2 Banneker students receive Gates scholarship - attending Harvard and Brown

[Anonymous]

It's interesting that neither Thomas Jefferson nor Blair could muster a single winner.

[Anonymous]

You need to demonstrate financial need. Students who attend Blair and TJ typically are not low income. Congrats to these young men.

Anonymous wrote:It's interesting that neither Thomas Jefferson nor Blair could muster a single winner.

[Anonymous]

Blair has a FARMS rate of around 50%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this Gates scholarship only awarded to low income teens? I've never heard of anyone winning one in my neck of the woods (those these teens win all manner of things, like NMSF, Jefferson, Intel semi finals, etc).

Green with envy?

No, genuinely curious because I have never known a peer's child to win a Gates Millennium Scholarship.

So I looked up the criteria on the Gates Foundation site and confirmed that this particular award is indeed given to talented, hardworking and smart teens who are black, Native American, Pacific Islander , Hispanic American and Asian Pacific Islanders.

Further, the candidates must meet the income eligibility for Pell grants, which rules out kids from homes above a certain HHI.

Then and only then will Gates begin considering their achievements.

In any case, congrats to these two guys!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a fair point. Low SES DC public school kids aren't held to the same Ivy standards as upper middle-income kids. For good reason perhaps but it is what it is for high SES families.

Damn, you people can't give these kids credit for anything. Anytime one of them do something good, you always find an excuse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Banneker and Brown alum here, I'm so happy for these kids. Both have bright futures ahead of them.

Credit goes to you as well for upholding the high bar for achievement in the District.

[Anonymous]

I have an important question. Why don't more white parents send their children to Banneker? It appears that the District's white parents only see SWW and Wilson as viable high school options for their high performing children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have an important question. Why don't more white parents send their children to Banneker? It appears that the District's white parents only see SWW and Wilson as viable high school options for their high performing children.

You know the answer to that question PP. Black and brown children are acceptable in small doses only.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have an important question. Why don't more white parents send their children to Banneker? It appears that the District's white parents only see SWW and Wilson as viable high school options for their high performing children.

You know the answer to that question PP. Black and brown children are acceptable in small doses only.

White students at Wilson comprise just 25% of the total student body. I would hardly quantify the remaining 75% "black and brown" students as a small dose. At School Without Walls, white students comprise just 36% of the student body. I'd start looking for other reasons why whites don't attend Banneker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a fair point. Low SES DC public school kids aren't held to the same Ivy standards as upper middle-income kids. For good reason perhaps but it is what it is for high SES families.

The point is not fair. Yours is the typical American ethnic majority response. Any time a non-white works hard, studies harder, and scores equally as well on the standardized test of choice (ACT or SAT) as white students, and gets accepted to an ivy league school or earns a scholarship, it is because the standards are lowered. Obviously, you are of the mindset that some white child is displaced any time a Black or Latino student gets accepted into a university. Since you've decided to bring up the issue of standards. All students in DCPS, whether high SES (code for white) or low SES (code for non-white) have to take the DC CAS. In order to be accepted at Banneker, students must score proficient or advanced. Students at Banneker are enrolled in one of two programs upon admission, International Baccalaureate or Advanced Placement. Bottom line is this, no DCPS or DCPCS High School has higher test scores, higher graduation rates, higher college acceptance rates, or higher academic standards than Benjamin Banneker Academic High School.

My suggestion to you and others of your similar ignorant mindset is to eliminate your false sense of self and accept the fact that high SES (white) are not necessarily God's gift to the world.

racist rant. you stub your toe when your inherent racism creeps into your post. otherwise, I appreciate you posting about standards at Banneker, but stop there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have an important question. Why don't more white parents send their children to Banneker? It appears that the District's white parents only see SWW and Wilson as viable high school options for their high performing children.

You know the answer to that question PP. Black and brown children are acceptable in small doses only.

White students at Wilson comprise just 25% of the total student body. I would hardly quantify the remaining 75% "black and brown" students as a small dose. At School Without Walls, white students comprise just 36% of the student body. I'd start looking for other reasons why whites don't attend Banneker.

First of all, respect and congratulations to the 2 kids for these great achievements!

I agree with PPs point. Wilson and Walls are majority-minority.

The "why so few whites at Banneker" issue has been debated on many other threads. But it is worth rehashing here. My personal experience (we're white) is that DCPS sends the message that whites are not welcome at Banneker. They don't say it in so many words, but it is there. I asked the Deal principal (Kim) and the guidance counselors "what about Banneker for my kid" and there response was never enthusiastic. And the AA Deal parent I asked (whose child not not apply to Banneker) said "Banneker is for the have-nots" and implied that my kid wouldn't be comfortable there. So there you have it. If for next year's 8th graders DCPS says loud and clear at high school presentations that all students are encouraged to apply to Banneker, then whites and Asians will also apply.

The bigger question is how DCPS is handling selective schools overall. The undermining of SWW by merging it with Francis-Stevens is unconscionable. We need strong selective schools that produce high achievers like these two, as well as good programs for the middle and bottom of the curve.

[Anonymous]

Wonderful story, thanks for sharing OP. My rising 9th grader is going to Banneker in the fall!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's interesting that neither Thomas Jefferson nor Blair could muster a single winner.

They have Presidential scholars which actually does not award any money: Ivies and other elite colleges award financial assistance for "need based" only, not academics or athletics.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]If for next year's 8th graders DCPS says loud and clear at high school presentations that all students are encouraged to apply to Banneker, then whites and Asians will also apply.[/quote]

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have an important question. Why don't more white parents send their children to Banneker? It appears that the District's white parents only see SWW and Wilson as viable high school options for their high performing children.

You know the answer to that question PP. Black and brown children are acceptable in small doses only.

White students at Wilson comprise just 25% of the total student body. I would hardly quantify the remaining 75% "black and brown" students as a small dose. At School Without Walls, white students comprise just 36% of the student body. I'd start looking for other reasons why whites don't attend Banneker.

First of all, respect and congratulations to the 2 kids for these great achievements!

I agree with PPs point. Wilson and Walls are majority-minority.

The "why so few whites at Banneker" issue has been debated on many other threads. But it is worth rehashing here. My personal experience (we're white) is that DCPS sends the message that whites are not welcome at Banneker. They don't say it in so many words, but it is there. I asked the Deal principal (Kim) and the guidance counselors "what about Banneker for my kid" and there response was never enthusiastic. And the AA Deal parent I asked (whose child not not apply to Banneker) said "Banneker is for the have-nots" and implied that my kid wouldn't be comfortable there. So there you have it. If for next year's 8th graders DCPS says loud and clear at high school presentations that all students are encouraged to apply to Banneker, then whites and Asians will also apply.

The bigger question is how DCPS is handling selective schools overall. The undermining of SWW by merging it with Francis-Stevens is unconscionable. We need strong selective schools that produce high achievers like these two, as well as good programs for the middle and bottom of the curve.

Uh, why don't you go and see for yourself, pp? This is what drives me crazy about this discussion, people making decisions based on something they heard from some other parent who has never been to Banneker. When my kid applied to magnet programs, we went to all the open houses we could and I was blown away by how organized the Banneker open house was. It was on a Saturday and yet the administrators, teachers, and students were all there. The students took us on tours of the school and they were lovely kids who talked about how hard they had to work. Our tour guide had left Georgetown Day to attend Banneker. In contrast, the SWW open house was a disorganized mess that had a few teachers and a few current parents and no current students at all.

Granted, you can't tell everything from a tour of the school so you have to do more than that - but it amazes me the assumptions people have about Banneker when they've never bothered to even cross the threshold of the school building. Do people have to have their hands held and be begged to even come look at the school? Seems like it wouldn't take much out of one's weekend to attend a simple open house.

BTW, my white kid was not accepted because when she went into her interview she told the committee that she couldn't handle pressure. At that point in time, it was not the right place for her. They make the students work hard there and the student tour guides were quite honest about that up front. Is this something that white middle and upper class families can't handle?