Summerbridge gives Dayton Public School students a head start

Eboni White

Belmont High School graduate Eboni White had some sage advice for her seventh-grade cousin who attended Summerbridge this year: “I told her it was very important in life to get into something that will help you out like Summerbridge. It will lead you in the right direction.”

Eboni should know. She attended Summerbridge for two summers and was so impressed, she became a teaching assistant in her third year and came back for a fourth year as a teacher in the program. This fall she will be attending Wright State as the first recipient of the Cornelius Martin Endowed Scholarship for Summerbridge graduates, made possible by a generous donation by Cornelius Martin.

A major donor to Summerbridge, Cornelius Martin, died tragically on June 3 in a motorcycle accident. Martin, president and CEO of Martin Automotive Group, was a WSU Foundation trustee since 2001 and had established the Cornelius Martin Endowed Scholarship for students like Eboni.

Cornelius Martin

An academic enrichment program for local middle-school students, Summerbridge is designed to help them graduate from high school and prepare for college.

“I was kind of shy in middle school, but once I was in Summerbridge, I learned to open up to people and be myself,” Eboni said. “I was learning something new every day. It was fun, and I didn’t have to worry about getting in trouble while I was at Summerbridge.” Eboni plans to major in nursing and business at Wright State.

Fifty-three students graduated from Summerbridge in late July after spending six weeks at Wright State attending classes taught by Wright State and high school students from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. each day. The classes give them a step up on coursework they will face when they return to their schools in the fall.

Sadly, Eboni never got the chance to thank Martin for his generosity. If she had, “I would tell him I appreciate his helping us out,” she says. “Summerbridge was a good program for me. I know it was a good program because I kept coming back every year. I couldn’t get enough of it.”

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