Education 'Superstars' honored by Delaware State Chamber of Commerce

John Hollis may have had a stroke two years ago and may have been sitting in a wheelchair Monday night, but he said there's one thing he'll never stop standing up for in his life, whether his body is up to it or not. 

"I'll continue to stand up for Delaware school children," he said. "I may look like a benchwarmer ... but I ain't no benchwarmer." 

Hollis was honored by the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce and its education affiliate, The Partnership, Inc., with the John H. Taylor Jr. Education Leadership Award.

Named after a former News Journal editor and former president of the Delaware Public Policy Institute, it recognizes those who have provided sustained leadership in advancing education. 

Hollis' legacy is the Minority Educational Regional Incentive Training program, or MERIT, which aims to get minorities involved in STEM education. Since Hollis founded the program in 1974, 370 MERIT alumni have earned a college degree, 97 percent of its participants.

“It’s the care for the community that Mr. John Hollis has demonstrated through his work at MERIT that makes our nation truly great,"  said Ben Carson, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Development, in a statement. He is a longtime friend of Hollis, and his sons participated in the MERIT program. 

The awards ceremony itself is called Superstars in Education. Also recognized were five educational programs, selected for their innovative approach to teaching, integrating technology into the classroom and helping prepare students for life after high school. 

"Each year I'm impressed by the creativity and quality we find in our schools in Delaware," said Chamber of Commerce President Rich Heffron. 

This year's Superstars in Education winners are as follows: 

Smyrna Middle School: GoBabyGo

Smyrna Middle School partnered with the University of Delaware to build GoBabyGo cars, 6- and 12-volt battery-operated toys modified into personalized vehicles that children with disabilities can use to get around school and home on their own. 

One of the cars, a toddler-size Mercedes Benz, was for 3-year-old Marcus, who has cerebral palsy. His grandma, Donna Schalles, said the car gives Marcus more independence. 

Thomas McKean High School: AVID 

Thomas McKean High School's AVID program strives to close the achievement gap and prepare students for college and other post-secondary institutions by teaching them the skills and behaviors needed for academic success. 

That means everything from proper note taking to organizational skills. 

Both this year and last year, students earned more than $1 million in scholarships to colleges both in and out of the state. 

Milford High School: The Will to Skill

In 2012, only 90 of Milford High School's approximately 1,000 students were taking Advanced Placement classes, and they were mostly from affluent families. The Will to Skill Program set about changing that, by removing barriers to advanced classes and provide no-cost tutoring to struggling students. 

Since the program was started, AP course enrollment grew 240 percent to 306 students, all from different backgrounds.

Delcastle Technical High School: STEP

STEP, which stands for Specialized Transition to Employment Pathway, is a certificate-based academic and career training program for special education students in the New Castle County Vo-Tech School District.

It has a 100 percent placement rate, which means every student in the program finds a job. The program promotes life skills, independence and vocational skills, and students participate in sponsored apprenticeships and job training programs. 

Red Clay School District: S3 STEM Summer Scholars

The S3 STEM Summer Scholars program is a multi-week summer enrichment program, offered to all rising fourth- through eighth-graders living or attending school in the Red Clay Consolidated School District. 

The program promotes science and engineering practices and prepares middle schoolers for rigorous high school science and technology coursework using challenging problem-based investigations.

Contact Jessica Bies at (302) 324-2881 or jbies@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @jessicajbies.

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