Project TEACH, an incentive scholarship program at Hope College geared toward helping minority students become teachers, has announced the selection of its second group of three participating high school students.
Kristina Kyles, Kristina Martinez and Dina
Vathanaphone have each joined the the program beginning with
the new 1997-98 school year. Their appointment was formally
announced during a reception in the college's Maas Center
conference room on Thursday, Sept. 4.
They join Meyly Sew, Sonia Soto and Amanda
Vazquez, who were named Project TEACH's inaugural
participants last fall.
Kyles and Martinez are both sophomores at Holland
High School, and Vathanaphone is a sophomore at West Ottawa
High School. Each has had a variety of leadership
experiences through activities in school.
Kyles is the daughter of Ruth and Edward Wayne
Coleman of Holland, Martinez is the daughter of Aurora
Martinez of Holland and Vidal Martinez of Holland, and
Vathanaphone is the daughter of Khammanh and Phayboun
Vathanaphone of Holland.
Barbara Albers, director of Project TEACH
(Teachers Entering a Career Through Hope), applauded the
three students for their commitment to a career goal while
still early in their high school experiences.
"They're very young, yet they know what they want
to do--and they each very definitely want to be a teacher,"
she said. "Each of them talked about making a difference in
students' lives."
Albers also complimented the students for their
academic qualities and character. She added that while she
believes that the three new participants are outstanding,
the selection process wasn't easy.
"It was hard to choose this year because so many
of the applicants were extremely well qualified," she said.
Project TEACH will be adding three high school
students per year until a total of 21 students are involved.
The program provides instructional and mentoring support for
the high schoolers, who begin as sophomores and juniors, and
will add scholarship aid for them as Hope students.
The program's goal is to help local students while
increasing the number of minorities who become teachers
locally. Approximately 39 percent of the 5,644 students in
the Holland Public Schools during 1996-97 were non-white,
while about six percent of the teachers were. In the West
Ottawa Public Schools, the percentages were 14 and five
respectively.