Class of 1990
TROYVOI HICKS charts the future of public education.
"I believe strongly in charters because they offer the public a choice with stategoverned accountability," says Hicks, who founded Lionel Wilson Preparatory Academy. When it opened its doors in 2001, Wilson Prep became the first public high school built and opened in underserved East Oakland, California, in more than 40 years.
The greatest challenge, says Hicks, is "battling mental poverty among some families." The vast majority of the 460 children (grades 6 to 12) who make up the school's student body are minorities (75 percent are Latino, 25 percent are African-American) and come from low-income families and parents who didn't attend college. The school is overcoming these obstacles: Wilson Prep's class of 2005 boasted a 100 percent four-year college acceptance rate, and the school's reading scores have consistently increased by 10 percent every year since 2002. Hicks shares the credit for the school's early successes with Aspire Public Schools -a not-for-profit organization that provided financial backing for construction of the school and for the annual budget, plus ongoing training and staff support—and with the teachers, who are mix of experienced educators and young college grads such as Kevin Watkins '04 , who is teaching 10th- and 11th- grade biology.
Before taking the helm at Wilson Prep, Hicks worked as eighth-grade teacher and vice principal at New Roads Middle School in Santa Monica, where he was named 2000 Southern California Teacher of the Year. While he enjoyed teaching at the private school, Hicks was eager to return to his hometown of Oakland and public education. He's now pursuing a master's in educational leadership from San Jose State University (his Dartmouth degree is in English) and continues to receive monthly administrative training from Aspire.
Hicks wants to use Wilson Prep as his blueprint for the future: "I plan on opening some more charters and help to change the face of public education in California and eventually the United States."
