The Mind Side

Here is an article that Jerry wrote recently:

“Sports was the closest thing in America to a pure
meritocracy, the one avenue of ambition widely thought to be open to all.
(Pity the kid inside Hurt Village [Memphis’ most dilapidated housing project]
who was born to play the piano, or manage people, or trade in bonds.)” -
Michael Lewis, author The Blind Side

The Mind Side

How the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation creates access to the finest
education systems for hundreds of disadvantaged academic “Freaks”

An unbelievable true story chronicled in the book The Blind Side has recently been made into a movie that is creating Oscar buzz. Sandra Bullock was terrific in her role as Leigh Anne Tuohy, a white southern Christian belle that, with the help of her family, saved a very special black child from devastating life circumstances and paved the way for his success. Predictably, the movie is like Cliff’s notes that are sorely deficient in explaining all of the moving parts that propelled the Baltimore Ravens starting left Tackle, Michael Oher from zero to hero. You really do need to read the book.

While pouring through Michael Lewis’ account of Oher’s improbable journey I marveled at how history, economics, religion, sociology, and individual will, all conspired to help a destitute child labeled a “freak of nature” achieve ultimate success in the NFL. But as this complex and wonderful story was unfolding before my eyes it occurred to me that I have seen this story before: in my own house.

My daughter is not 6’ 9”, 340 lbs, with a wide butt, huge hands and freakishly nimble feet for someone that size. She is, however, bright … very, very bright and talented at art, music, science, math, and language and she achieved a college qualifying SAT score in the eighth grade. What these two “freaks of nature” have in common is that they grew up very poor, with difficult family circumstances. Both their paths to success would prove to be a winding labyrinth of traps and obstacles where guides would be necessary to lead them to their respective promised lands: the NFL in Michael’s case; a quality university education and full magnification of talents in my daughter’s.

The people that fatefully plucked Michael Oher from the most desperate circumstances imaginable knew what was required for him to eventually play in the NFL and correctly assessed that it would be a Herculean effort to help him meet those requirements. They took on the task and the miracle is – they did it! But the reason they succeeded is that Michael himself was a very special individual and the type of person willing to think big, work hard, and follow the path to success that was opened up to him.

Think Big, Work Hard, Achieve… This is the motto of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation that, like the Touhy family, plucked my daughter from desperate circumstances and engaged themselves in the effort to help her reach her awesome potential.

When we applied to the JKC Foundation’s Young Scholar Program we thought it was just a scholarship that would make it possible for her to participate in an expensive academic summer program - John’s Hopkins University’s Center for Talented Youth. What we later found out is that the Young Scholars Program is much, much more.

In my daughter’s acceptance packet into the Program was a biography of Jack Kent Cooke. I eagerly sat down to read about the man whose vision lead to our family’s recent good fortune.

It was a magnificent success story about a poor Canadian boy that grew up to be one of the wealthiest men in America. An avid student, talented in music and athletics, his dream of pursuing a formal education was cut short by the Great Depression. He left high school to support his family by selling encyclopedias door-to-door. Applying the innate talents at business that he developed as a young man, he went on to be a media mogul running radio stations and newspapers. A tenacious work ethic, keen eye for detail, and a good judge of character created the circumstances for him to achieve not only massive wealth but multiple World Championships as a team owner in both the NBA and NFL. He remained a passionate student his entire life, well versed in diverse areas such as music, literature, sports and architecture.

In short: Mr. Cooke was a man of exceptional promise that through optimism, focus, and hard work, overcame financial obstacles to achieve tremendous success. The Foundation he would leave behind as his legacy was tasked to give talented, high achieving, like minded individuals without the hope or means of going to college, the chance he never had.

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation opened its doors in 2000 in Lansdowne, Virginia with high hopes of achieving Mr. Cooke’s lofty goal. Dr. Mathew Quinn, Founding Executive Director, assembled his staff and set out to do the daunting work of actually implementing the mission that had been tasked to them. They started out identifying promising Community College applicants and giving them the resources needed to help transfer to and pay for attendance at elite universities. It became apparent, however, that the individuals that they best wanted to serve were never getting into the higher education pipeline in the first place. Thus, the Young Scholars Program was born.

A key hire to develop and direct this program was Rebecca Stover. I first met Ms. Stover when she interviewed me, my wife and my 8th grade daughter, an applicant finalist in 2005. After my daughter’s interview they called my wife and me into the room. As my daughter waited outside, I remember being a little nervous and wanting to say the right things. But as the interview went on I realized that she was not interested in platitudes. This wasn’t a job interview.

I quickly realized that what she really wanted was to get to know us and our situation. Her caring demeanor helped us let our guard down. My bout with mental illness was no secret. My diagnosis was nearly a decade old and our financials revealed my disability payments. We explained that our health and employment status made it difficult to live in affluent Northern Virginia but we were scraping by. Ms Stover sincerely thanked us for our candor and told us that we would be informed of their final decision in a few weeks.

The next time I saw Rebecca Stover was at the luncheon welcoming the 2005 class of Jack Kent Cooke Young Scholars. It was here that the full reality of what just happened to us began to sink in. They explained that my daughter was one of nearly 80 children across the country that the Foundation determined best exemplified the type of individuals they wanted to work with throughout their high school years, with the ultimate goal of attending and graduating from the best college available to them.

Each Young Scholar would be assigned an Educational Advisor employed by the Foundation to help them identify and develop their talents, provide meaningful summer activities, determine the best educational environment, and serve as an academic resource and counselor. Each year, Scholar and Advisor would come up with an Individual Learning Plan (ILP) clearly listing all goals and activities for the upcoming year. The Foundation would then carefully allocate resources to best accomplish those goals. All of this would then culminate in a Scholar Reunion Weekend the summer before their senior year to reconnect with their peers and develop strategies to get into college.

Participation in the Program required commitments on our part too: mandatory attendance at the Welcome Weekend and Reunion weekend events, submission of yearly renewal papers, weekly contact between Scholar and Advisor, official grade reports sent in each quarter, a pledge to be ethical in all of our dealings and to not engage in any behavior that would be detrimental to the Foundation. We all gratefully signed on the dotted line.

Our covenant with the Foundation set in motion what I can only describe as the single greatest thing that ever happened to our family. Doors that normally were closed to my daughter swung wide open: art lessons, piano lessons, summer programs in Science Investigations, Cryptology, Archeology, and a trip to study Architecture in Spain, summer internship programs, books and magazine subscriptions, local Young Scholar events in D.C. at the Kennedy Center, Ford Theatre, and Smithsonian Institutions. But more importantly, a trusted Educational Advisor that truly cares for the well being of my daughter, is always one phone call or email away.

This support has also had residual benefits for our family. My younger daughter is every bit as gifted and talented as her older sister. Because of the assistance my oldest has received from the Foundation, my wife and I have been better able to provide for the needs of her “Freak” sister as well: summer CTY programs, synchronized swimming, and her own vacation to Europe to meet her cousins in Finland.

I take you back to a quote from Leigh Anne Touhy from The Blind Side. When pondering if she could do for other kids what she did for Michael, Ms. Touhy exclaimed, “I want a building. We are going to open a foundation…” Unlike Michael, my daughter’s worth isn’t her ability to protect a million dollar quarterback’s blind side. But thank God there IS a foundation out there that protects her “mind side.”