Rutgers enrichment program celebrates first graduates

Around this time five years ago, Erika Bumbrey, then a rising eighth grader at Camden's Davis Elementary School, heard of a new and potentially life-changing program out of Rutgers University: Future Scholars, a mentoring, support, and enrichment program starting in the summer after seventh grade and lasting through high school.

For those who completed the program and met entrance requirements, a big prize awaited: a full academic scholarship to Rutgers. It was being offered to about 200 students - 50 in each of Rutgers' home communities, including Camden.

But Bumbrey, petite with pastel braces, wasn't jazzed.

"At first I thought it was just a summer program," and one that sounded a lot like school, she recalled. "I just want to go to a recreation program, go on trips."

In the end, her mother and father, both Camden School District custodial workers, made her apply. Before long, she got to like it.

Flash forward five years. Bumbrey, 18, will graduate from Brimm Medical Arts High School on June 21. Starting with the fall semester, she will be attending Rutgers-Camden as a biology major, free of tuition and fees. Her goal is to be become an obstetrician-gynecologist.

She would recommend Future Scholars to anyone.

"Before, I wasn't even thinking about college," she said.

Bumbrey is part of Future Scholars' first graduating class. Wednesday evening, she and her classmates were feted at the Camden County Boathouse, celebrating their prospects.

Of the 183 students in the first class statewide, 180 are expected to graduate from high school this month, according to program officials. That's no small feat. The numbers are still fluid, but 97 say they plan to attend Rutgers, and many of the others intend to go to other colleges, program staff said.

Locally, 47 Camden students started the program, 37 are graduating, 25 have been accepted to one of the Rutgers campuses, and about 20 have indicated they plan to go, according to Nyeema Watson, director of public school partnerships at Rutgers-Camden.

At Camden's two general high schools, Camden and Woodrow Wilson, the graduation rates are only about 45 percent.

Some of the Future Scholars students completed the program but did not meet Rutgers' admission standards. Those students can opt to go to a county college, improve their academic performance, and transfer to Rutgers on scholarship.

These have been years of discovery for the students and program staff.

"We have learned a lot in these five years," said Watson, herself a Wilson graduate.

Some of those lessons have led to adjustment to the program. One was the high level of support the students need for the personal and emotional upheaval - loss, stress, death - that are frequent guests in these young people's lives.

Another was the need to introduce greater rigor in the students' academic preparation to make them more competitive with students from other backgrounds, Watson said.

"These are kids who are motivated, work very hard, and are doing what is expected of them in the schools they are in," she said, but may still fall short of what colleges expect.

The students and the families also get counseling about affordability and financial aid, but that process is complex and every student's financial information is different, Watson said.

Growing up, Harvey Mills, 17, moved around a lot, changing schools almost every year for a big chunk of elementary school. But that didn't stop him from becoming Wilson's valedictorian. He said he has pretty much a free ride to Rutgers in New Brunswick. He plans to become a nurse-practitioner.

He didn't like having to get up early on Saturdays to get to Future Scholars enrichment classes, but said the program was a big help.

"Ms. Nyeema is like a mother figure to me," Mills said.

Athena Torres, 18, plans to study nursing at Rutgers-Newark. She said she will probably have to get loans to pay for room and board. Soon to graduate from Brimm, she's grateful to Future Scholars for helping her get this far.

"The SAT, oh, my God. It helped so much," Torres said.

Brianna Walker, 18, could have gone to Rutgers, but she visited Spelman College, a highly ranked, traditionally black, female college in Atlanta and fell in love with the school.

Money, she knows, is an issue. She said that after her aid, she still will have to come up with about $20,000 a year.

"At the end of the day, I'm doing it for my family," said Walker, who graduates from LEAP Academy University Charter's Upper School on June 28 and wants one day to pay off her parents' house and help her younger brothers through college.

"I want to be, like, 'Don't worry about anything. I got this for you,' " Walker said.

This is what she wants for herself:

"I don't want to be the statistic, 'Oh, she's from Camden. She's not going to do anything.' I want to be the difference."

Erika Bumbrey is excited to be graduating, but she is a little worried, too. She knows college isn't going to be easy. While in Future Scholars, she took two courses at Rutgers.

"I learned you had to read the chapters before the class," she said.

She's not anxious to go off on her own too soon.

"I'm not really excited about growing up," she said. "It's too much. I can stay small for a little while longer."

And if she needs a shoulder or a hand, the folks at Future Scholars won't be far away.