Gaining edge with hoops, books

Ben Okiwe, 30, started an enrichment program called Young Savants, with 15 youths from the Franklin Hill Housing Development.

Ben Okiwe grew up on Intervale Street in Dorchester. "It was the heyday of the neighborhood gang," he said.

He was one of seven children, raised by his single mother, but they all went to college. "I had a lot of great mentors," he said. "I decided I'd do the same if I ever had the opportunity."

Okiwe, 30, got that chance and is basking in it. While a sophomore at Brandeis University, he started an enrichment program called Young Savants, made up of 15 youths from Dorchester's Franklin Hill Housing Development.

"I created a program where students who were striving to be students, but happened to play athletics, got the attention they deserved."

Okiwe said he didn't get that kind of attention. He transferred from Jeremiah E. Burke High School to Beaver Country Day his junior year. Okiwe, a former three-sport athlete, was recruited for his athletic ability, but he also wanted the best education available.

"Beaver was recruiting a student who happened to be an athlete," Okiwe said.

One year after his arrival at Beaver Country Day, the school recruited more skilled basketball players. Okiwe said he felt forgotten.

"I thought I could get the attention by being great in the classroom and doing my best on the playing field," said Okiwe, a fixture on the honor roll. "It didn't work out that way. What society quickly told me is all you have to do is be good on the field."

Okiwe, now a Middlesex District Court probation officer and coach of the Lincoln-Sudbury boys' basketball team, is trying to reverse that philosophy. He says the best way to get out of the inner city is to get an education.

"This program leverages the energy young lives spend on basketball and teaches them how to harness it and redirect it into other areas of their lives," said Okiwe.

The Young Savants program has grown into an enrichment program for youths in grades 6-12 from Lincoln-Sudbury and Boston Latin Academy. The program starts right after the basketball season ends. Students from the two schools meet three days a week through mid-July for one-hour study sessions and to play basketball.

"This program keeps us on the court and focused on school," said Ricardo Valles, a Boston Latin senior from Hyde Park. Okiwe and his volunteer assistants check in with the students frequently and stay in touch with parents. They help the students maintain good grades, keep a positive attitude, and get jobs.

"I just want to go to college," said Phil Dunn, a senior at Boston Latin. "This program helps us get there."

It gives them hope.

"It supports you in academics, appearance, and skill level," said Mario Payne, a freshman METCO student at Lincoln-Sudbury. "It helps you set your life up. It structures you."

The program also presents opportunities otherwise unavailable to students from the city. Lincoln-Sudbury has a $1 million endowment, and the Booster Club recently helped sponsor a trip for the Young Savants to attend a basketball camp hosted at the University of North Carolina by Tarheels men's basketball coach Roy Williams.

"Unless you're a top-ranked basketball player in the country, you don't get this opportunity," said Valles.

Twenty-three students, seven coaches, and two managers made the trip. The group slept in dormitories, toured the campus, went sightseeing, and participated in a 64-team tournament against teams from across the country. The two Young Savant teams went a combined 1-19 (Boston Latin Academy beat Lincoln-Sudbury) but that didn't matter. Off the court, the students were dressed in business attire. "People take you serious when you dress that way," said Payne. Curfew was 11:30 and lights-out was midnight. There was a checklist of rules.

This was the second trip to UNC for Okiwe, who has also brought Young Savants to camps at the University of Kansas, Princeton University, and Georgetown University. He said he wants to make his Savants program a staple in schools across the country.

"With all the distractions in today's world, students have a very difficult time being focused," said Okiwe.

Valles, the Boston Latin senior, is 6 feet 4 inches, 220 pounds, and also plays football. He said he has a football scholarship offer from Yale University, but will be in Young Savants as long as he can.

"It was my first time on a plane," he said of the trip to UNC. "I just wanted to get the feeling."