Stephanie Granderson, '12

Stephanie Granderson, '12

October 21, 2011
Senior explores educational inequalities through civic engagement partnership

Stephanie Granderson, ’12, faced a difficult transition when her family moved from the city of Richmond to Henrico County when she was in middle school. However, it took a volunteer assignment in college, through the Bonner Scholars Program, to fully understand just what was behind her struggle.

While enrolled in Justice and Civil Society, a required course for Bonner Scholars with a community-based learning aspect, Granderson says, “it opened my eyes and I understood why I was struggling. That transition was rough because of the different resources in the school systems. It sparked my interest in educational inequalities.”

As a Bonner Scholar, Granderson made a four-year commitment to civic engagement in the Richmond community. After exploring partner sites at Boaz and Ruth, YouthLife Foundation, and Chandler Middle School, she ultimately was assigned to Henderson Middle School in Northside Richmond. She helped with a variety of small service projects until she discovered the school’s mentoring program, AMP!, and began meeting with a student for one hour a week.

“In inner-city Richmond, you have students who go through things that not everybody else goes through,” she says. “[My mentee’s] stories were really shocking, but [the experience] was rewarding for me.”

While Granderson enjoyed the one-on-one relationship with her mentee, she was looking for something deeper. When she heard about Higher Achievement — a rigorous after-school and summer academic program for at-risk middle school students — she knew she had to get involved. She spent the summer in Washington, D.C., and Southside Richmond for Higher Achievement’s training program, where she learned progressive techniques for child rearing and how to maintain a positive atmosphere in the classroom.

The sociology major also found connections to her classroom study at the University of Richmond. “Instead of blaming the individual for their issues, we look at their circumstances and how it impacts them,” she says. “It’s easy to learn the concepts in class, but over the summer that was really difficult to apply. When a student is cursing or not behaving well, you have to understand that some things are really not their fault.”

At the conclusion of the program, Granderson returned to Henderson Middle School. While reflecting on her experiences, she found connections between what she’d learned as student in Richmond and Henrico schools, as a mentor, and as a sociology major.

“It’s really unfair for people to have their whole lives impacted or slightly determined because of where they live,” she says. “It’s not as in-your-face as Jim Crow laws, but you have to be aware of patterns in society.

“I know that I can’t change the world or even the city of Richmond, but I think that if everybody does a little bit, it helps the greater good.”

Photo: Granderson, right, shown with other Higher Achievement participants at Boushall Middle School, Higher Achievement's Southside Richmond location.