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Former Yale student-athlete Melton helps at-risk students

Aug 4, 2010 8:18:14 AM

When Patricia Melton was a track student-athlete at Yale, she won a national championship in the hurdles. Since her graduation in 1982, Melton has helped kids in urban areas jump over their own hurdles toward education.

Her latest venture brought college students – including student-athletes – together to teach and mentor high school students in an educational experience that touched students on both sides of the classroom.

Passionate about finding new ways to help kids learn, Melton, who was recognized by the NCAA as a Silver Anniversary Award winner in 2007 (the award honors former student-athletes 25 years after graduation), is an education consultant who helps states and communities design school programs for under-served and low-income urban high school students.

She wasn't afraid to use her status as a former student-athlete and NCAA award winner to recruit college students, including several student-athletes, to help with the X-mester program.

X-mester is a combination of the acronym for "Early College High School" (ECHS, pronounced "X") and "semester." The ECHS experience allows high school students at nontraditional schools to earn both their high school diploma and their associate's degree at the same time. The ECHS approach is based on the principle that academic rigor and the opportunity to earn both the diploma and associate's degree can motivate low-income, at-risk students to achieve in the classroom.

X-mester is a spinoff of the ECHS experience and offers an intense, two-week program at Vincennes University in Indiana in which high school students earn college credit while also getting a taste of college life by sleeping in dorms and learning to budget their time. Available to students who have completed their junior year of high school, the program simulates the first year of college by integrating academic success, independent learning and leadership skills.

"The summer component, X-mester, is a summer away on a college campus to give students a residential experience so they will know what it's like going into that first year away at a four-year institution," Melton said. "It's very demanding work in a short time."

At first, the high school students aren't used to the accelerated pace of college courses, Melton said, and they face some challenges. But that's where the fellows, assigned to live in the dorms and work with the high school students on a daily basis, step in to help.

Several student-athletes served as fellows, teaching a course on leadership and mentoring the high school students.

"We thought they would be great role models for these students," Melton said. "We wanted them to pass along what have been their keys for success at the college level, balancing their academic life, their social life and their athletics life."

As a former student-athlete, Melton knows that lifestyle demands commitment, discipline and balance, all traits she was trying to instill in the high school students.

The program also provided student-athletes who were interested in education as a career with a meaningful community-service experience that fit their schedules. Trey Peacock, a football student-athlete from Princeton, said the project appealed to him because he knows the importance of a good educational foundation. He calls the X-mester fellowship the "best thing I've ever done in my life so far."

"I went to a public high school, and a lot of the kids who attend Ivy League schools went to private schools, so they had a leg up," he said. "To me, it's clear that schooling and what your school has to offer can unlock so many doors for you. This early college program – allowing you to get your high school diploma as well as your associate's degree – is invaluable."

Melton said that in the program evaluation forms, completed by both the high school students and the fellows, the program clearly had a major impact on both groups. Brittney Smith, a basketball player at Dartmouth, said the X-mester fellowship turned a passing interest in education into a passion.

"Before the internship, I never had an experience in which I could teach in a classroom, share fellowship with students during fun activities and counsel them about life issues," Smith said. "Now I know that I want to actively get involved with eliminating educational inequalities when I graduate."

Smith plans to apply for teaching programs such as Teach for America after she finishes her degree at Dartmouth.

Jessie Rhee, a tennis student-athlete from Yale, said she was attracted to the program's ability to give her an in-depth teaching experience. She also liked the fact that Melton was a fellow Bulldog. She was intimidated by the high school students at first, and they both had to spend time figuring each other out, but by the end of the program, Rhee felt the problems she had at the beginning only helped her build a deeper connection to the students.

She encouraged other student-athletes to apply to the program in the future.

"If you're not afraid of a challenge, you enjoy working with students and you want to make a difference, then definitely apply," she said. "There's nothing more rewarding than making a difference, even if it's just one person."