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Key Awareness profiles Rantisha Whitaker
12/18/2009 6:59 AM by John M
The December issue of Key Awareness (PDF) has a profile of recent VCU graduate Rantisha Whitaker:
Rantisha never gave a second thought to the so-called label of being an at-risk student from Fairfield Court, a Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority community. Rantisha remained a scholar role student continuously as she breezed through Whitcomb Court Elementary, Fairfield Court Elementary on to Mosby Middle School (now Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School) into Kennedy High (now Armstrong High) graduating with a 4.1 GPA (Grade Point Average). “It got a little testy around high school, more demanding, but I remained studious,” she commented.
Congratulations Rantisha!!! I loved reading your story and I know you will inspire others!
Great story, John! Thank you for sharing. I love the last quote from Victor Hugo: “He who opens a school door, closes a prison.”
Although I doubt the quote is directly applicable to Rantisha’s, it did remind me of something Governor Kaine said today in his budget pronouncement to the General Assembly: the Virginia Department of Corrections is now our state’s largest agency. I respect the work of our correctional officers, but what a shame it is that Virgina’s resources must be spent in that way instead of ensuring we have more success stories like Rantisha.
One piece of good news from the Governor’s speech was his expressed intention to delay the effect of the composite index changes on Richmond’s (and all) public schools across the Commonwealth. This could have meant even deeper cuts to our school system in an already terrible budget year.