The Wright stuff
Minority teachers project graduate moves to head of class in Waterloo schools
by Karris Golden ’98

Alvin Wright ’97 designed a homey classroom.

Pleasant, fruity scents are accented by fresh air from an opened window. A rocking chair sits by a bubbling aquarium. Potted plants grow by a cluttered desk and computers.

In one corner, the teacher has reinvented a refrigerator box as All Kids’ TV on the KWRI Network, from which students “broadcast” book reports. Another box functions as a “recording studio.” There, Wright’s students record and listen to themselves reading in an effort to improve their skills.

For several hours each day, this is Wright’s home, where he gathers “his kids” to teach them how to diagram sentences and experience the wonders of science.

“I try to make it so it’s a comfortable, safe environment,” he explains. “That’s why I put all these affirmations on the walls.”

Posters remind: “Set your goals high.” “Your mind is your most important resource.” “You can’t spell success without U.”

It’s a home away from home, but even more, Wright is an African-American father figure for students at Waterloo’s Longfellow Elementary School.

“I believe in them,” he says simply. “I ask myself, 'If these were my children, how would I want them to be taught?’

“This is my fifth year of teaching, and I’ve already had students come back and tell me they appreciate what I’ve done for them,” he adds, simultaneously proud and shy.

That is one of the greatest rewards, he says. “You always hear about the negatives, but we’ve got a lot of positive things going on here.”

Wright talks to his fifth-graders about how the work they do now will help them when they’re in college.

“I’m here for them,” he says, pointing to his students. “I always tell them, ’You only get out what you put in.’ I have a history at Longfellow. This is the neighborhood I grew up in. This is my home school.”

Wright is the first graduate of Wartburg’s Waterloo Teachers Project, designed to put minority teachers in Waterloo schools. Today, he is a testament to another of his posters: “You never know what you can do until you TRY.”

Wright was a student at Longfellow in the 1950s and graduated from East High School in 1971. He went on to the University of Northern Iowa immediately following graduation, before transferring to the University of Iowa.

“I quit because I was young and I really didn’t know what I wanted to do,” he recalls.

He returned to work at John Deere in Waterloo until he was laid off in the early 1980s. He began taking classes at what is now Hawkeye Community College and became a data entry operator.

In 1986, Wright got a job as an associate school librarian and decided he’d like to become a teacher. He went back to school at UNI in 1992 and enrolled in Wartburg’s teachers project two years later.
The Waterloo Teachers Project began in 1994 with 23 nontraditional minority students from the Waterloo area. The five-year program offered full financial support to teacher aides and other qualified minority candidates, enabling them to fulfill requirements for a Bachelor of Arts degree and obtain teacher licensing.

In return, graduates agreed to apply for and accept positions, if offered, in the Waterloo Community School District (WCSD). At the time the project was instituted, minorities represented 6 percent of WCSD teachers.

Working to raise that percentage will have a positive impact on high dropout rates and lagging grade-point averages among the district’s black students, said Dr. Les Huth ’58, professor emeritus of education, who coordinated the program.

“African-American boys do fine until the third grade. Then, there is a drop off,” he explains. “African-American adults and the community at large have identified the problem, and they’re working hard to do something about it.”

Today, minority teachers comprise 8.3 percent of the WCSD faculty, and graduates of the Wartburg program account for 21 percent of the district’s minority teachers.

In 1999, 16 more students graduated from the project. After high praise for the program and requests for another, the college launched the Walter Cunningham Memorial Teacher Preparation Project. It is named for the late WCSD educator and former Wartburg Board of Regents member, who was instrumental in developing the first project.

“The fact that we have 14 graduates in Waterloo schools is a real plus,” Huth says. “They can serve as mentors for the new class by assisting academically and advising students on organizing their schedules and study habits.”

The teachers project remains Wartburg’s only adult education program, Huth adds. “It’s a simple idea with far-reaching, tangible rewards for the college and community: When you raise the educational level of an individual, it raises that individual’s contribution to family, to job and to the community as a whole. This program’s successes are its students.

“This is for adults who have a vested interest in Waterloo. These students have a strong interest in the schools, churches and community.”

Participants in the current project began classes in the summer of 2001.

“This is a program we saw special benefits for, because Wartburg has a strong relationship with the Waterloo Schools,” Huth explains. He directs the project with Beverly Smith, WCSD associate superintendent for human resources.

During the summer, students in the new program take courses full-time on campus, and Wartburg provides transportation. During the Fall and Winter Terms, students attend two evening classes per term in Waterloo.

Unlike the first group, students in this program are encouraged to spend one Fall or Winter Term taking classes on campus.

“Our goal is for participants to take advantage of campus life,” Huth says. “When evaluating the first program, participants felt time on campus would make students a part of Wartburg and help them fully experience what the college’s mission is about.”

"The Wright stuff" was originally published in the Fall 2002 issue of the Wartburg Magazine.

Karris Golden is a Writer/Editor in Communications and Marketing and a Lecturer in Communication Arts at Wartburg College.