March 11, 2016
KEVIN C. SHELLY//PHILLYVOICE
Dishea Lightfoot sees a challenging education as his way out of Camden. This week he learned he's been accepted at the Peddie School, her Princeton, and he'll get $50,000 annually in financial aid.
Dishea Lightfoot, a sharp 14-year-old student from East Camden, will spend his high school years at the Peddie School, one of the top 25 boarding schools in the country.
He learned Thursday that not only did he gain admission to the New Jersey school, but it was awarding him $50,000 a year to attend, thanks to the advocacy of A Better Chance.
A Better Chance, which began in 1963, aims to increase the highest educational opportunities for minority high school students. Keith Wilkerson, its local representative, presented the offer to Dishea and his mom, Lisette Lightfoot, on Thursday.
"He plans to accept the offer. It is nearly a full-ride," Wilkerson said. "He's a really outstanding example of the kind of student we aim to serve."
"Oh, my goodness, the excitement is overwhelming," his mother said Friday. "He came screaming down the steps with tears in his eyes."
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The organization pairs up students with schools offering a higher level of education than is available through local schools, in Dishea’s case Woodrow Wilson High School, four blocks from where he lives with his mom.
As a student, Dishea is at the top of his class, according to Brendan Lowe, a spokesman for the state-run Camden School District, better than 97 percent of his peers in math and 94 percent in literacy.
Lowe said that while the district is extremely proud of Dishea, Camden schools are working at being more rigorous, adding advanced courses at Wilson, offering college-level classes throughout the five high schools and revamping it technical offerings.
