Time To Celebrate Winchester Grads Who Took A Chance

One shakes his head in disgust, the other claps his hands in celebration. Omar Grant and Ricardo Gayle Jr. have much in common, but when it comes to the Super Bowl, one man's pain is another man's pleasure.

Grant and Gayle are Winchester ABC Scholars, part of a national program that places minorities into some of the countries top high schools. A celebration of their accomplishments is Saturday, followed by graduation from Winchester High School Sunday. They are smart, well-spoken, have bright futures, and they are Patriot haters. Ok, maybe that last part is exaggerated.

But Grant is from Atlanta, Gayle from Philadelphia, the home of the New England Patriots last two Super Bowl opponents.

Let's start with the pain.

Grant and Gayle watched Super Bowl LI at the home of Winchester ABC program volunteers Tracy and Matt Kinsey. Grant doesn't call himself a huge Falcons fan but still, he's from Atlanta. And a note to Grant, feel free to skip this next sentence. As Patriots fans remember, Atlanta had a 25-point lead in the third quarter, only to watch the Patriots roar back and win in overtime, 34-28.

"I will say I was quite upset after losing that lead," said Grant. "We watched the first half of it there (at Kinsey's). That was when we had the huge lead and we got excited. So we decided to go over to a friend's house who were Patriots fans and kinda gloat about it. And then the lead ... it wasn't fun."

And the pleasure?

Like Grant, until recently Gayle wasn't a huge NFL fan, but still, he's from Philly. For Super Bowl LII, it was back to the Kinsey's home, but this time ...

"So we stayed at the Kinsey's house the entire time this year," said Gayle. "Leaving their house was bad luck two years ago. We stayed at their house the entire time this year."

You'd think a student headed to MIT to study computer science wouldn't believe in something like luck.

"You're right, I don't believe in luck. Foles was just the better quarterback. I watched my backup quarterback beat Tom Brady and I enjoyed it."

The next day Gayle went to school a proud winner.

"I have an Eagles blanket, and I wore it as a cape. I also wore an Eagles jersey. People shook my hand, said good game, congratulations."

So your fellow students were good sports about the game?

"Well, not really. They were like, 'I'm happy you guys finally won one. Cuz you know we have five' or whatever. That's fine. We'll see how far each team gets this year. That's all I'm going to say."

Four years ago Grant and Gayle couldn't have imagined watching a football game in Winchester, Ma. But the desire for a better education made it as easy as, well, abc.

A chance to succeed

Winchester ABC is a chapter of A Better Chance, Inc., a national nonprofit organization based in Manhattan. ABC was founded in 1963 to provide academically talented male and female students of color with expanded educational and career opportunities. If you think it sounds somewhat like METCO, you're not far off. But ABC is actually more like college. Students apply to the national program and once accepted they're matched up with potential high schools across the country. Students and their families then visit the high school, much like the traditional admitted student day in college. While students check out the school and stay overnight at the ABC house, the high school answers questions and gets a feel for the student. Then it's decision time. Unlike METCO, students live in the community all four years, much as they would in college.

More than 1,000 African-American, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American scholars participate in A Better Chance programs in private and public college-preparatory schools throughout the country, with eight boys representing six states attending Winchester High. Ninety-three percent of the participating ABC schools are private or boarding schools. Winchester High is part of the other seven percent, considered a high-performing public school and is part of the Community School Program (CSP). Just three other public high schools in Massachusetts are CSP schools, Amherst, Wellesley, and Andover.

In 1971, Winchester ABC welcomed its first students. Since then, almost 100 students have graduated from Winchester High School. The boys who participate in Winchester ABC live in the ABC house on Dix Street with resident directors Beatriz and Richard Harley, along with resident academic coordinator Alind Amedi. The Harleys oversee the daily life of the house. And it's a busy house. In addition to the eight ABC students (two in each class), Bea and Rich have three children of their own.

Students start Winchester High School as freshmen and stay until graduation. In addition to the staff on Dix Street, each student is assigned Winchester host parents. Gayle's host parents are Christine and George Kowalczuk, and the host parents for Grant are Stephanie Smith and Shyamal Jajodia. The host parents are part of a network of more than 100 volunteers, ranging from Winchester ABC President Eric Woods to people who simply provide rides to and from after-school activities.

All this costs money, and Winchester ABC relies totally on the community for its financial support. Fundraising events, such as dances and concerts, along with donations from individuals, local organizations, corporations, and foundations cover annual operating expenses. Even the students chip in. Grant and Gayle spearheaded a bottle drive and raised $1,600 on a rainy Saturday last September.

The house becomes a home

As he approached high school age, Grant and his family weren't thrilled with the Metro Atlanta public school system and they were exploring their options. During a conversation between one of Grant's former elementary school teachers and his mother Tasia, the ABC option came up. Until then, Grant had never heard of ABC and the farthest north he had been was Philadelphia.

Grant applied to the national ABC program, was accepted, and now four years later he will graduate from Winchester High on Sunday.

"I definitely think it was the right decision," said Grant, whose next stop is the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he plans to study video game design. "Even when I first came to visit, just the feel that I got from being in the house was better than any of the other schools I had visited. So I definitely feel I made the right choice. Being in the house has confirmed that more."

So there was no fear? No where-am-I? No get-me-out-of-here?

"Not really. I don't know. It was weird too because I don't think there was ever a point where I felt legitimate home sickness. There would be times where 'oh, I'd like to be home right now,' but there was never a time where I said I don't want to be here, I want to go back home. I know the older guys in the house said that it doesn't really hit you freshman year, it's more like sophomore year. But it never really hit me. I don't know why. I was ready for it I guess."

Grant also credited the town for his transition.

"The community in general is really welcoming. I think Winchester is a very welcoming environment which helps with that transition. Coming to the high school I was kind of afraid that because everybody here grew up together they already have their established friends and friend groups and it would be hard to transition in. But it really wasn't difficult. People were really welcoming. They wanted to know about us."

For Gayle, it's all sweet

Gayle didn't have to search far to learn about ABC. He attended a charter school in Philadelphia where the national ABC office actively recruited students. So he applied, was accepted, and came to Winchester to check out the town and school. There's no question what impressed him first.

"The sense of community here. At first when I came to visit my mom (Zadian) and I, we didn't really think this is going to be what I wanted to do. We had our mind set on a private school. But then we came here and there were so many volunteers here, so many people who were truly invested in the life of everyone living in this house. That's what I think my mom and I really fell in love with. Also, just the sense of family and brotherhood in the house."

Going away to school was tough on his family but Gayle was all in.

"I kind of was prepared for it. I wanted to do it. [The application process] was a two-year thing from seventh to eighth grade so I was planning and ready to do it since seventh grade."

It was a decision he doesn't regret.

"It's been good, it's been fun, it's been a ride. Four years is a long time. Everyone is saying it's like bittersweet, but this might be a pretty bad way to say it but because four years is a long time, I'm not really getting the bittersweet of it. I'm kinda just getting the sweet of it."

Gayle was also accepted at Harvard, Yale, and Columbia but had his heart set on MIT from the moment he arrived in Winchester.

"It's the best school to do computer science. Also, everyone there has something unique about them. Everyone there is weird in their own way. It's a community that embraces that, which I think is very cool."

Gayle ran indoor track freshman and sophomore year but eventually decided he didn't like to run. He replaced that with working at Zaniac in Winchester, teaching kids math, science, and how to code.

Like Grant, Gayle wasn't concerned about leaving his friends behind in Philadelphia.

"The fact that I was leaving, it really made me think about the difference between school friends and actual friends. I kind of knew who my real friends were by the end of eighth grade and I made it a goal to keep in contact with those 2-3 people and I have. I think it helped me to mature, being able to see that and notice in eighth grade."

Chasing net results

The volleyball tournament pairings had just been released and Grant and Gayle would soon be at practice, hoping to turn the top-seeded Sachems 18-2 record into post-season success. Neither had ever played the sport when they arrived in Winchester but now they're six tournament wins from an MIAA state championship. Winchester opens play Monday against Lowell Catholic.

"Ricardo and Omar have been great additions to our program and it has been a pleasure to coach them. It has been great to see former players and ABC students, Hazees Abdul ('14) and LaVon Brathwaite ('16), share their experiences and luckily for us, encourage Ricardo and Omar to play," said boys' volleyball coach John Fleming.

"Volleyball for most boys typically begins freshman or sophomore year as there aren't a ton of opportunities for youth volleyball for boys unlike most other high school sports. So, although Ricardo and Omar were the newcomers to school, they were like everyone else trying to learn how to play volleyball for the first time when they got to high school. Because everyone is trying to figure out the rules and techniques at the same time, I think the boys really connect early on in volleyball and in this case have found some of their best friends. Both guys are great teammates and have tremendous work ethic. I am extremely proud of both."

For Grant, the spring success follows a winter wrestling season in which the Sachems went 26-0. Competing at 220 pounds, he went 20-4 in Dual meets, 31-15 overall. And like volleyball, he had never wrestled until coming to Winchester. Wrestling has been a popular sport for ABC scholars. In addition to Grant, sophomore Aaron Apostadero and freshman Jeremiah Colbert are on the current team. In 1992 ABC Scholar Chris Ebanks was a state champion and national runner-up.

Saturday celebration

Saturday afternoon across from the ABC house at the First Congregational Church, the Winchester ABC family will gather to celebrate Gayle and Grant's accomplishments. The parents who four years ago sent their children to Winchester will join in, before later in the summer saying good-bye again as they head off to college. The community will then prepare for the new ABC students who will make the journey to Dix Street.

Photo by Bob Holmes. Omar Grant (left) and Ricardo Gayle Jr.