Starting in high school there are always the worries about saving for college. Constantly asking when to save and how much to save. Saving for college is becoming a big deal now that college tuition has gone up.

“Students and parents alike spend their valuable time and hard-earned money to get into the right school and earn their college degree,” said Patricia Sadar, an adjunct professor at Florida International University.

by Chauleaqua Washington

With City High Charter High School in its 10th year of existence much will be changing this school year, from the location of the school to the senior class curriculum that should better the school overall.

City High, located on Liberty Avenue in the Clark building, will be moving January 2012 to its new location at the Verizon building on Stanwix Street. That will not be the only change, however. Healthier lunches and more space will be introduced to students.

DRAY COTTINGHAM IN FRONT OF CITY HIGH (Photo by J.L. Martello)

“The school is being moved for two reasons,” Mario Zinga, school co-founder, said. “The main reason is the school needs (more) space.” He said, even though the school would have gotten more floors if it had stayed in the old building, they believed that the move was best, because they would have had to split up each grade on separate floors if they had stayed.

As the three-day PromiseNet 2001 conference highlighting the success of the Pittsburgh Promise and its counterparts in other cities drew to its close, five college students who had received Promise scholarships took the stage to give their assessments of how well the programs work.

All expressed their deep gratitude, saying they would not have had the opportunity to attend college if they had not qualified for the scholarships, but they also said the programs did not adequately prepare them for the level and intensity of college coursework.

FIRST PERSON ACCOUNTS—Pittsburgh Superintendent of Schools Linda Lane introduces Promise Scholars Morgan Dorn, Jasmine Granville, Julia Cahill, David Cahill and Vanessa Thompson, who described their experiences during the PromiseNet 2011 final session, Oct. 21. (Photos by Rossano P. Stewart)

Jasmine Granville, a Kalamazoo Promise recipient, is now at Kalamazoo Community College after transferring from Western Michigan University. She said she was not ready for college when she graduated.

“I had no pressure at home to excel, and very little at school until I was a senior. Only one teacher pushed me, she drove me,” she said. “There are good teachers, but in my opinion, we weren’t prepared at all. College is a whole other leap.”

by Chauleaqua Washington

May 24 was proclaimed “Dray Cottingham Day” by the City of Pittsburgh, because this 16-year-old City High student has been doing extraordinary things.

“I’ve been writing forever. My family and others who read my stories were always impressed with the things I would come up with,” said Dray Cottingham.

DRAY COTTINGHAM WORKING ON ONE OF HIS PLAYS

He produced, directed, wrote and cast his own play entitled “A Teen’s Unspoken Truth,” which earned him recognition by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl.

An inspired Cottingham wrote about whatever felt right to him, writing about things that seemed too mature for his age and people disapproving of him, yet he didn’t let it stop him.