The Capital Times :: METRO :: B3
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Susan Troller
This September marks the 10th year that the incoming class of Mann and Sanchez scholars was introduced at the School Board’s first meeting of the new academic year.
The seven ninth-graders were recommended by middle school teachers and principals, based on their academic promise. They attend three Madison high schools: East, La Follette and Memorial. The newest Mann Scholars are Shaneiguia Conklin from East, Brittany McNeil from La Follette, Alvin Olson from Memorial and Denzel Sperstad of La Follette. The Sanchez Scholars are Antonio Cruz-Rodriguez from East, Edith Mendez from La Follette and Christian Rodriguez from Memorial.
There are 13 Mann Scholars and 14 Sanchez Scholars in the Madison district. Both the Mann Educational Opportunity Fund and the Sanchez Scholar program work through the Madison Community Foundation to support students who are nominated as eighth-graders from all Madison middle schools.
The Mann Scholars program is the legacy of Bernard and Kathy Mann, long-time Madison residents whose emphasis on education inspired their own five children to complete college degrees.
Friends and family of the Manns have honored their memory by making it possible for other Madison students to aspire to similar academic success,” Superintendent Art Rainwater noted in his remarks to the Madison School Board as he introduced the Mann and Sanchez Scholars.He explained that the Sanchez Scholarship fund was created eight years ago by retired University of Wisconsin professor Roberto Sanchez to honor the effort his parents made as immigrants to provide him with educational and career opportunities.
The scholarship funds help pay for extracurricular and school expenses during high schooland the program also provides academic mentoring.
Brittany McNeil, one of the new Mann scholars who is attending La Follette, said she is interested in politics, and smiled when she said she would like to be president one day.
Her parents, Sherman McNeil and Tamara Story, said their daughter, who attended Sennett Middle School and had a job during school at McDonald’s, had always maintained a 3.5 grade-point average or above.
“We are very proud of her,” Story said.
