solution many in this select group of baltimore city high school students could be first in their family to rise out of poverty
hip hop dance classes in baltimore md, and graduate from college. >> my gpa is around a 4.5, in that area. >> i got straight a's.
>> how are your science grades right now? >> they're perfect. >> really? >> yeah. adam they're all part of a : program called building steps a non-profit that seeks out the highest achieving students from
schools in the roughest parts of the city. aleem prince lives off greenmount avenue. there were homicides in her three neigborood last year. >> there's a lot of buildings that are unoccupied. i'm not the outdoor type of
person, so i am always inside. adam building steps has her on : the path to a brighter future. >> right now we're doing sat preps, and we even visit colleges, so i get will help us. >> schools are becoming increasing challenged. adam the program's ceo says
: building steps starts by taking high schoolers on monthly field trips exposing them to different career paths in science and math then they help these students get into college. >> 80% of our students get a college degree so these are now, if we don't talk about income,
these are students who have broken the cycle of undereducation. adam their success rate is much : higher than the average of 60% of maryland students who graduated six years. exponentially higher when you look at schools that serve
mostly lower income students, like morgan state at 33% and coppin state with a graduation rate of just under 14%. >> they come out on the other side because we stick with them all through college. you have to buy your text books, you have to go to class, you
have to build a relationship with your professor if you have trouble, you have to go to an academic achievement center, but if nobody tells you those things, and no one at home has done, why would you know that? >> my mom and dad didn't go to college, so they must -- both
just graduated from high school. so i am the first generation in my family to attend college. adam deon avery who's now a : spanish teacher with a masters degree went through the program when it started 17 years ago and she's hoping to get her students involved next year when
the program expands to benjamin franklin high in curtis bay. >> you have to imagine if a child has never left a community filled with poverty, drugs and violence, they wouldn't understand how man opportunities lie outside of those communities.
adam: building steps currently in nine high schools plans to be citywide in two years. >> when you get opportunities like this you take it and you take advantage of it and just do it. adam: prepping the next generation.
>> i want to be a private criminal defense attorney in my own law firm. >> i want to college and study science and then go to medical school, and i want to be a neurosurgeon. >> i want to do computer science and i always want to travel the
world and build institutions for
children that are homeless. adam paying it forward, guided : by those who recognize her potential.
