Wfye ÿlortlanh ©haeruer
July 31, 2002
Page A3
F amily / education
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Self Enhancement,
Inc. Turns 20
continued
from Front
nations. With close to 90 full-time
staff members, SE1 is also one of
the largest employers of people of
color in the community.
In its sixth year of operation, the
building still looks and feels brand
new. Hopson chalks it up to the
discipline and self-respect children
at SEI grow to expect from them
selves and those around them.
The center has proved to serve
a unique niche.
“I don’t think you’ll find an
other facility like this in another
inner city,” says Hopson. The
building's sweeping halls and tow
ering windows house a profes
sional recording studio, gym, au
ditorium, state o f the art sound
system, and other amenities that
young people appreciate and con
nect with.
SEI has grown into a compre
hensive academic mentoring and
monitoring program that reaches
thousands of kids a year, from 2nd
graders to 25-year-old men and
women. The center serves stu
dents on a first come first served
basis.
Lisa Manning, the community
relations coordinator for SEI, said
the program runs in school, after
school, summers and Saturday’s.
“It’s all the time,” she said. “It
helps us keep contact with the
kids.”
SEI serves 11 north and north
east Portland schools. The pri
mary high school is Jefferson.
There is an SEI coordinator at
each school that mentors 40-50
kids based on recommendations
of teachers and SEI assessments.
A fter school, younger stu
dents are bussed to the facility.
High school age kids come by
themselves, 150-200 teens a night
come on their own accord. M an
ning says the kids “see it as a
prestigious thing.”
Benchmark goals keep the stu
dents progressing from one level
of achievement to the next. Kids
accumulate points and are even
rewarded monetarily to help with
the costs o f school supplies. Chil
dren involved with the program
often quickly see improvements
in grades. Behavioral referrals of
ten decline as well. Many of the
kids graduate high school and go
on to college.
The options are w hat’s impor
tant. In fact that’s the motto at SEI,
“Life has options.” To make that
point, SEI has even brought out
Nike to design shoes with kids
just to show them that becoming
the basketball player that wears
the shoes is just one option, you
could also become the designer
that creates them. There is never
only one path to success.
In addition to regular courses
in academics and reading, there is
a computer lab, classes in art, cook
ing, and dance. SEI also boasts
music instruction at all levels. A
partnership with PSU music camp
puts pianos in the homes o f two
students each year. In gender edu
cation classes, young men and
women talk about the implications
of sex and drugs. They discuss
the images of rap stars and the
people they see on TV.
The level of intervention runs
deep.
“We get the kids that are not
motivated and underperforming,”
Manning explains. “We build a
really strong relationship with
them. We even go into the home
and work with the parents and get
them involved.”
Manning says many of the kids
do not wake up to a warm breakfast
and hot shower. Often they come
from abusive households, or even
have parents incarcerated.
So it’s not always just the kids
that SEI helps. Sometimes it's the
parents that need support. SEI
boasts a comprehensive family
services department.
“We have found furniture for
people, helped pay bills, even
rent,” Manning said.
But it ’ s the kids that remain the
focus of long-term commitment
that SEI offers.
Andre Lawrence, 21, got in
volved in the second grade and
now he is preparing to enter his
third year in college. He describes
his time with SEI as “a long adven
ture.”
Lawrence is on his way to the
Oregon Institute o f Technology
in Klamath Falls to play basketball
and major in applied psychology.
He says SEI has been a place
Self Enhancement, Inc. kids admire a jersey worn by Magic Johnson. The jersey was auctioned Fhday at a SEI g o lf tournament fund-raiser.
P hoto bv D avid P i . echl /T he P ortland O bserver
where he could always come to be
off the streets.
“SEI teaches you to think about
others,” he says, “it has taught me
to give back.”
Lawrence says he is 100 per
cent sure he wouldn’t be in col
lege if it weren ’ t for SEI.
“I did struggle a little in col
lege," Lawrence said. “They (SEI)
were there to pick me up, keep me
going.”
He says that some of his friends
over the years have pushed SEI
away and have gotten into gangs
and trouble.
“M ost o f my real friends,”
Lawrence now says, “are in this
building.”
He says his mentors at SEI have
been like parents.
“If you get into trouble, the
first thing you think about is them,”
he explained.
Lawrence is now a mentor him
self.
“Now I'm the one who gets on
them about their grades,” he says
with a smile. “I come back to give
to the kids what SEI gave to me.”
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