Kasandra Ekin
By COLLEEN CURRY
When I ran into Zebu last week to meet with Kasandra Ekin — Red Bank Regional’s highest GPA-ranked senior from Red Bank — I was a little nervous. Besides her class ranking and advanced-placement-loaded transcript, Ekin was on varsity volleyball, majored in dance, choreographed an entire musical, led the French club and still found time to volunteer over 100 hours in nonprofit work. She’d even gotten a resolution honoring her from the Red Bank council earlier in the week (download 08-136.pdf.) I was barely able to make it out of bed in time to meet her for an afternoon interview.
I arrived out of breath and began frantically asking each female patron if she was, in fact, Kasandra. A few nos and more than a few strange looks later, I saw a girl sitting quietly on the side of the restaurant. She looked up, took off her glasses and waved my way. She was not only on time, but put together and ready for whatever I was going to throw at her. Score: Kasandra: 2 Colleen: 0
As I got my act together and started to launch my questions her way, however, I was caught off-guard. Sure, Kasandra may do more in a week than I do all year, but she also told me that New York Trends just got in some new cute clothing I should check out, and that she was nervous about her upcoming orientation at the University of Virginia. Maybe we weren’t from such different ends of the spectrum after all; maybe we were just two Red Bank girls grabbing coffee and talking about… well, everything.
RBG: What was your favorite thing about life at RBR?
I think the school offers a really unique opportunity to students there with the performing arts academy. I spent a year of high school in Jackson, and when I transferred to RBR I realized how lucky I was to dance right there in school. We also got to work with some of the other majors there, and it really is a whole level of professionalism in the arts that go on there.
You did a lot of volunteering. Why was that such a big part of high school for you?
Ever since I was young, my parents told me I was lucky to have what I have and other people aren’t as lucky as me, and the normal spiel parents give their children. So they thought of getting me involved with my community and asking me to give back.
And actually, one of the biggest events that I’m involved in is the Marc A. Zanichelli Scholarship Foundation. That’s actually my uncle’s foundation; he was shot and killed at a holdup in his Nassau auto parts store. My family decided we were going to take that and turn it into a scholarship foundation for children whose parents were victims of violent crime. And we put together a generous scholarship for one or two students with partial scholarships to college. It’s a great cause and it hits so close to home, and taught me more about the volunteering aspect of it. It taught me how volunteer organizations like that work. My entire family sits on the board for the foundation, so I saw firsthand how much work and blood and sweat goes into setting up something like this.
I read that you come from a multi-ethnic background. Are you Turkish?
Yes, my father was born in Turkey and came here when he was about twenty-three. My mom is Italian, grew up in New York. Her family is typical New York Italian family. And my parents both went to work after I was born, so my grandmothers took turns taking care of me. My dad’s mother actually came over from Turkey and practically raised me. She didn’t speak any English, and she was a schoolteacher, so she taught me Turkish.
I’ve gone over there every summer since I was six. When I turned 12, I started going over by myself and staying with my aunt. Istanbul is a lot similar to Red Bank actually. It’s not as metropolitan as New York; it’s more small-town charm. But then outside the city is just desert and nothing all around. Istanbul is pretty western; besides the mosques calling for prayers and all that, it’s really just like being in any other European city. There are McDonald’s on every corner, Louis Vuitton stores. The further East you go — the capital is actually in the center — that’s less westernized, but still metropolitan.
So you’re fluent then? Just like whip out your Turkish in class ever?
Yeah, I actually was pretty embarrassed once when I turned a paper into my French teacher and it was in Turkish.
What?
I was really tired and I just slipped into Turkish instead.
So you want to go into international studies — is that because of all this?
It actually is, yeah. When I was younger I wanted to be everything. I wanted to be a singing, tap-dancing lawyer who could also perform brain surgery while arguing a case. But when I got older, I started to realize this gift I had of living overseas, and my ability to speak languages. And I wanted to be a doctor and look into something like Doctors Without Borders, but when I looked at the obscene amount of money you need to be able to do that, and the lack of money you make, I started to look at law instead. I was always arguing as a child, and my parents always told me I should be a lawyer. Then, in my European history class, I started to realize my fascination with other cultures and my interest in other places.
So what do you want to do?
If I stay in this country, I would love to work at the UN. Or if I decide to double major in economics at UVA, I want to work for the World Bank. But I really hope I don’t get planted here. I’d really rather live overseas.
OK, time for some less serious questions. What’s your favorite thing to do in New Jersey in the summer besides the beach?
I think my favorite thing to do is really to spend time in Red Bank. I also love in the summer going into the city, seeing shows for cheap. Or just going to theaters around here and seeing shows as often as I can. I love hanging out at a place and having fun. I really don’t enjoy just sitting around and chilling with friends. We like to be doing something. So we’ll go into the city and see a show or Two River Theater or Count Basie. We always go to movies in the park. I really just love to hang out downtown here, it’s such a great place.
Yeah I was going to ask you, what’s your favorite store or restaurant in Red Bank?
That’s tricky. Where do I spend most of my time? Well out of things to do, I love Clearview Cinemas over there on White Street. I think they show great independent films you wouldn’t see at Loews. I love the Bistro. My parents took me there twice for special occasions. Such good food. As far as my favorite store, I love Funk and Standard down the street, and I like to shop around New York Trends. They’ve gotten some great new stuff in there lately, more clothes and stuff. So I like to pop in there.
What’s one thing kids at RBR wouldn’t know about you or wouldn’t expect of you?
I don’t think they would know exactly the experiences I’ve had in my life, whether it’s overseas or the reason why I volunteer with the Zanichelli Foundation. They know I’m Turkish and they know I go over there, and that my dad’s from the country. But they don’t know the extent of it, that I don’t go on vacation over there. My aunt has a working farm and it’s my job to get the eggs in the morning from the chickens so we can eat. So I think they tend to think, you know, I go to the metropolitan areas.
A lot of them do too, especially from the more upscale parts around here, they go to countries and they see the sites on vacation. That’s not what traveling is about to me. We went to Paris and I saw the Eiffel Tower, and I thought it was beautiful. But I preferred when I got to leave the group and go off into the towns where civilians lived, and see how they lived; rather than going to the metropolitan areas with the tourists with vendors talking to you in your own language. I like to be isolated in places I don’t know with people I don’t know so I can get a chance to watch them. I’m a big people-watcher. I remember going to a café and just sitting in a side street in Paris, away from the tourists and watching people around me.
Colleen Curry is a graduate of Red Bank Catholic and a senior at Villanova University.
Colleen-
Thanks for the excellent article. I hope you might be able to post answers to two quick questions-
1. Which elementary and middle schools did Miss Ekin attend?
2. When you write "Red Bank Regional's highest GPA-ranked senior from Red Bank" do you mean she has the highest GPA of any senior at RBR, or do you mean she has the highest GPA among seniors from Red Bank Boro?
Bonus Question- Special laurels to you if you can tell us which middle schools the top 10 RBR seniors attended.
Dear Colleen,
What a beautiful article you have written about my niece Kasandra. Our family is extremely proud of all her accomplishments!
Joy Mangone
I loved the article. I felt like I was sitting in the coffee shop with the both of you. Kassie works very hard to be all that she can be and we are so very proud of her.
Cunning Cathy Petersen
To RBRBR (?) Parent -
One would expect that the kids from the richest towns would be disproportionally in the top ten, so I would bet that most the top kids at RBR are from Little Silver and Shrewsbury (school achievement is linked much more closely to wealth and parents' education level than to which school they attend). This year, the top 2 were from Shrewsbury. (I don't know where Ms. Ekin went to school.) I heard that last year the valedictorian was Kyle Fitzgerald, from Red Bank (and a graduate of RB Middle School), but statistically, there simply aren't going to be a lot of RBMS kids in the top ten, since it is a much poorer district. (The Red Bank Charter School has a wealthier demographic than the RBMS, but it is so small that its statistics are not meaningful.)
Colleen: You really captured Kassie's personality and accomplishments. Thank you very much for such a thoughtful and well-written piece.
RBRBR Parent: Kassie spent her Sophmore thru Senior years at RBRHS; attended Christa McAuliffe Middle School in Jackson NJ; and PS-49 primary school in Queens NY. She has benefitted greatly from cultural and academic diversity, not to mention a host of wonderful teachers and a supportive family. That winning combination has brought out her true intellect and artistic talent!
Kassie: You continue to amaze Dad and me!
PS to my earlier posting: Kassie's Freshman year in High School was at Jackson Memorial High.
By the way, congratulations to Ms. Ekin, who did a fine job, no matter where she is from or which school she attended years ago. Her family has good reason to be proud of her.
So so Proud of you my beautiful Godaughter Kassie!!!
A,
Thanks for the interest. I realize your description is an expected distribution. I am very curious what the actual distribution is.
I hope Colleen Curry is able to find the information. I must confess I suspect the data is sort of (deliberately) hidden. Curry could actually turn this piece into an interesting little bit of substantive journalism.
Regarding your wider propositions, nationally there are many moderate-income districts that do very well academically. Nor do we know whether or not Miss Ekin's circumstances are consistent with your hypotheses.
PS to Colleen Curry: triple bonus points if you can post data that distinguishes between the elementary/grammar school district a top senior lives in and the school he or she went to.
Guzel Kizim,
seninle gurur duyuyoruz.Resminde guzel cikmis.
RBRBR Parent,
Well, I hate to take away from Ms. Ekin's accomplishments for a discussion on the role of demographics in education. But, since you brought it up, I think it would be much more interesting if Ms. Curry could identify the family income level and parent education level of the top students at RBR. (This isn't possible, but it would be interesting.)
I'm pretty sure that this year's top two students graduated from Shrewsbury Elementary school.
And I wouldn't call the Red Bank Borough district "moderate income". It's one of the poorest districts in New Jersey. (The town as a whole may have moderate income, but the school district does not.) On the other hand, Little Silver and Shrewsbury are two of the richest districts in NJ. Red Bank Charter School is closer to "moderate income".
Since I was talking about expected distribution, Ms. Ekins accomplishments in no way contradict my hypothesis. In fact, it may support it. She clearly has a supportive family - maybe she has other advantages, too. But, as I said earlier, her accomplishments should be celebrated, no matter her background.
I'm curious why you are so interested in identifying the middle schools of the top seniors. It's hard to imagine what it would show, without the accompanying economic and family demographic data.
Congratulations Again Kassie!
Regardless of where you come from or where you went to school - you worked the hardest and deserve the highest honors and praises.
You Go Girl!!!
We love you,
JoJoy, Uncle Benny, AJ, Melanie and Lori
A,
I'm glad you share my interest in the subject. Miss Ekin's accomplishments stand for themselves. I'm asking these questions in this context because I've learned in the past decades that asking them in the usual contexts always results in a predictable rehearsal of stock arguments.
I have heard many in town dismiss the grammar and middle schools as places with intractable problems. I have heard as many say the problems are merely ones of a "bad image" and "poor communications", and that underneath the two schools are fine. I've lived in town most of my adult life and have never been able to figure out what the real facts are. To me the starting place would be: what percentage of all RBR students come from RBMS, and what percentage of RBR top 10% students come from RBMS? Obviously, similar statistics for RB Charter School students would be useful. Then there's the whole issue of private schools. It seems like half the kids in town go to private schools like Ranney or St. James, yet not even the school board members I know seem to know the numbers.
In your first posting you asserted that "there simply aren't going to be a lot of RBMS kids in the top ten, since it is a much poorer district." I understand why you would assume that, but that doesn't change the fact that it is simply an assumption.
I certainly agree that parental income and education level would be important to know. I suspect there would be at least as strong a correlation with having two parents in the home with one being home with the kids. That said, stock prejudices about correlations of income and academic results simply aren't true. First, Red Bank's median household income is about average for the U.S.: RB 47,000 vs US 48,000 (RB's median family income is actually higher– 66,000.) Second, there are plenty of geuinely "poor" districts where the schools are actually pretty good. Kingsport, TN, for example, has a 30% poverty rate, but has an average ACT score in the 20's and sends over 70% of its graduates to college or technical school.
I'm not sure about by your last remarks. If we were to learn that RB Boro schools are *over*-represented among the top RBR seniors it seems to me that that would tell us at least something about the performance of the RB Boro schools. Likewise if RB Boro grads were essentially *absent* from the RBR top tier. Naturally, family conditions are very important in student success, but taxpayers have no control over that. What parents and newcomers to RB want to know is, if I do everything I can at home, are the RB schools still going to hold my kid down?
Until Mrs. Ekin posted, for all I knew her daughter was a product of the RB Boro schools. It appears Kyle Fitzgerald indeed was. The two together would make a very powerful statement about what's possible with the Boro schools. Of course now I know Ekin grew up elsewhere, but for all I know there are others in the top who did grow up in Red Bank.
Without more information it's impossible to draw a conclusion about what's really possible with the Boro schools.
A 30% poverty rate is not high.
In the Red Bank Primary School and Middle School, over 75% of students come from low-income households. (Only Asbury Park has a higher percentage. The other 3 Abbott districts in Monmouth County have a lower percentage of low-income students.)
The most recent published numbers are at:
http://www.state.nj.us/education/techno/teleact/year9/discount.htm
KASSIE HAS ACCOMPLISHED SO MANY GREAT THINGS, AT HOME , SCHOOL AND EVERYWHERE SHE HS BEEN.SHE IS AMAZING IN ALL THAT SHE DOES, DANCE , SCHOOL AND MUCH MORE. SHE IS A GREAT COUSIN. I AM SO PROUD!!
CONGRATS KASS!
LOVE,LORI
PS.GREAT ARTICLE COLEEN-SO MANY CREATIVE QUESTIONS.
Dan- that's the number for the school.
The Kingsport number is for the entire town.
Academic achievement is related to the income level of students' families, not the income level of the town.
For an apples-to-apples comparison, the Kingston, TN school district has 41% low-income students (46% if you don't count the high school). Much lower than Red Bank.
I don't like using this page for a discussion of the schools; we should just be celebrating Kasandra's achievements here. She sounds like a great young lady, and Red Bank can be proud of her, even if she didn't grow up here.
How about we move comments on the schools to
http://www.redbankgreen.com/redbankgreen/2007/10/rbr-on-need-imp.html
I've copied our comments there in case we want to refer to them.
Dan-
I replied over on that thread.
Kasandra is without a doubt a great role model. I had my own kids read the article and it really hit home to them what the possiblities are.
I believe most of you are missing the most important point as it relates to this wonderful person's achievements. Instead on concentrating on where she went to school and how much money was responsible for her good academic record; instead of expecting her to be a role model for your children . . . look instead to what she relates about her family, their values and their attitude toward education, community HER responsibilities. There is the role model to be witnessed.
With her family values, I guarantee Kasandra would have achieved academically writing on a slate board with chalk under a willow tree.
So I too salute Kasandra; but I also I also salute her family which gave her to belief in the value of education.
Not to mention the value of proof reading before posting.
WAY TO GO KASSIE!!
Great Article, You are amazing.
Keep reaching for the Stars!
We Love you,
Cousin Tina
DEAR KASS,
LIKE I SAID BRFORE GREAT JOB!!!
LOVE,
LORI
Dan you are right about the school stuff. This page is for Kasandra.
Way to go Kassie! Woohooo!
Savannah xox<3
Kassie:
What a joy to hear your take on the world. You are truly an amazing young lady. Bravo!
Wow - what an inspiring and accomplished young lady! I am not a family member or friend, in fact I do not even know this young woman but I found this article about her and her accomplishments both encouraging and enlightening!
I feel much like the writer of this article,realizing that Kasandra probably does more in one week than I do in a year. I know she did more with her HS years than I!
Congratulations Kasandra on your accomplishments and much continued success in life. You've certainly given your parents (and grandmothers!)plenty of reasons to be proud.