Seeds for the Future
Students in the Seeds for the Future program,
created by University anthropology professor Ayala
Emmett, pose with certificates for completing a
weeklong creative writing workshop at the University
last summer. At the completion ceremony, students
read their finished pieces while their parents and other
supporters (also pictured) listened.
In summer 2005, Associate Professor
Ayala Emmett agreed to run a weeklong
writing workshop for kids at the North
Street Community Center in Rochester.
Their exuberance for learning moved her,
and that limited commitment grew into
the Seeds for College Foundation.
It is a University-affiliated and
community-based foundation that aims
to help inner-city children graduate high
school and awards them seed money for
college. For each year the students earn
good grades, the foundation deposits
$100 into their individual funds for
college. The students come to campus
for workshops and classes so college life
becomes an attainable goal.
"I wanted to give them what I call
their birthright," Emmett says, "to be
prepared throughout their educational
experience to go on to higher education
and find their rightful place in society."