Benjamin Banneker Middle School and Richard Montgomery High School are among 11 Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Maryland schools to receive grants of up to $10,000 from America Online (AOL). The AOL Aspirations Fund grants are designed to nurture the lifetime career aspirations of disadvantaged youth.

The grant will allow Benjamin Banneker Middle School to further a burgeoning literacy program, “Reading Rocks the World,” to reward students for reading on their own. The goal is to create a community in which reading is viewed as a desirable activity that is recognized by all teachers, students, and staff as a positive thing to do.

The school hopes the grant will enable it to create more rewards for students, such as field trips or author visits, thus encouraging more reading. Program administrators also plan to purchase electronic reading tools and create a student advisory reading board.
With its grant, Richard Montgomery High School will develop the FOCUS Media Team, an effort to close the gap between the achievements of minority students and their white and Asian counterparts. This closure will be addressed by engaging the interests of participating students while they work together in several areas of media production and technology to create biweekly segments to air on their school news channel.

The Aspirations Fund grants are part of AOL Aspires, America Online’s national philanthropic strategy designed to foster the imaginations and aspirations of disadvantaged youth. Under this theme, AOL is sponsoring a range of initiatives that focus on economically disadvantaged youth and help them to reach their potential through educational and career opportunities, while nurturing creative talent.