50 Kelso students get college scholarships

A nine-year journey ended Tuesday for about 50 high school students who, as fourth-graders at Wallace Elementary, were promised college scholarships if they completed high school.

For Kelso High School senior Katrina Hobbs, the I Have A Dream program and its volunteer mentors helped her become the first high school graduate in her family.

"I couldn't have done that without this program. They didn't let me tell myself, 'I can't do anything,'" said Katrina, 18, who plans to join the military after graduation.

I Have a Dream, a nationwide nonprofit organization that helps students pay for college, guaranteed tuition assistance to the entire fourth-grade class at Wallace Elementary in 2000 if they graduated from high school. Eleven sponsors, groups and individuals, each donated $50,000 to support the program.

Sixty-two started in the program and 50 will graduate this year, said Margaret Lapic, a sponsor and mentor.

Students, their families and mentors gathered for the last time Tuesday night at Wallace Elementary. They ate pizza and ice cream, and reminisced.

I Have A Dream will provide students a full-ride scholarship to Lower Columbia College for two years and up to $2,000 per year at a four-year university, Lapic said. Mentors also helped students apply for scholarships and financial aid.

Jessica Asmus, 17, thanked program organizers Tuesday for helping her get the money to even apply to colleges. She plans to attend Whitman College in Walla Walla in the fall to study genetics.

Mentors also encouraged her, especially after her mother died when Jessica was in the fourth grade.

"It's a big support system for not only school, but everything," she said.

Besides helping with school, mentors spent time with students on activities such as hiking, baking cookies, traveling to the Seattle aquarium, visiting art museums and exploring college campuses.

"These are like family, these girls," said Dottie Koontz, who mentored three girls and recruited sponsors.

Project coordinator Tobie Stone Crocker said she wanted students to see the world outside Kelso and discover opportunities that exist.

She told students to pursue their dreams and remember it's OK if it they don't finish college right away because, "I Have a Dream still believes in all of you," she said.

Several students stood up and thanked Crocker for her support. Crocker, who took over the post from Skip Mezger in August 2002, has had offices at Wallace Elementary, Coweeman Middle School and Kelso High School to be available to students every day.

"Tobie has been a highly energetic, flexible person who has done an excellent job," Lapic said. "I call her the 'super mentor.' A lot of what she does is similar to what (other mentors) do, but she's there every day and receiving a lot more information from kids."

Kelso resident Kim Buffon has twin daughters graduating with the I Have a Dream class. As a single parent raising four children, Buffon always told her children that graduating from high school and attending college were keys to success, but she had concerns about financing education.

"Scholarships and financial aid can only carry you so far. Then this came along and it was a godsend," she said.

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Information from: The Daily News, http://www.tdn.com