Withrow University High School, Cincinnati, OH

Over half of the graduates who go on to college at Cincinnati's Withrow University High School—where 84 percent of the students are African American—are the first in their families to do so. Many lack basic facts about life in college, how to succeed, and how to choose the path that's right for them. A team of students at Withrow believes that having a group of college role models that could answer questions and give advice would help them and their peers better prepare for college.

Working with the Multicultural Affairs Office at Xavier University, a private Jesuit university a stone's throw from Withrow, the students conducted interviews and designed a survey for undergraduates to determine their feelings about the high school preparation they had received. They met with several of Xavier's student leadership organizations and African-American sororities and organized an on-campus overnight for 9th and 10th grade females, as well as a meeting between the student governments of both schools. Finally, the students wove all they learned—along with facts and figures about minority college access and inspirational quotes—into a multi media Powerpoint presentation, which they will show to peers at their and other Cincinnati high schools.

Final Products Our Powerpoint presentation (16.8 MB) "College in the 'Hood?" Results from our interviews and surveys with a group of African-American Xavier students

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