DURHAM -- The statistics on black male achievement aren't pretty: African-American males are nearly twice as likely to drop out of high school than white males, and they score an average of 323 points lower on the SAT than their white counterparts.
But 50 Northern High School students aren't letting those numbers, from a 2010 Council of the Great City Schools report, define them. The 25 rising freshmen and 25 upperclassmen are part of Young Men of Progress, a Northern program that aims to close the achievement gap and grow strong black male leaders.
"Many of our Northern students are doing extraordinary things," said Matt Hunt, a Northern assistant principal who helped start the program in the summer of 2010. "And the teachers, but more importantly the students, don't believe that those national trends define who they are."
To kick off the program's second year, participants have spent the past two weeks meeting with leaders like schools Superintendent Eric Becoats, working to beautify Northern's campus and touring college campuses -- where they mingled with the likes of No. 1 NBA draft pick Kyrie Irving and the Duke football team.
"I didn't know stuff like this was an option," rising senior Tyree Batson said of the opportunities that the program opened his eyes to. "I guess you could say I was a statistic."
Esther Cooper, Northern's media coordinator, said the program is doing a good job of exposing students to the possibility of attending college. "They know of Duke, but not everyone has been on campus. And they know about North Carolina Central University, but they may not have been on campus," she said. "Once you place students on campus, there's a whole new world for them to see.
When Batson started high school, "life was a game," he said. But now, he has a laser focus on the future, with a goal of entering the medical or law fields.
He and other upperclassmen hope the 25 rising freshmen in Young Men of Progress will have even brighter futures than they do.
"Maybe they can learn from our mistakes," fellow rising senior Arnold Chanakira said. "Freshman year does determine where you're going to go. If you mess up your GPA freshman year, it's really hard to get it back up."
Thanks to an NEA Foundation grant, the program was able to expand its reach this year to 50 students, up from the 36 who participated last year.
The enrichment opportunities won't stop as the summer winds down, said Hunt, the district's 2009 Teacher of the Year. Freshman program participants will take a leadership-focused high school seminar class together, and all students will continue to take field trips and hear from guest speakers. In addition, the young men will participate in academic lunches in which older students assist younger ones with schoolwork.
During a recent tour of Duke University, program participants -- experts on what high school students think -- offered their insight to a group of Duke Master of Arts in Teaching students, several of whom will start student teaching at Northern this fall.
"All students are different," one Northern student reminded the future teachers. "Teach in a way that some kids who aren't as strong will understand."
"Have a fun side and a serious side," said another. "The students will respect you, and they'll try to get good grades."
Each of the Young Men of Progress students was selected for participation because a teacher, administrator or counselor saw a spark of something special in them -- the potential to be a great leader.
Dot Croslan, another Northern assistant principal, she sees a disproportionate number of young women taking on far more leadership roles on campus. She hopes that by meeting "true leaders" in the community who look much like themselves, the young African-American men will "grab hold and go running."
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