Bringing home the GOLD

In 1988, a Seattle businessman and his wife, inspired by a New York philanthropist, made a promise to the sixth-grade class at Madrona Elementary: Finish high school, and they'd help pay for college.

It was an offer designed to motivate the mostly low-income students to strive for higher education. For a number of them, including Diallo Jackson, that carrot worked.

For Jackson, in fact, it worked so well he's now directing a sequel with financial backing from the same couple who helped him.

The new GOLD Scholars program is giving its first scholarship this year to Geoffrey Gilchrest, a soft-spoken senior at Seattle's Chief Sealth High School who graduated Saturday and plans to attend Washington State University this fall.

Gilchrest is the first of 40 young African-American men that GOLD Scholars hopes to help graduate from four-year colleges. GOLD stands for "Golden Opportunity for Life Development."

The original program, called "I Have a Dream," started not long after Eugene Lang offered college scholarships to the sixth-graders at his alma mater in New York City. He lobbied other philanthropists across the country to do the same.

To much fanfare, Roger and Annette Rieger decided to open a Seattle chapter and chose a class at Madrona Elementary, a Seattle school where many of the students' families wouldn't be able to afford college. The Riegers put up much of the money and found other sponsors, too.

Jackson was in that class 18 years ago and is one of its brightest success stories. He graduated in 1999 from Whitman College with a degree in education and political science.

At a reunion of "I Have a Dream" a few years ago, Jackson told the Riegers that if they ever wanted to adopt a second class, he'd love to run the program for them.

To the Riegers, that sounded like a great idea.

"He was uniquely qualified to do this for us," Roger Rieger said. "It just felt right."

The Riegers and Jackson decided against simply repeating what they'd done at Madrona, however. The "I Have a Dream" effort sought to embrace a whole class of students and help them go as far as they could.

With GOLD Scholars, Rieger and Jackson decided to focus on students who have a good chance of graduating from college. They also decided to limit the program to African-American boys because that group is underrepresented in higher education.

Students generally will be selected when they are entering ninth grade. Those who meet all the program's requirements will receive all the money they need to go to college beyond what they get in loans, financial aid and other scholarships. If they graduate, the program will pay off their loans, too.

Those in the GOLD Scholars program also must meet more requirements than the Dreamers did. They must earn all A's and B's in high school, attend tutoring sessions four days a week after school, go to a summer academic program and perform community service. They also must meet standards for behavior and integrity.

When they're first selected for the program, students and their families must go to Rieger's office, where they sign the contract that outlines the program's expectations.

"At the end of it, we shake hands, and it's a deal," Rieger said of the contract.

The first GOLD Scholars students are mostly ninth-graders. But for the program's first year, Jackson decided to approach a few upperclassmen, too — students who, on their own, had achieved what the program hopes to inspire others to do.

"A little willpower"

Gilchrest's name came up often at Chief Sealth High as a student worthy of this opportunity, Jackson said.

Gilchrest shrugs off his success as no big deal. He tells friends he's no genius; he just goes to class, pays attention, does his work.

"It just takes a little willpower," he says. "You just have to try."

But it hasn't all been easy.

When Gilchrest was a freshman, his father unsuccessfully fought a charge of assaulting a police officer. (Gilchrest says it was the officer who assaulted his father.) The yearslong legal fight might have distracted Gilchrest from school. But school, he said, became an escape from the stress at home. Gilchrest studied hard and played varsity basketball for three years. Starting his sophomore year, he held down an after-school job, too.

He says he likes to go his own way, be his own person. He likes the fact that he will be the first GOLD Scholar — a role model and trail blazer.

The scholarship, he said, "really took a big weight off my family's shoulders."

No free ride

The decision to limit the scholarships to 40 was somewhat arbitrary, Rieger said, but also practical. By the time 40 students graduate from college, he said, he'll be in his mid-70s.

The Riegers also continue their support of another school-improvement program at Madrona Elementary, and they recently provided the money for a new residence hall at the University of Kansas, their alma mater.

Rieger says he knows GOLD Scholars can't make more than a small dent in a much bigger problem. But he hopes it will have a multiplier effect.

"Maybe 100 students see these 40, and say, 'Geez, this guy did it, so can I.' "

For Jackson, GOLD Scholars is a chance to promote the value of education to African-American teenagers, who he says too often pin their hopes on careers in sports or entertainment. But it's no free ride.

Four of the initial nine students who started in the program last spring were not meeting expectations and left. Jackson added six more students this spring.

"They have to earn it, every step of the way," he said.

Linda Shaw: 206-464-2359 or lshaw@seattletimes.com