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Marcus Bigbee, 15, provides
the hands while Jim Gregory, 24, provides the mouth in this
game of communication and trust at the Martin Luther King Center
in Indianapolis. Photo by Tom Campbell
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"I'd like to be a college professor some day," says Gregory,
"and what I learn will help me develop a teaching style I can use
in the classroom."
He's also being exposed to a more culturally diverse
society at the same time.
"It's been great to work with the kids," Gregory says. "This
has definitely been a unique cross-cultural experience for me."
That is one of the reasons the program originated, says Pam Morris,
an assistant professor/Extension specialist for the state 4-H/Youth
Development Department and High Hopes instructor.
"Many of the students graduating from Purdue were from rural or
small towns," she says. "They were getting jobs as teachers
in large communities or urban areas and had no exposure to minority
students. If these students could become involved with tutoring and
mentoring inner city kids while they were still in school, they would
not experience cultural shock once they graduated and entered the classrooms.
"At the start of the semester, we asked the kids who were being
tutored what they envisioned for their own future. Some said they wanted
to work at McDonald's, some said they were going to be professional
athletes, but only a couple of the students said they wanted to go to
college after high school. We repeated the exercise recently, and we
didn't have a single student that didn't say they wanted to go to college."
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