Motivation, Moxie, and a Shot at College

Helping High-Achieving Poor Students Persevere

By Leanna Landsmann

Where I live, in western New York state, high school graduates are feted well into August. Tents go up for picnics. Families are convened from afar. Friends and neighbors bring cookies along with money for college. We give the graduates a thumbs-up—and this year, the newly fashionable “fist bump.” While hugging the graduates, I think about the high school dropouts—more than a million each year—for whom no family gathers.

As the board chair of Greatschools.net , an organization that helps parents put their kids on a path to college, I stew about our dropout crisis more than your average Jane. After umpteen decades of “school reform,” I’m angry we’re still slogging in place.

So I look forward each spring to the call from a New York-based family foundation with a boldface name asking, “Do you want to review scholarship applications?” I drop everything to pore over submissions from high-achieving, low-income New York City seniors who, if chosen, will get a free ride to college. Each year, I wonder: How did these students persevere when so many with so much more fail? What’s in their secret sauce? Can we...