Falls Church High School Shares 4-Year STAR Program Results with Its Congressman Jim Moran

By Darien Bates

Earlier this month, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Parres Borden discovered what it means to help out a community. A student at Falls Church High School and a member of the school’s Emergency Medical Services program, Borden traveled down to New Orleans along with his uncle, a member of the air national guard, to give what assistance he could, using what he learned from his EMS classes to help those hurt by the storm and the flooding of the city.

For the Falls Church senior, the personal experience of the damage was more drastic than anything he could have imagined from just reading newspapers and watching television. But unlike many who had to watch from afar as people struggled to get a hold on their lives, Borden was able to personally contribute.

His ability to help out in this national crisis is something in itself to be celebrated. But just a year ago Borden was simply concerned with gaining some control in his own life, let alone able to bring aid to others.

Last year he moved to the Falls Church area to live with his uncle after a domestic disturbance forced him out of his home in Columbia, Maryland where he had been living with his mother and stepfather.

Having had some trouble in school prior to coming to Falls Church High, and with the added pressures of family problems, it would have been very easy for Borden to fail, letting himself fall through the proverbial cracks.

Fortunately for Borden, four years ago Falls Church High instituted the STAR program (Success Through Academic Readiness), a format that sets up small learning communities that focus on reaching at risk students and increasing their likelihood of graduating and moving on to four-year colleges.

On Monday, Borden was part of a group of half a dozen students on hand at the high school to talk with visiting U.S. Congressman Jim Moran of Virginia’s 8th District as he visited the school to get more information on the program’s status. Present were a number of the faculty members that work with the STAR students and representatives from the Institute for Student Achievement (ISA), the organization that developed the program. Falls Church High and Annandale High are the only two Virginia schools that participate in the program.

Along with identifying at-risk students and supplementing their education with extra instruction, the program creates a closer connection between students and teachers, a feature lauded by both groups. Borden said that the set-up of the program helped push him when he was unsure about what he was doing.

“I never really had that type of support before,” he said, noting that while his former teachers used to get on him about his schoolwork, they didn’t stick with it the way his teachers at Falls Church High have.

So far the results from the program have been positive. Out of last year’s senior class, 16 of 17 students graduated, and the same number are now attending two or four year institutions.

In remarks at the school, Rep. Moran acknowledged the work being done, but he also highlighted a need to increase the number of students looking beyond community college and instead seeking out four year schools. Last year only six of the 16 students who graduated attended a four year college, the rest are presently enrolled at the Northern Virginia Community College.