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When Mount Pleasant High School’s Samuel Pipkin walks across the graduation stage in a few weeks, he’ll have something he never expected – a plan for the future.
It took four years of hard work and dedication through Delaware Futures for Pipkin, 18, of Wilmington, to transform from a kid who just didn’t care to a young man bound for college and a career.
He was one of 12 high school seniors who recently graduated from Delaware Futures, a rigorous supplemental education program that prepares at-risk kids for college, through academics and service work, then helps them get there.
And after he was selected to be in Delaware Futures as a rising ninth grader, the difference was night and day, he said.
“Instead of trying to be a cool, popular guy, I just wanted to get better grades,” he said.
The teachers and mentors at Delaware Futures told Pipkin in no uncertain terms that the kinds of grades he was getting, C’s and D’s, wouldn’t be good enough to get him into college.
Through a weekly homework club, Pipkin worked to improve his grades, but it was a Delaware Futures wilderness expedition that really spoke to him.
During the camping trip, which was dampened by an unyielding rainstorm, he said he experienced true independence while setting up tents and working together with his peers.
“It woke me up and made me realize that one day I will be on my own and I will have to fend for myself,” he said.
He returned with new resolve and a drive to succeed after graduating from high school. Pipkin credits Delaware Futures with helping him find the path to success, and the path to college – he will enroll at Goldey-Beacom College in the fall and plans to major in marketing.
Someday, he hopes to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, and Pipkin is sure the lessons he learned about teamwork and dedication through Delaware Futures will help him achieve his goals.
When Mount Pleasant High School’s Samuel Pipkin walks across the graduation stage in a few weeks, he’ll have something he never expected – a plan for the future.
It took four years of hard work and dedication through Delaware Futures for Pipkin, 18, of Wilmington, to transform from a kid who just didn’t care to a young man bound for college and a career.
He was one of 12 high school seniors who recently graduated from Delaware Futures, a rigorous supplemental education program that prepares at-risk kids for college, through academics and service work, then helps them get there.
And after he was selected to be in Delaware Futures as a rising ninth grader, the difference was night and day, he said.
“Instead of trying to be a cool, popular guy, I just wanted to get better grades,” he said.
The teachers and mentors at Delaware Futures told Pipkin in no uncertain terms that the kinds of grades he was getting, C’s and D’s, wouldn’t be good enough to get him into college.
Through a weekly homework club, Pipkin worked to improve his grades, but it was a Delaware Futures wilderness expedition that really spoke to him.
During the camping trip, which was dampened by an unyielding rainstorm, he said he experienced true independence while setting up tents and working together with his peers.
“It woke me up and made me realize that one day I will be on my own and I will have to fend for myself,” he said.
He returned with new resolve and a drive to succeed after graduating from high school. Pipkin credits Delaware Futures with helping him find the path to success, and the path to college – he will enroll at Goldey-Beacom College in the fall and plans to major in marketing.
Someday, he hopes to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, and Pipkin is sure the lessons he learned about teamwork and dedication through Delaware Futures will help him achieve his goals.
