Lonzell Wright (L) works with an Exelon volunteer and other students on a resume building exercise

It takes guts to be the first volunteer.

At the second in a year-long series of career development workshops sponsored by United Way of Metropolitan Chicago and the Exelon Corporation, Lonzell Wright was chosen for the mock interview exercise by Exelon volunteer Matt Bambrick, a former Army sergeant with a 10-year career of service.

Matt put Lonzell, a senior at Wendell Phillips Academy, through his paces, asking him to go out of the conference room into the hallway, come in the door and pretend that he was interviewing for a position at Exelon.

When Lonzell came into the room and greeted Matt with a hug, even this Army man couldn’t keep a straight face. “Let’s try that again…” Matt chuckled as Lonzell and his fellow students erupted in laughter.

On his second try, Lonzell greeted Matt with a firm handshake and got down to answering his interview questions.

Exelon volunteer Matt Bambrick works with a student in his small group during a session on preparing for job interviews

“Why do you want this job?”

“I’m hardworking, I get good grades and I’m a leader.” Lonzell cited his perfect grades in AP science and his participation in his school’s senior mentor program.

“Where do you see yourself in five years?” asked Matt.

“In college, studying communications and broadcast journalism.  I already know where I want to go…either Langston [University] or ISU.”

Rashada Dawan of the Illinois Center for Violence Prevention closes the workshop with a session on finding career mentors

By the end of the workshop the students had learned what to expect in a job interview and what to include in a resume. Rashada Dawan of the Illinois Center for Violence Prevention gave the students homework for the next session: to find a “hero” in their field of interest – someone whose experience can show them the steps to success.

Lonzell’s real hero is his mother. “She supports me, she comes to every one of my baseball games, she is my hero.” But his professional hero is WGCI radio personality Tony Sculfield. “I really like listening to him. He supports everybody – children, adults. He gives good advice to everybody.”

Lonzell said that the workshop helped him identify his strengths and how to present his skills to future employers. He’s confident that his intelligence and positive attitude will be an asset for him, and compared the business world with the familiar challenges of sports.

“There’s going to be pressure. You’ve got to be patient, you’ve got to be calm, relaxed and play your best game.”

Lonzell, Matt and more than 150 other students and Exelon mentors will meet again this Saturday, January 30th, at Exelon’s downtonwn headquarters to take the next step toward career and college success.

It’s a bleary, chilly Saturday morning. One hundred fifty kids from different schools and different neighborhoods in Chicago are meeting each other for the first time at The Field Museum. Some are laughing, some are still rubbing the sleep out of their eyes, many are sticking with their friends and group leaders as they eat breakfast and complete an icebreaker activity.

But Maurice Nutall and Pedro Feliciano have seen this play out before.

“This program is about building trust,” explains Pedro. “Each workshop you go to, you start to build that trust, and by the end of the program, a lot of the kids become friends.”

The program is a series of Saturday workshops sponsored by the Exelon Corporation as part of United Way Stay in School Initiative. The Stay in School Initiative strives to improve graduation rates and attendance in communities with some of the highest dropout rates in the city.

Over the course of the next school year, students from Austin, Bronzeville/Grand Boulevard and Humboldt Park/West Town will meet one Saturday a month with Exelon employee mentors like Maurice and Pedro for interactive professional development sessions. At the end of the year, students will interview and compete for internships at United Way, Exelon and partner community agencies.

Maurice and Pedro have been volunteering for the Saturday workshops for the past few years. Both of them were raised in communities that had their share of problems – Maurice in south suburban Robbins and Pedro on Chicago’s south side. Both of them saw friends fall victim to bad choices like crime and drugs. But both of them stayed focused, completed their education and have successful careers at ComEd.

And both men know how important it is for teenagers to have consistent and committed adults to guide them as they make key decisions about their futures.

“It’s important to be involved in these kids’ lives,” says Maurice. “You can’t just sit back and watch the way it’s going. Growing up in a similar environment, when you see a lot of the things that are happening on TV, you’re not immune just because you moved out.”

Pedro and Maurice recognize the challenge of encouraging more men – especially men of color – to volunteer for youth programs.

“Men need to get out of their comfort zone a little,” Pedro says. “There’s this assumption that women are more nurturing. But everybody has the same amount of time – 24 hours a day.”

And Maurice stresses that kids are getting guidance from volunteers that they don’t get from their families or the neighborhood. “When they come here, we open up the light on them and say you can do it.”

“Guidance and trust is what they get from us. Here, we try to lead by example…You have to be committed to it.”

Students who participated in an innovative after-school program last year had a 96 percent graduation rate, well above the 54.3 percent average for Chicago Public Schools (CPS)*.  These results were reported in an annual report card issued last week for the Exelon-United Way Stay in School Initiative, which was created by Exelon and the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago.  The results were announced Oct. 24 at the Field Museum, where the program kicked off its sixth year.

ABC 7 anchor Karen Jordan and husband NBC reporter Christian Farr (center) pose with students from the Exelon-United Way Stay In School Initiative holding the results of the program's annual "report card."

 The kick-off featured ABC 7 anchor, Karen Jordan and her husband NBC 5 reporter, Christian Farr who spoke to the students about the importance of staying in school. Click here for more photos.

The Stay in School program is focused on improving graduation rates and stemming truancy in three Chicago communities with some of the highest dropout and truancy rates in the city.  According to CPS statistics, dropout rates in the Austin, Bronzeville/Grand Boulevard and Humboldt Park/West Town communities are well above the CPS average. 

In addition to yielding higher graduation rates, the Stay in School program promotes higher grades, higher attendance rates and pro-social behaviors.  This year’s report card findings reinforce that at-risk students can achieve academic success with the right mix of attention and activities.  The report card captures data from the 316 students who participated most intensively in Stay in School programs and services during the 2008-2009 school year.
• 96 percent of Stay in School seniors graduated from high school or obtained a GED, compared to the CPS graduation rate of 54.3 percent, in 2008. 

• 86 percent of Stay in School students were promoted to the next grade level.  In 2008, only 59 percent of CPS freshmen were on track for graduation.

• 76 percent of Stay in School students had at least a 90 percent school attendance rate.  Attendance is a major challenge for schools in these communities, with schools experiencing average daily attendance rates as low as 68 percent. 

• 74 percent of Stay in School students improved at least one grade in core courses, such as math, science and English.  Almost all students with a B average or better at the end of their freshman year graduate, compared to only a quarter of those with a D average. (Source: What Matters for Staying On-Track and Graduating in Chicago Public Schools 2007)

• 71 percent of Stay in School students increased their pro-social behaviors, such as participation in out-of-school and leadership activities, involvement in the community and non-violent conflict resolution.

United Way and Exelon launched the Stay in School program in 2004 to serve students in 10 schools with enhanced after-school programs.  At that time, statistics showed the citywide dropout rate had reached critical levels, especially for young males of color/belonging to minority groups: 61 percent for African-American males and 49 percent for Latino males.  The Stay in School Initiative has served more than 7,500 students, ages 10-20, since its inception.  During this school year, another 2,000 students will participate. Click here to view the full report. 

The partnership has created a holistic menu of programming that includes tutoring, college readiness, life skills and violence-prevention workshops, parent and family activities and a reward-and-recognition program for achieving students.  Exelon also created a companion job skills development workshop series that provides up to eight paid internships each year.

“This program has forever transformed my sense of self-esteem and my commitment to academics,” said Tierra Clark, a former Stay in School student from Fredick Douglass High School in Austin and now attending Northern Illinois University.  “Our mentors from Exelon help us understand what we need to do in order to be better prepared for our futures.”

Since 2004, Exelon has contributed $1.7 million to fund the Exelon-United Way Stay in School.  Education is a signature focus of Exelon’s corporate citizenship program.  The company and its 1,500 employee volunteers believe that educational achievement is the dividing line between economic isolation and opportunity.  Education is also a key focus of United Way, which provides the leadership and resources students need to grow into independent adults.

“These report card results indicate that we continue to make an impact in addressing the problem of student dropout rates in these communities,” said Steve Solomon, director of corporate relations at Exelon.  “We look forward to constantly evolving this partnership and keeping it fresh so that we are delivering the services that are most needed to support the academic success of the students.”

“The commitment from the volunteer mentors at Exelon has provided the Stay in School students with positive role models who stick with them over time,” said CJ Jones, director of outreach and diversity for United Way of Metropolitan Chicago. “This partnership is a prime example of corporate leadership reaching out to community experts for meaningful change.”

About United Way
United Way of Metropolitan Chicago improves lives by mobilizing caring people to invest in the community where their resources are needed most.  Spanning 238 communities across five counties, United Way of Metropolitan Chicago is the largest non-governmental funder of health and human service programs in the region.  Every United Way funded program must demonstrate measurable results to ensure that each contribution makes the greatest impact for those who need it most.

About Exelon
Exelon Corporation is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities with nearly $19 billion in annual revenues. The company has one of the industry’s largest portfolios of electricity generation capacity, with a nationwide reach and strong positions in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. Exelon distributes electricity to approximately 5.4 million customers in northern Illinois and southeastern Pennsylvania and natural gas to 485,000 customers in the Philadelphia area. Exelon is headquartered in Chicago and trades on the NYSE under the ticker EXC.

*CPS Office of Research, Evaluation and Accountability

Stay in School Initiative

FY08 Report of Outcomes

October 18, 2008

The Exelon United Way Stay in School Initiative provides valuable after-school programming to help middle school and high school students with the support they need to advance to the next grade level and graduate.

Higlights:

Stay in School outcomes for Core Group only:

• 284, or 75% of students showed at least a 90% school attendance rate.
• 256, or 67% of students improved at least one grade in a core course (reading/language arts, math, science, social studies or foreign language).
• 275, or 71% of students increased pro-social behaviors (from initial intake at beginning of year to the end of the year evaluation).
• 341 or 86% of non-seniors were eligible for promotion to the next grade level.
• 93% graduated from high school.

Read the whole report