Rockefeller Encourages Students

“They’ve got so much spirit there. Do they know how good they are and how great they can become, or has someone already started putting limits on what they can be?”

The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

June 27, 2010

Rockefeller encourages students

College Summit at Concord University

By Bill Archer
For The Register-Herald

ATHENS — It was important for Sen. Jay Rockefeller to address the graduates of the College Summit student workshop Saturday night at Concord University.

“Look at them,” he said as he paused during an interview just prior to the start of the dinner that marked the conclusion of the week-long workshop. “They’ve got so much spirit there. Do they know how good they are and how great they can become, or has someone already started putting limits on what they can be?

“When President Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize,” Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said, but paused as the excited group of rising high school seniors cheered for each other as they entered the ballroom of the Jerry L. Beasley Student Center. “President Obama did receive the Nobel Peace Prize at the first of his term, not after his term like President Jimmy Carter did. He used some of the funds he received from the Peace Prize for this program ... College Summit. I think that’s significant.”

The students came from throughout southern West Virginia to participate in the program. Seniors from Winfield, Big Creek, Wyoming East, Shady Spring, Liberty, Woodrow Wilson, Iaeger, Mount View and Westside high schools celebrated with smiles as they completed their week of workshops all geared to transform the students into “peer leaders,” and encourage them to go back to their schools and talk with fellow students to help them make positive post-secondary school choices.

“We learned a lot about the number of opportunities that are out there and the kind of choices students have,” Tyreek Carter of Beckley said. Carter is a student at Woodrow Wilson High School. “I feel like this workshop prepared all of us to go back and be better peer leaders for our classmates.”

“I’ve already been somewhat of a leader at my school, but the things I learned in this workshop will help,” said Joshua Snow of Beaver, a student at Shady Spring High School. “I’ve learned so much this week and I’ll be able to take all of it back to school with me.”

Jon Charles, program director of College Summit West Virginia, said a couple of students got a little homesick, but after volunteers talked with them, they convinced them to stick it out.

“Getting their photograph made as graduates is always a special time,” Charles said. “This is their night.”

Rockefeller said government can help make a difference in the future for college students. “When we graduated from college, there was a feeling we could do anything. I came to West Virginia thinking I would stay for a year, but the people I was serving wanted me to stay. We all wanted to do something to help in our communities.

“But then we started stewing,” Rockefeller said. “There was the Cold War hanging over us, then there was Vietnam. We started pushing against the establishment ... whatever it was at the time. But we’ve been through that, and now we’re getting back.

“We had the head of the Discovery Channel before our committee not long ago, and he said something that literally floored all of us. He told us that young people in the age group 12 to 22 are watching the Discovery Channel and the History Channel, and they’re not easy to find no matter where you live. He said that more kids watch us than any other cable channel.

“In the last two years, applications from young people to become Vista, AmeriCorps and Peace Corps volunteers have skyrocketed. The quality of the applicants has gone up, too. Kids are even going into the CIA because they want to make a difference in the world. I’m really happy about that.”

Rockefeller said the federal government is working on ways to reduce the financial burden on college graduates by limiting maximum annual payments on college loans to no more than 10 percent of their annual earnings.

He said that there is also a program in the works that would forgive student loans for graduates who go into a public service field and remain in that field for at least 10 years.

— Bill Archer is a member of the Bluefield Daily Telegraph editorial staff.