College prep campus helping urban kids succeed

"Most of my friends are probably asleep right now," Michael says of the hour, 8:30 a.m. But his day actually started three hours before, when he and his mother, Lynn Spriggs, hopped on a city bus headed to a Metro stop at Northline Mall, where he caught the school's bus that takes the youngest children and girls to the campus — located on a 50-acre spread some 25 miles east of the city — daily during the week.

If he gets into this private college preparatory school, this will be his daily routine for the next school year as a sixth-grader. Seventh- through 12th-grade boys board at the school during the week and return home on weekends.

Limited number of spaces

Every year, there are more applications to the 37-year-old Chinquapin School than there are spaces, and so the best of the bunch are chosen to attend a summer tryout week, which was last week and this week. More than 120 middle and high school students will try out for the nearly 30 open spaces.

"We're a really different kind of school," said Kathy Heinzerling, who, with her husband, Bill, has been co-director of the school for 28 years. Tryouts are needed "in order to really know whether a child can make it socially and academically."

For plenty of families, the academically rigorous school away from the bustling city is an opportunity worth pursuing, thanks to the school's long-standing reputation in the Houston area for providing a challenging environment for some of the city's most underserved or economically disadvantaged children.

Teachers live on campus with the boys who board there during the week, while girls and sixth-grade boys are bused home daily. All students attend with a scholarship and also pay monthly tuition that is based on family income. The majority of students pay $50 or less, and those who can't pay assume more chores in addition to the ones that every student must do at the school.

The majority of the school's funding comes from private donations, fundraising events and a private endowment. Their biggest supporter is the Houston-based Brown Foundation.

Getting the middle school-age boys, who are typically less protected by their parents than girls, away from the distractions of their neighborhoods and closer to their teachers is the biggest difference that distinguishes Chinquapin from other area college preparatory schools, Heinzerling said.

"Many of them come from neighborhoods where if they went home, homework wouldn't get done," Heinzerling said. And instilling study habits early is key to getting the students in college, which is the school's goal.

Chinquapin graduates have gone on to pursue degrees at Stanford, Rice, Columbia, Northwestern, the University of Texas, Xavier and the University of Houston, among others.

Bigger and better things

More than 95 percent of the school's graduates have attended college in the past 23 years, and 85 percent of Chinquapin alumni have graduated or are set to graduate from a higher education institution, according to the school's research. All 17 of this year's graduates have enrolled in college, according to the school.

Marbeline Sanchez, 12, was trying out for one of five open eighth-grade spots. "I really want to be challenged," said Marbeline, who was urged to apply to the school by a graduate who was a visiting teacher at Marbeline's public school.

Over the past week, the talkative girl channeled her sometimes "bossy and loud" nature into a take-charge leadership role during group activities.

Michael's older brother, Jamal Abdullah, attended the school for six years, graduated last year and is in college. Spriggs said sending her oldest son to the school "was a great sacrifice, but one that was well worth it."

Some of the school's older students who attended tryout week to mentor the applicants said the school gave them advantages over their peers.

These teens sound like college students about to study abroad, chatting about their previous or upcoming summer trips — to New York, Seattle, Spain, Thailand, China, the Amazon — all paid for with scholarships.

"It doesn't really look like a school," said Daniela Barajas, 14. "For me now, it just feels like family."

cynthia.garza@chron.com