The Inspiration Awards Luncheon: Inspiring Tomorrow
Richard D. Parsons addresses Forum 2005 attendees.
A hopeful vision of education's future was presented to Forum attendees during the annual Inspiration Awards Luncheon, which featured guest speaker Dick Parsons, chairman and CEO of Time Warner, Inc., one of the entertainment world's top corporations. Also on hand were student and faculty representatives from the College Board's 2005 Inspiration Award-winning high schools. Last spring, each of the three schools had received $25,000 for being the most improved in the nation. They were:
- Curtis High School on Staten Island, New York
- Harlingen High School in Harlingen, Texas
- Gadsden High School in Anthony, New Mexico.
College Board President Gaston Caperton welcomed attendees to the annual awards luncheon. He praised the young people and educators being honored as "exceptional students and teachers" and wished "every student in America could attend a school like the three" being honored. Tiffany Curtis, David Givens, and Samantha Myers, from Curtis High School on Staten Island sang the Star Spangled Banner. Gov. Caperton then called for the audience to rise for a moment of silence in memory of the late civil-rights heroine Rosa Parks.
Students from the award-winning schools take the stage.
Students Share Aspirations for the Future
Two students from each of the three 2005 Inspiration Award-winning high schools addressed the audience. Tiffany Curtis, class of 2006, said her family has been an inspiration to her and that she would not have made it to where she is today without them. She told the audience she hopes to attend the University of Illinois or the University of Pennsylvania. Sebastian Jaramillo, also class of 2006 at Curtis High School, talked about his family, his involvement in school music programs and his dreams of going to UPenn/Wharton on the way to a career in the music business. He was to play for Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall later in the day.
Galicia Cruz and Julio Johnson from Harlingen High School, in Harlingen, Texas, spoke next. Galicia, class of 2007, said her AP teachers went out of their way to help her understand the course material and gave her extra tutoring after class. She said, "'Relentless pursuit of student success' is more than just a slogan, it's a way of thinking at Harlingen High." Julio Johnson, class of 2006, already a college student since he has six credits from a local community college, said that he and his classmates are well prepared for college and feel they know what to expect.
Alicia Aguirre and Philip Rey represented the class of 2006 from Gadsden High School. They spoke together about Gadsden's successes in increasing AP participation. They also talked about the students, who are mostly Hispanic, and how far they must travel to get to school—some over an hour each way. Philip credited his parents for teaching him that "the one thing nobody can take away from you is an education." Alicia said that Gadsden High had increased the college-going rate of its graduates to 60 percent this past year from 30 percent just four years ago.
Parsons: A Life Shaped by Education and Opportunity
Dick Parsons reminded his audience that as an entertainment executive, he was familiar with the old show business adage, "you should never let yourself to be cast with a child star" because your co-star will steal the scene. With a wave of his hand toward the six youngsters, he said, "Here I am with six child stars." His listeners responded with cheers, applause, and laughter.
Parsons said he had accepted Governor Caperton's invitation to speak at the Forum because of something that had happened to him early in his career, when he was a lawyer on the staff of the late Nelson Rockefeller, the governor of New York State and then vice president of the United States. After Rockefeller had completed his term in Washington, he invited Parsons to continue to work for him. "As part of the deal," the Time Warner executive confided, "he offered me and my family a house on his upstate country estate." Not long after Parsons and his family were installed in their new home, there came a knock on the door. An old man dressed in work clothes stood there. He said, "I knew your grandfather back when he worked here in the gardens."
Parsons said to the educators in his audience, "You see, I've had a lot of good fortune in my life. It is not because I am a better man or a smarter one than my grandfather. I've just had better opportunities. So, there is not a more important audience that I would want to talk to." He added that there was an increasing need for all American children to receive a good education. "The world is globalizing," he said. "Today's students will not only be competing against just their fellow Americans, they'll be competing against the world. …What you do is very important, and some of us in business know it."
