The University of Houston boasts cutting-edge research and lots of bright, high-achieving students. But just blocks away from a campus bustling with world-class scholarship is a high school where too many drop out and too few go to college.

The proximity of one of the state’s leading institutions of higher learning to Jack Yates High School – a struggling school located in one of Houston’s toughest neighborhoods – is more than irony. It also was – at least to one NSM student – an opportunity for UH to make a difference in its own backyard.

Now, through the tutoring program founded by senior biochemistry major Kamran Ahmed, dozens of UH students volunteer to provide one-on-one help in math, science, English and social studies to struggling Yates students.

The idea for the Achieve program was born in June 2006 after Ahmed read a newspaper article about Houston schools with low test scores and graduation rates. Yates was among them – although it since has improved its rating by the Texas Education Agency to academically acceptable.

Ahmed, an officer with a UH organization that connects students with community service projects, went to meet the principal of Yates to find out how UH students could help.

"I was surprised, with Yates being so close to the city’s major education center, that there wasn’t already some connection with UH,"Ahmed said. "The (Yates) staff really wanted us to get involved."

The Yates principal was eager to have UH volunteers at the school and suggested they could help tutor students struggling to pass the TAKS test.

So Ahmed and other volunteers he recruited started holding daily afternoon tutoring sessions in the Yates library. The tutors provided one-on-one help for algebra problems, chemistry homework and other subjects.

The program has drawn volunteers from a variety of majors, so a math student can help with a geometry question, or a liberal arts student can help with writing and English, Ahmed said.

"It’s important to establish a relationship with the students you’re tutoring, and then just try to explain things in ways they can understand,"Ahmed said. "Hopefully we can inspire students and provide a good example."

In a tough, impoverished neighborhood like Houston’s Third Ward, it helps for Yates students to have college-age mentors who can stress the importance of higher education, Ahmed said.

There are now about 30 volunteers in the program. In addition to tutoring, UH volunteers also help at the Yates counseling center, where they help students fill out college applications and financial aid forms.

Last spring, Achieve volunteers held a college enrollment day, a motivational event for Yates seniors. During the event, John Rudley, UH vice president for administration and finance, spoke to students about the importance of higher education and volunteers were on hand to help with applications and financial aid forms.

One $500 scholarship was awarded to a deserving Yates senior through a project grant received by Ahmed.

Rudley had read about the Achieve tutoring program in a Daily Cougar article and was eager to help, Ahmed said.

Ahmed, who will graduate in May, is also an NSM ambassador and helps recruit top-notch high school students to the college. The learning that goes on outside the classroom is a crucial part of the UH experience, Ahmed said.

"UH has provided every opportunity to get involved in research and community service,"Ahmed said.

He has been accepted to Mayo Medical School in Rochester, Minn.