March 1 - Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools

Star – March 8, 2009Students learn lessons on living — from a liferBy TONY RIZZOThe Kansas City StarAt Central Middle School in Kansas City, Kan., Pablo Ceniceros (center) and Ociel Lara (right) talkedabout the letters they and classmates sent to inmate Jermaine Davis, whose story appeared in The KansasCity Star’s “Murder Factory” series.Dania Noyola was poised to make a rash and life-altering decision.But the Kansas City, Kan., middle school student didn’t realize it until she learned the story of convictedmurderer Jermaine Davis and his road from the honor roll to a life behind bars.From his failure, Dania drew inspiration to succeed.So she changed her mind about dropping out of the Kauffman Scholars program and its ultimate payoff of anexpenses-paid college education.“I was going to quit but then I actually thought about it,” she told Davis in a letter recently mailed to him inprison. “I know I was going to lose a lot if I did. But I really did learn a lot from your life.”Dania was among about 20 students of teacher Emilee Rose who seized inspiration from Davis after his storyappeared earlier this year in The Kansas City Star’s “Murder Factory” series on Kansas City ZIP code 64130.