“ Trying to get kids out of something isn ’ t enough . You ’ ve got to get them into something .”
– CHRIS YANOV ’ 99
UNTIL A WINTER NIGHT IN 2002 , with six students studying with a few tutors recruited from his alma mater , the quiet of the room was rocked by a clattering against the iron bars over the windows .
Heads snapped up from books . Another rock crashed on the bars , so hard the glass rattled . “ Kiss-ass schoolboys !” came the calls from outside . “ Hey Chris , why you only talking to the smart kids now ?”
Yanov walked out the front door and saw a dozen eighth- and ninth-graders from the neighborhood under the street lamp . Every one of them he ’ d invited to join Reality Changers . “ You ’ re our guy , Chris ! You should let us in .”
“ When you get your 3.0 , we ’ ll be glad to have you .” He waved and walked back in the room .
Rocks rang the bars like chimes . Not much homework got done that night , and the tutors chalked up the meeting as a loss . But Yanov couldn ’ t stop grinning . They wanted in . They wanted to change their realities . “ Trying to get kids out of something isn ’ t enough ,” says Yanov . “ You ’ ve got to get them into something .” For Reality Changers , that something includes a group where they ’ re welcomed , where their peers share their goal of going to college and where they learn the social skills and behaviors that will help them get there . It also includes high expectations — a 3.0 GPA , a 90 percent attendance rate , 25 hours a year of community service and participation in a school activity or sport . It requires support from parents as well , a monthly meeting where they learn how to support their students ’ goal of going to college . Parents also provide dinner on meeting nights , and students , staff and tutors eat dinner together , family style . “ College is a huge transition that the whole family has to make ,” says Yanov . “ The question for us becomes , ‘ How do we build a first-generation college family ?’”
Reality Changers ’ emphasis on family is just one of the ways they change the game of getting kids into college . Another is the selection process : Yanov doesn ’ t recruit academic standouts . Instead , his model flips the game on its head , working to engage students in poor standing , ones too often written off as chronic truants or hopeless underachievers .
Each fall , Yanov and his staff go to middle schools in the city ’ s toughest neighborhoods and hold assemblies for the eighth graders whose GPAs range from 2.0 down to 0.0 . “ They come in kicking , screaming , cussing ,” says Yanov . “ We greet them with a smile and a handshake , and a name tag with their name printed out for something good . They might not have ever seen their name written down for something good
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