Podcasts Other The Idealist.org Podcasts Emerging Corps: Blue Engine's Nick Ehrmann

Emerging Corps: Blue Engine's Nick Ehrmann

Published: March 4, 2010, 9:21 p.m.

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In 2010, a new national service corps is getting off the ground. Blue Engine, based in New York City, aims to recruit a corps of about a dozen fellows for the 2010-2011 school year to facilitate daily, differentiated, small-group instruction for high school freshmen.

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Our guest is Nick Ehrmann\\u2014Blue Engine\'s engine and a Teach For America alum\\u2014 who says that we know how to get high-needs kids into college, or getting them "college eligible" \\u2014 nonprofits and schools have been targeting and tackling hurdles like high school completion, college admissions, and financial assistance.

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But, while the high school drop-out problem is far from solved, groups are paying far less attention to college completion rates for high-needs kids, or "college readiness."

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Blue Engine aims to close the gap between college eligibility and college readiness.

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After graduating from Northwestern University in 2000, Ehrmann began his career in education as a Teach for America corps member in Washington D.C. In 2002, he joined forces with local philanthropists to launch the nonprofit \\u201cI Have a Dream\\u201d Project 312, a youth development program for Nick\\u2019s fourth-grade students. In the fall of 2003, he began doctoral work in sociology at Princeton University as a William G. Bowen fellow.

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Over the past three years, Nick spent months shadowing his former students in high school classrooms, living with their families, and conducting extensive interviews in the local community, where he has witnessed firsthand the negative effects of academic underperformance on the transition from high school to college. His dissertation\\u2014Yellow Brick Road\\u2014is scheduled for defense in the spring of 2010. Ehrmann currently lives in New York City.

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Idealist\\u2019s Amy Potthast talks with Nick about the Blue Engine fellowship, its application deadlines (March 10 and April 28, 2010); the gap between college eligibility and true college readiness; and why it\\u2019s crucial to expect more out of high schoolers in order to prepare them for high school and college success, and beyond.

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