Shined By The City
For Alisha Moreland, big dreams become reality

Alisha Moreland is a Dreamer. Back in the fifth grade at King Elementary, she was part of the first class of city kids "adopted" by the Oregon chapter of the I Have a Dream Foundation. Modeled on a program started in 1981 by New York millionaire Eugene Lang, I Have a Dream now includes more than 160 chapters in 57 cities. The Portland sponsors dangled a life-changing offer to young Alisha and 107 of her classmates, many of them children of color, living in poverty, being raised by single parents and by grandparents. The sponsors told them: Stay in school and we'll help you get to college. Dream big, they suggested. We'll be here to help.

Now 19, Moreland is a thriving sophomore at Stanford University. A 4.0 graduate of Jefferson High School, honored as Portland's Rose Queen for 1998, and also a participant in Self Enhancement Inc. (see related story), she has embraced the idea of dreaming big dreams. She expects to be in school for many more years. Becoming a pediatric neurosurgeon takes time.

Before she headed back to California for this school year, Moreland talked with Northwest Education about the real-life challenges, experiences, and relationships that have fueled her dreams and sustained her faith. What has helped this city kid succeed?

MORELAND: Being where I am today had nothing to do with Alisha alone. It's the community. It's people who have embraced me. It's been a blessing. No one does anything alone.

NW EDUCATION: Where does your drive to succeed come from?

MORELAND: For some people, it's just in them. Others need more of a push. But either way, what's important is to have people step in and say, ‘Hey, let me help you. Let me show you. Let me refine you.' I was open enough to say, ‘OK, I want to learn.' I could see that these people are wise. They have lived life and they have something to offer me, and I definitely want to accept it.

NW EDUCATION: So mentors have been key?

MORELAND: My goodness! My grandmother. My godparents. Ken Lewis from I Have a Dream. The neurosurgeon who took me under his wing and let me watch him perform surgeries while I was still in high school. And I've gotten to see that everything that successful people have gotten, they've worked hard for it. What amazes me is if people are afraid to work hard. They're afraid they might miss out on something. It's funny because, when you're afraid to work hard, you do miss out.

NW EDUCATION: The year that you graduated from high school with an armload of honors and a bright future ahead of you, the district moved to reconstitute Jefferson High School because of consistently low achievement scores. How did you manage to thrive in an environment where many other students were struggling to master the basics?

MORELAND: If you look at Jefferson from the outside you'd probably say, 'What a horrible institution of learning.' But I am telling you, looking from the inside out, I saw people working hard. I saw amazing talent. I love Jefferson to death. I came out well rounded, well prepared. We had excellent teachers who were building solid relationships with students. Yes, there were kids who could not meet the standards. But if people would look holistically, they would see that it's more than a Jefferson High School problem. It's more than a Northeast Portland problem. It's more than living in the 'hood, as some would say.

NW EDUCATION: What do students living in high-poverty neighborhoods need to help them achieve?

MORELAND: The tools are the same at every school, but the problems are different at a school like Jefferson. There are kids who can't read in the fourth grade. And they come to high school and they still can't read. At schools like [more affluent] Lincoln or Grant High, there are also kids who can't read. But not so many.

And if you come from an environment that has said, ‘You can't succeed here,' then it's difficult. The peak of learning takes place between the ages of zero and four, so the parent piece is important. It takes breaking down attitudes that have been developed over generations. And change is incremental. It takes time.

NW EDUCATION: How can we break down negative attitudes about learning?

MORELAND: Students will learn for you, if you're a good teacher. Once they recognize that what they are doing is investing in themselves, then they start to take a personal interest in their own education. Americans think so quantitatively. We need numbers — show me the numbers. But I'm talking about qualitative things. At the heart level, that's where it starts, with a teacher dealing with students where they're at. Personal successes need to be acknowledged. Everyone needs a pat a on the back that says: I see you. I see what you're doing and that's wonderful. I appreciate you.

NW EDUCATION: So we need to build on success?

MORELAND: I'll share a story with you. When I was younger, I was given a book called Gifted Hands. It's an autobiography by Dr. Benjamin Carson, a pediatric neurosurgeon and African American man who's at the top of his field. I sat down and read it in one day. Talk about people succeeding through the hardest times! His dad left him, his mother only had a third-grade education. He had anger problems. He wasn't good at math in elementary school. But his science teacher saw that he had an interest in rocks and helped him develop that interest. Here was an adult who saw that he was good at something, even though he wasn't that great at math. Once you're good at something, then you have the grounds to learn about everything. It gets you going. And I know that everybody is good at something.

NW EDUCATION: What lessons from your urban education have helped you so far at Stanford?

MORELAND: You have to deal with all sorts of people in college. I had a taste of challenges before I went to college and I've had exposure to many different people. That's called life preparation. So I felt prepared — academically, but more important, socially prepared. I'm also not afraid to speak up in class. Some people are so well spoken, but there's no substance. I'm not afraid to say, I don't hear you saying anything. That heightens the discussion. It's something that I learned, living in a community like Northeast Portland. I've heard politicians come to this community and make promises and use flowery speech — and do nothing. So I'm not impressed by words. And finally, I know that it's good to be involved. The busier I am, the more effectively I manage my time.

NW EDUCATION: How can the community help more students succeed?

MORELAND: In my life, people kept popping up, asking me, ‘How are you doing, Alisha? What can we do to make things better?' People need that. Don't complain about what students can't do. If you know math, come tutor for an hour. We need to know that you're going to be there. Don't just tell me I'm good, then leave me in the dust to figure it all out by myself. Be there. Be persistent, consistent, and insistent. That's what will make a difference in a young person's life.