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Show NEWS WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31 , 2005 DIXIE SUN - 5 Least likely to attend college, now on track for doctorate MILWAUKEE (KRT) - They are the ones who weren't supposed to go to college. Brad Kroupa, an American Indian who barely graduated from high school. Lila Ali, whose Palestinian immigrant parents wanted her to marry a distant cousin e and become a mom. Tomas Garrett, a Mexican-America- n who ran with gangs and dropped out of high school his sophomore year. Through determination, these students made it to the University of Wisconsin-MilwaukeHooked on academia, they're now striving toward something that would have once seemed even more improbable: PhDs. As they prepare for or continue graduate school, these young scholars are drawing on their past to propel themselves forward. Kroupa is researching his family's reservation; Ah, Muslims in health care; Garrett, Latino high school students. They're also drawing on the support of the Ronald E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program. The federally financed program, which has been operating on campuses across the country since 1990, provides GRE tutoring, mentoring and research guidance to the minority and first generation students who are underrepresented in college classrooms and more underrepresented in graduate e, school programs. It has served thousands of participants nationwide, including nearly 200 from UWM. The participants aren't the only ones being transformed. With their unique backgrounds and perspectives, these young men and women promise to enrich and reform higher education, said Donte McFadden, a McN air adviser at UWM. "They're coming to the table with an experience the academy is not used to getting," McFadden said. Ali, 21, never imagined she would land on the road to a doctorate. Her family moved from Milwaukee to Jordan when she was 9. There, she spoke, wrote and read Arabic. She began to mentally prepare for the traditional Muslim life her older female relatives lived. "I started to think that I would never drive a car," Ali recalled, "that I would never go to college." But five years later, the famreturned to Milwaukee. Enrolled at St. Joan Antida High School, which her parenrollents chose for its ment, Ali began to have different visions of life after graduatily all-gi- rl ion. Ali wanted to marry, but not right away. In the meantime, she was hungry for a career. She secretly applied to UWM with the hopes of studying education. She told her parents only after she was accepted. They were not happy. After some heated discussions, they agreed to let her go. But their support has not been unconditional. In recent years, two distant cousins, one from California, another from Jordan, have asked for Ali's hand in marriage. On both occasions, her parents have encouraged her to say yes and drop out. But Ali has turned down the proposals and remained focused, setting her sights on a degree in health care administration. After landing in the McNair program this summer, she began setting her sights even higher. She started researching Muslim women in health care. She has her eye on a PhD program in health care diversity at Pennsylvania State University-Grea- t Valley. Last year, Ali's sister-in-lagave birth at Columbia St. Mary's Hospital. As Ali tells it, would have the sister-in-labeen unable to communicate with the nurses and doctors if Ali wasn't there to translate Arabic. Through research and teaching, Ali hopes to make the health care field more diverse. "I've never been this happy or confident in my life," said Ali, who has yet to share her plans with her parents. "I finally know what I want to do." It took a while for Brad Kroupa to figure out what he wanted to do. Basketball and girls were all he cared about during high school in Muskego, Wis. Class held no interest for him. "My grades were bad," said Kroupa, 24. "I had a really bad attitude." His attitude began to .change after graduation, when he visited the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota. That's where the Arikara tribe to which his mother's family belongs has lived for generations. See COLLEGE page 6 The perfect score for those who flunk the exam. We're not kidding around on this special. For only $89.95, get everything a student needs for better vision, including: Comprehensive eye exam Plastic lenses Scratch coating and UV treatment Frames Breakage warranty See store for details. |