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graders, mostly from Lane County. AAROP’spresence in the local school districts lets it bothrecruit students during the school year andadvocate for them.Originally from Cleveland, Evans modeledAAROP on the Upward Bound and now-defunctTalented Tenth programs. A typical day inthe program consists of tai chi, history class,literature and music lessons and female andmale empowerment sessions. At the end of thethree weeks, the students hold a communityperformance called Capstone.Greg says that one of the program’s goals is tobuild social structure. He notes that for manyof the students, AAROP is the first time they’vehad a Black instructor and been in a class wherethey were the majority.Even though many of the students don’t knoweach other going into AAROP, they tend to buildrelationships within the first few days. AshleyCleary, who participated in the program forseven years and now serves as a peer mentor,says that she was reluctant initially. “I was shythe first day. By the third day, you have all yourfriends here. You’re not going to want to goback to sleeping in until noon and chilling on thecouch, watching TV, when you can be hangingout with friends and learning new stuff.”One reason these students embrace educationis that they have freedom within the structureof the program. This is most evident withCapstone. They get to choose their projectbased on what they’ve learned. In the past,they’ve incorporated poetry, dance, theaterand other forms of expression. Last year, theyproduced a film. Jordan Krush, an instructorwhose twins are in the program, says that her sonwas shy, but by the end of the session, he was notjust on screen, but also writing and producing.The success of AAROP all comes back to Greg’spersonality. “The message sounds like, ‘You can’tdo this.’ Your response is, ‘I will and I can.’ This ishow you create the next Oprah Winfrey, the nextfederal judge, the next top-notch lawyers, doctors,journeyman mechanics and plumbers.”45