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'I want to be successful'
By BRYAN GILMER, Times Staff Writer ST. PETERSBURG -- Joe Fleece is 69, white, lives on Snell Isle and practices law for Holland and Knight from a 17th-floor office in the tallest building in St. Petersburg. Demetric Loyd-Knight is black, 14, lives near Pinellas Point and is an eighth-grade student at John Hopkins Middle School. The younger son of a single mother with a clerical job, he loves drawing, language arts and playing football. His decision about which to pursue lies years in the future, but he feels the strongest tug right now from football. Last school year, Fleece became Demetric's mentor in the Doorways scholarship program. Fleece makes a 20-block drive to John Hopkins once a month to spend time with Demetric and encourage him to earn the scholarship. "At first, it was weird," Demetric said. "I thought, "He's kind of old. He's some kind of coin collector or something.' " Said Fleece: "He comes from a very different background than I do." But the two have grown so close that they exchanged Christmas gifts. They discovered that they both love University of Florida football, so when Fleece attends games, he often brings Demetric souvenirs. And Demetric tells Fleece how badly he wants to play football at Gibbs High School. Fleece encourages him to pursue that goal. But "he always says, "Keep your grades up.' He pushes me to do well in school," Demetric says. Demetric's tuition for four years of college in Florida will be paid if he can earn good grades and stay out of trouble. St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker wants more people to volunteer as mentors in city schools. Today at John Hopkins, Baker will issue that challenge. And he will call for local businesses here to fund more Doorways scholarships for students, who must receive free or reduced-price school lunches to be eligible. Baker is trying to meet a difficult campaign promise. He said he would improve education in the city, even though he has no control over the Pinellas County Schools within the city's limits. Last year, Baker hired Helen Levine as a senior adviser to look for ways he can aid education. Together, they decided the first thing he could do was help rally support for the Doorways program, run by the non-profit Pinellas County Education Foundation. "If you're not going to be an educator yourself," Baker said, "there are few things you could do that would be more important than to be a mentor to a student." Baker and an aide team up to mentor a John Hopkins student. The Education Foundation is in the same position as Baker: interested in helping the schools, but without official status to do so. "Our role is not to supplant tax dollars but to do those things that government can't do or never would do," foundation vice president Rich Engwall said. He said Doorways students have a 94 percent high-school graduation rate. "Without a healthy, vibrant, innovative public school system, your community will stagnate," he said. A business can fund a Doorways scholarship for a sixth-grader for $3,250. And a mentor can expand a student's horizons, serving as proof that working hard in school pays off. Fleece sees enormous potential in Demetric. "He's a good student," Fleece said. "Evidently he's doing well with his grades. I'd like to see him succeed, and I have a feeling that he will." Demetric said this is what he wants for himself when he is 30: "I want to be successful. Maybe in the NFL, or just have a good job, a wife, kids, a nice car -- not wreck one Mercedes and go out and buy another, but a nice car, a Toyota. Not to be struggling."
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
