives. Narrator and their assigned counselor organizes an intervention. I took her home one day, and its like a. Its a double commute. Its a bus to a train. Its on the other side of the world, you can say. I cant tell you how much i worry every time she leaves this building. When she leaves this building, you know, shes on her own. Let her know that were going to support her, and keep us posted on what she needs. Our students face challenges sometimes that Young Children shouldnt have to face. And they need that support of the adult to help them through it. Its all going to work out. Narrator Catherine Miller was omarinas Homeroom Teacher. Miller so once omarina was identified, it was imperative on my part as a Homeroom Teacher in consultation with the guidance counselor and administration to discuss why she was coming in late so many times. They came to me and they asked me, whats wrong . Youve been late a lot. Something has to be wrong. Thats when i told ms. Miller that i was evicted. Your mother needs to feel safe, or she needs to feel good about where you are, as do you, and the best we can do right now. We can compile thousands of numbers about whos failing this or whos passing that, but if theres no response to that data, if theres no initiative taken to understand that data, its all for naught. Narrator it became clear that a chaotic home life was the source of omarinas problem at school and she needed targeted practical support. So youre going to take this one today. Narrator the team helped her figure out routes to school from everchanging addresses, got her a bus pass and books. Ms. Miller told me that i can break through it, that im strong enough, that i have the courage to do it. And the fact that she believed in me, i believed in me, and thats something that not a lot of people go through. They need an adult counterforce someone to say, did you get your work done . Let me make sure you understand it. And also deal with, i know youre having trouble with this teacher or that teacher or these kids. Lets work it out, lets solve it now. Its that sense of shepherding is what the kids need to know that an adult not only cares, but the adult can actually help them. Hows it going at home . Its good. Its notompletely settled because of my mom, but i think its calmer than before. Thats great, thats great. And your brothers . Narrator omarina has two brothers, one older and one her twin. My first year here i had a lot of Different Things going on. I had my brother, who was so smart, and he was just like me hes my twin. My brother began to be exposed to a lot of the things that were out there, and not only him but a lot of us were. Not a lot of kids make the right choice, and that is happening a lot of times in the bronx for a lot of people. Narrator in the summer after sixth grade, her twin started hanging out on the streets and getting in trouble. His mother had him transferred to another school, thinking hed be safer in a different neighborhood. But today omarlin rarely attends school, and his future seems uncertain. When am i going to go to high school . I dont know. I havent gotten a letter yet of acceptance. The fact that he got involved with the streets, and the fact that he let the neighborhood influence him, he just began slipping off the mountain, slipping off, slipping off, slipping off. choral music playing recording i want to be raised. It really was a difficult time for me. However, i think the only reason i got through it was because of support people brang to me. Ms. Miller and my guidance counselor. The fact that they told me, youre bright and youre special and drove me and encouraged me, told me never to quit and never let your dreams end at the corner of sedgwick avenue. I dont think i would be where i am today. applause and i wish my brother could have gone on the journey with me as well. Narrator by the time she was in the eighth grade, omarina had achieved near perfect attendance and had an average in the 90s. Who agrees and why . Omarina. Because when you solve negative b over 2a to get the vertex. Narrator soon she began working on applications to some of the nations best high schools. That was your best essay. Read it to me again. I love it. Typically young adults look upon a political figure or someone in their life for guidance and support. I, on the other hand, seem to find this inspiration within a blackandwhite street sign. Imprinted on the signs are the words one way. it taunts me with another reminder that coming in is not the obstacle, but making it out. I dont think that me and my brother are on the same road. I think he fell off and its really sad. The way you take in school is important. He didnt, and thats why were going on different paths, i guess. Any school can use this system to keep kids on track, and whats going to vary from school to school is the extent theyre going to need to recruit an outside second shift of adults to help. And thats going to really just depend on the sheer number of kids. Narrator middle school 244 reallocated their resources, hiring fewer school aides, redistributing responsibilities among the teachers and hiring an additional counselor. Now there is an adult assigned to help every atrisk student. Ready . Kort, start em off. Louder than that, lets go youre a small group, so you need to make sure that you sound like something. When i came to this school, my opinion about school did change. Before i felt that school was a waste of time. Before i came here, i used to. Didnt like learning a lot i used to, you know, like watching tv and going on the computer. When i wake up and i know i have to go to school in the morning, i have something to look forward to. I like that i can go to a teacher when i need help. My hobby is researching war history, armies. I am proud of myself because from last year. Last year in april i wasnt doing. I was doing really bad and now in april im doing really good. Narrator these are some of the Success Stories at middle school 244, but even this school cant help all their atrisk students. And in americas highpoverty schools, there are few intervention programs like the one at middle school 244. Thats what makes it so interesting with my brother. I think thats what i would be. I would be not in the school, and i think i would be. I wouldnt care. And the fact that i would get into a college wouldnt be that big of a deal, and the fact that i go on to high school, that wouldnt matter to me. I can get my g. E. D. Later. Thats what i would say. Narrator but chances are, omarina wont be settling for a g. E. D. Shes just found out shes been accepted at nine high schools, including an elite boarding school in massachusetts. Omarina, im so excited for you. So what did you decide . Which school did you choose . After giving it a lot of thought, i went with brooks. So are you excited . Yeah. I know i am. How does it feel, ms. Miller . Its very humbling, um, and im incredibly proud of your accomplishments. Oh, ms. Miller youre going to make me cry. Narrator Omarina Cabrera is on her way to graduating. But across the country, thousands of students remain at risk. Hidden in the data. Next time on frontline. Thomas lynch is a poet, and an undertaker. Where death means nothing, life is meaningless. He lets us into his world to tell the story of life, death, and the family business. A good funeral gets the dead where they need to go and the living where they need to be. The undertaking. Watch frontline. One, two, three. Go to pbs. Org frontline to find out more about the west philly students and their teacher. And for all the accolades weve received around the technology. Read about the making of te x prize cars, learn more about middle school 244s unique approach to preventing drop out. The fact that she believed in me, i believed in me. Watch the program again, follfrontline on facebook and twitter, or share your thoughts at pbs. Org frontline. Frontline is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Major funding is provided by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information is available at macfound. Org. Additional funding is provided by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. And by tfrontline journalism fund, supporting investigative reporting and enterprise journalism. Major funding for this program is provided by the bill and Melinda Gates foundation. And by the corporation for public broadcasting and its American Graduate Initiative for middle School Moment. For more on this and other frontline programs, visit our website at pbs. Org frontline. Frontlinefast times at west philly high is available on dvd. To order, visit shoppbs. 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